PBI-Kenya and WHRD Toolkit Organizers at campaign workshop by Lake Naivasha

On February 10, the Peace Brigades International-Kenya Project posted, “Between 29th January and 1st February 2020, the Women Human Rights Defender (WHRD) Toolkit Organizers attended a campaign workshop in Cray Fish Camp, Naivasha.”

The camp is located on Lake Naivasha about 100 kilometres north of Nairobi.

PBI-Kenya adds, “They used this opportunity to build their capacities on strategic campaigning, breathing life into the toolkit, and sharing their experiences and lessons learned.”

“This year the WHRD Toolkit Organizers will launch a campaign to address the low conviction rate of rape and defilement perpetrators.”

The Toolkit for WHRDs in Nairobi’s Urban Settlements was developed by PBI-Kenya in 2016 primarily for women human rights defenders in Kenya and specifically for those in the urban settlements of Nairobi.

PBI-Kenya notes, “This Toolkit focuses particularly on the roles, risks, and vulnerabilities of defenders who are women.”

PBI-Kenya has previously posted, “Fifteen dedicated and passionate WHRDs [whose photos are included below] have been selected as Toolkit Organisers (TOs), all of whom are already community activists and established figures working for women’s and children’s rights within their communities. These TOs are currently joining forces with PBI to disseminate and further develop the Toolkit.”

The PBI Annual Review notes that in 2018, “Four international volunteers accompanied members of two grassroots organisations and twenty-nine human rights defenders working in the Nairobi’s urban settlements and the Mount Kenya region.”

PBI has provided the context: “People in Nairobi’s informal settlements face serious inequities in basic services ranging from water and sanitation to the state’s justice system, which threatens their very right to life.”

PBI established the Kenya Project in December 2012.