Safe Massai Angels in Kenya
This project's parent organization is The Coexist Initiative
It operates in Kenya
It uses Football (Soccer)
Entered the Sport For Social Inclusion Award
More about Safe Massai Angels in Kenya
The Shield project is a grassroots initiative that is participatory in nature and utilizes the expertise and tools that are respected by the target community for purposes of galvanizing support towards the eradication of child marriage. The project endeavors to spur change through a culturally sensitive, human rights-based approach that promotes collective abandonment of the practice with men, boys and communities taking a lead.
In a nutshell, the cost of child marriage in Kenya is too expensive to disregard. The Kenyan society cannot progress when even the common practice of marriage dooms girls and women to a life of poverty, ignorance and agony. National indicators on maternal health, education, food security, poverty eradication, HIV/AIDS, and gender equality are all negatively correlated with high child marriage rates at the grassroots.
We insist that Marrying at a young age has lifelong consequences which unfortunately have been largely ignored by communities where the practice is prevalent. Early marriage thwarts girls chances at education, endangers her health and cuts short her personal growth and development