Nyanam International
An Africa Where Widows Thrive
NYANAM + Blood:Water Partnership
In partnership with Blood:Water, Nyanam International is improving the quality of life of Nyanam widows and their children in Kisumu and Siaya counties. The WASHMI project is improving household water availability as well as facilitating climate adaptive agriculture to enhance food and nutrition security. Widows are among the women severely impacted by water insecurity. Time spent fetching water and the high cost of water during droughts impacts their income levels and limit their ability to provide for their households, while impacting their health and wellbeing.Â
The goals of this project are to:
- Train all the 2,824 widows in 118 leadership circles at Nyanam on safe hygiene and sanitation practices. Each circle will then implement their self-selected household WASH facilities project.
- Select 230 widow households with whom Nyanam will establish rainwater harvesting system and drip-irrigation for their existing climate-adaptive multi-story gardens. The improved access to water and agricultural production will benefit approximately 1000 individuals.
By the end of the project, 20% of the 2,824 widows will have successfully implemented WASH facilities at their homes, 9.6% of Nyanam widow households will have improved household water availability, with the same households experiencing 50% increase in their multistory garden vegetable yields. This project should also increase household income through sale of surplus vegetables, repurpose of money used to purchase water during dry seasons, and time used to fetch water.
Partner History
Nyanam International was formed in response to the needs of widows in the Lake Victoria region of Kenya. They are a restorative justice organization, preparing widows to be leaders of positive community transformation through holistic and integrated programs in leadership, health, livelihoods human rights, and justice and youth education. They equip widows with knowledge, skills, and tools to tackle oppressive cultural, economic, and social practices that undermine widows’ dignity and limit their agency.
Nyanam leadership circles serve as the foundation for their interventions. These circles provide a space for weekly gatherings, fostering emotional, spiritual, and financial support among widows. They use their proprietary Voice of Change initiative to implement 12 topic areas across their integrated programs. Voice of change is a methodology they have created to raise widows’ critical consciousness on widowhood stigma, its roots, and impacts, and strengthen widows’ connectedness, confidence, and competence to take practical actions for change. Once widows complete the 12 topics, they join a network of trained Nyanam widows to enhance their solidarity and collective voice for meaningful change.
Kenya Profile
Background: Following 70 years of British colonization, Africans began to protest Great Britain's rule over Kenya. In 1952, after years of unrest and rebellion, Governor Sir Everlyn Baring declared a state of emergency for the country, eventually forcing the colonial government to allow for African representation in the Legislative Council. Eight African leaders were elected, leading to the formation of the Kenya African National Union (KANU). KANU attained 83 of the 124 seats in the House of Representatives in 1963, and gained full independence later that year under Mzee Jomo Kenyatta.
In August 2010, Kenyans overwhelmingly adopted a new constitution in a national referendum. The new constitution introduced additional checks and balances to executive power and devolved power and resources to 47 newly created counties.
Country Population: 56 million people
National Languages: Kiswahili (official), English (official)
Sources: Kenya Embassy Washington, DC | CIA Factbook (2022)