This booklet brings together powerful stories that reveal both the pain and the possibility within Kenya’s SRHR landscape. These are not abstract reflections, they are real encounters with discrimination, resilience, and transformative leadership.
Meaningful SRHR change takes root when those most affected take the lead.
In these pages, you will meet young women who have lived through exclusion in health facilities, fought stigma in their communities, and challenged discrimination in courtrooms. You will read about a young woman who, through the We Lead program, gained the confidence and skills to join the Kenya Medical Research Institute’s Community Advisory Group, becoming a trusted voice in shaping community-centred health research. You will follow the journey of a transgender woman whose courageous fight for legal recognition shows what persistence looks like in the face of a hostile system. And you will witness the quiet but powerful organizing of young women with disabilities in Kilifi County, whose advocacy compelled the county government to finally allocate funding for disability-responsive programs.
These stories embody what Betty Mtuweta describes in her foreword: that when young women are equipped, trusted, and supported in their diversities, they do more than overcome barriers, they redefine what change looks like.
Making the journey possible
This booklet also honors the people and partnerships that made these journeys possible. Behind each story is a network of mentors, facilitators, legal advocates, community champions, and host organizations who created the spaces where rightsholders could grow and lead. It acknowledges the tireless work of teams like the Centre for the Study of Adolescence, the steadfast leadership of individuals such as Dorcas Mwachi and Shelmith Gatwiri Maranya, and the solidarity shown by partners across Siaya, Kilifi, Nairobi, and beyond.
And it pays tribute to the courage of rightsholders; Joy Atieno, Anne Tunje, Irene Yongo, and many others, whose lived experiences shaped not just the narratives in this booklet, but the very direction of the We Lead program in Kenya. Their struggles, victories, and voices remind us that meaningful SRHR change takes root when those most affected take the lead. These stories are a testament to that truth, and an invitation to the reader to witness how courage, when nurtured, becomes a force that transforms communities, policies, and futures.
