At Sector 2 Dhobley Forward Operating Base, Capt Valerie Shikuku is the gender focal officer in charge of this ambitious yet delicate role. https://shorturl.at/8oiUJ
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00:00 I am the gender focal officer in charge of gender issues and part of the Atmistry mandate
00:10 is empowering our women and what we've been doing is engaging them with technical activities
00:17 as part of the female engagement teams so that they can have a sense of independence,
00:23 they are able to fend for themselves and not solely depend on their spouses for income.
00:30 So this matchmaking skills, it's actually our service women who have been training them
00:35 so that they can have the skills and it has really empowered them to know that women are
00:41 also capable of taking care of their families and also having a source of income.
00:47 And also the engagement has brought a lot of cohesion because empowering the women is
00:53 empowering a society.
00:55 When the women are able to stay in their homes and show that Atmis is here to support them,
01:02 they realise that having a stable economy is very important in promoting peace because
01:10 without a stable economy, peace will not flourish in such an environment.
01:17 Part of helping them to get market is through our engagement practices.
01:23 We try to market them outside, we try to give them viewership even when we have our media
01:29 group they can showcase what we as Atmistry help them.
01:36 So we give them platforms to speak about their activities, we also come and visit them from
01:43 time to time so that the community understands that we are here to empower them rather than
01:49 we are here for any other business.
01:52 For sustainability is part of the capacity building.
01:57 We realise that when you give somebody fish to eat, this person will learn helplessness
02:04 but when you teach them how to fish, they are actually more empowered because they will
02:09 not depend on us even after we transition.
02:12 They will realise that it is up to them to ensure their continual engagement and also
02:18 we have linked them up with people within Kenya so that in case they have any challenges
02:25 they are able to access the services.
02:27 We always empower women in Doble here.
02:30 We give them skills like mat making, tie and dye, henna, decoration and the other thing
02:39 we do is empower them by giving them capacity building like trainees and the other thing
02:47 we do is mobilisation to the women so that they make their own business so that they
02:58 become independent women to their families.
03:02 We made a lot of challenges to reach here and sometimes it happens that we miss the
03:10 capital to pay our office rent.
03:14 Sometimes we miss the fee to buy these things but we really appreciate ATMIS.
03:24 They assisted us to give us mat and they trained us how to make these mats and it really helped
03:31 us to become a business woman to buy our hand made skills.
03:40 Before they used to discourage us by saying a woman cannot do anything, you are nothing
03:46 by the way, you cannot make an association.
03:49 It was our first time to come together and make an association, a women association who
03:55 can assist her fellow sisters and mothers.
04:00 And it was so challenging for the community that they see a woman struggling to make her
04:06 own things.
04:08 It was very hard but now they see that we can do something to the society, that we can
04:14 be important people to the society because of all these young girls, they are making
04:22 their own business now, they are also willing to do more in more sectors inshallah.
04:30 They have been very receptive.
04:32 Actually when they come to our camp it shows a lot of progress because they don't feel
04:38 intimidated, they don't feel like they are coming to be spies or anything.
04:44 They actually feel encouraged that their women are also selected to engage with the military,
04:51 that we are not people to be feared, especially when they see women like me in the military.
04:56 It's an inspiration because they understand that also women are part of ensuring their
05:02 security.
05:02 Insha'Allah.
05:03 [End of Audio]