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Building Male Allies for Women and Girls with Disabilities in Kajiado
Kajiado South, Kajiado County, Kenya
Across Kenya, women and girls with disabilities live at the intersection of two vulnerabilities: being female and being disabled. Global research consistently shows that women with disabilities are 2 to 3 times more likely to experience violence than women without disabilities. In Kenya, approximately 45% of women aged 15 to 49 experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. For women and girls with disabilities, that number is almost certainly higher, because their cases are among the least reported, least investigated, and least acted upon.
In Kajiado County, these realities are not abstract. They are the daily lived experiences of women and girls in communities where disability is misunderstood, services are scarce, and the voices of survivors are rarely centered. Hope Foundation for African Women (HFAW) decided it was time to change that, starting with the men.
The Dialogue That Shifted a Room
With support from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) under the Women with Inclusion, Growth and Strength (WINGS) Project, HFAW organized a Male Engagement Dialogue Forum in Kiserian Location, Kajiado West Sub-County. The theme was deliberate and direct: “Men as Champions for Ending Gender-Based Violence and Advancing the Rights of Women and Girls with Disabilities.”
The forum brought together 58 participants, including 50 men drawn from across the fabric of the community, boda boda riders, youth leaders, teachers, clan elders, religious leaders, and local administrators. Two government focal persons, two facilitators, and four HFAW staff members rounded out the gathering. The diversity was intentional. Change does not happen in a single room unless that room reflects the community it is trying to reach.
What followed was not a lecture. It was a reckoning.
Through participatory discussions, the men explored the root causes of gender-based violence, the specific vulnerabilities facing women and girls with disabilities, sexual and reproductive health and rights, economic empowerment, and what it truly means to be an ally rather than a bystander.
Approximately 70% of participants acknowledged that they had witnessed or were aware of GBV cases in their communities. Yet in the same breath, many admitted that cases involving women and girls with disabilities were rarely reported, rarely followed up, and rarely taken seriously. Physical violence, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and economic deprivation were named as the most common forms of abuse affecting women and girls with disabilities in their communities.
60% of participants acknowledged that harmful cultural beliefs and stigma significantly contribute to the abuse and exclusion of women and girls with disabilities. That acknowledgement, spoken aloud, in a community forum, by the men who hold cultural authority, was itself a breakthrough.
One of the most striking outcomes of the forum was what happened to how the men defined themselves.
Before the dialogue began, only 40% of participants associated masculinity with protection, equality, and non-violence. By the time the session closed, that figure had risen to nearly 85%. In a single day of honest conversation, more than double the number of men had begun to reframe what it means to be a man in their community.
This is not a small thing. Culture changes slowly, but it changes person by person, conversation by conversation. When a boda boda rider goes home and tells his neighbour what he learned, when a teacher carries these ideas into a classroom, when an elder raises it at a community baraza, the ripple extends far beyond the 58 people in that room.
“We have been watching things happen to women and calling it normal. But normal does not mean right. Today I have seen that I have a responsibility, not just as a husband or a father, but as a man in this community,” — Shared one participant.
The forum did not shy away from hard truths. Participants estimated that over 65% of women with disabilities in their communities face significant challenges accessing sexual and reproductive health services, due to inaccessible facilities, stigma, and the absence of disability-responsive information and communication. Healthcare that cannot be reached is healthcare that does not exist.
Economic vulnerability was also named as a critical driver of abuse. Participants estimated that more than 70% of women and girls with disabilities in the area lack stable sources of income, a reality that deepens dependency and limits a survivor’s ability to leave a dangerous situation. When a woman has nowhere to go and no means to survive independently, her choices narrow to almost nothing.
Perhaps most importantly, 55% of men admitted they had not actively participated in their partners’ reproductive health decisions, defaulting to a cultural belief that such matters belong exclusively to women. The forum challenged this directly, helping participants understand that reproductive health is a shared responsibility and that exclusion from these conversations is itself a form of disempowerment.
From Bystanders to Champions
By the close of the forum, the commitments made were concrete and community-rooted. Approximately 90% of participants pledged to become active community champions for GBV prevention, committing to challenge harmful norms, support survivors, and promote respectful and inclusive relationships within their families and communities.
For HFAW, this forum represents exactly the kind of community-rooted, male-inclusive advocacy that drives lasting change. Ending gender-based violence is not possible without engaging the people who hold cultural power in communities. When those people are equipped with the right information, given a safe space to reflect, and held to a standard of accountability, they become the most powerful advocates for the women and girls around them.
Champion inclusion. Help women and girls with disabilities live with dignity and independence.
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