A dearth of safe spaces for girls

The Binti Pamoja Center in Kibera—with help from the Population Council, the Global Financial Education Program (GFEP), and the Nike Foundation—set out to build on their current program in order to expand safe spaces and skills opportunities for adolescent girls in Kibera. Together with the Council, Binti conducted a mapping project of existing and potential safe spaces and programs for girls in Kibera. Binti graduates were trained by Council staff in research techniques and were supported throughout the data collection period. The results of the mapping project showed that:

• The majority of youth-serving organizations in Kibera were reaching older boys and young men,
• Some villages in Kibera had several safe spaces while others had none, and
• Less than 1 percent of girls in Kibera had access to safe, gender-segregated programs.

The Population Council’s Safe and Smart Savings project addresses these challenges in Kibera.