A youth and women-led initiative advancing young women's leadership and participation in governance across Kisumu County
Across Kisumu County, young women are rising not as subjects of change, but as its architects. The SAWA Project exists to make sure they have every tool, every skill, and every network they need to lead.
The SAWA Project responds to a persistent and deeply entrenched reality: women in Kisumu County remain critically underrepresented in leadership and decision-making spaces. This is not an accident, it is the result of systemic barriers that have long limited women's access, voice, and power in governance. SAWA was designed to directly dismantle these barriers.
In Kisumu County, women occupy only a small fraction of formal leadership positions a gap that reflects deeper, interconnected barriers that young women face every day. The SAWA Project was built to confront these systemic challenges head-on:
Limited access to leadership opportunities and civic spaces
Low awareness of governance processes and rights
Economic constraints that restrict participation
Harmful socio-cultural norms that discourage women in leadership
Gender-based violence in physical and digital spaces
Technology-facilitated violence limiting women's digital engagement
To address these interlocking challenges, SAWA adopts a holistic and intersectional approach recognising that no single intervention is enough. The project integrates five core pillars, each reinforcing the others to build lasting change:
Leadership and Governance Training
Mentorship and Peer Learning
Economic Empowerment
Advocacy and Civic Engagement
Community Dialogues and Stakeholder Engagement
Together, these interventions equip young women with the skills, knowledge, confidence, and networks they need to actively participate in and influence governance processes at both community and county level.
Leadership is not something given to young women it is something they already carry. SAWA exists to create the conditions for that leadership to be seen, heard, and sustained.
SAWA directly supports a cohort of 60 young women across Kisumu County, building their capacity to engage in leadership spaces, advocate for their rights, and contribute meaningfully to policy and decision-making. These are not beneficiaries they are agents of change.
Young women's leadership does not happen in isolation. SAWA recognises that sustainable change requires shifting the environment in which young women operate. That is why the project also works directly with key stakeholders to foster gender-responsive leadership and inclusive governance across Kisumu County:
Government Actors
Civil Society Organisations
Community Leaders
By engaging these stakeholders in parallel with young women's capacity-building, SAWA ensures that the spaces young women step into are prepared to receive them and that systemic change happens from both directions at once.
A future where young women are not only included in governance spaces but are empowered to shape decisions, influence policy, and lead transformative change in their communities.
The SAWA Project is more than a programme it is a statement. A statement that young women in Kisumu County are ready, capable, and deserving of full and meaningful participation in governance. With the support of the AU–EU Youth Voices Lab and Restless Development, Dreams Redefined CBO is proud to champion this work and walk alongside these extraordinary young women.
Together, we are building a Kisumu and a Kenya where every young woman can stand in her power, speak in her voice, and shape the future she deserves.