Kenyan girls as agents of peace: Enhancing the capacity of future women peacebuilders

Abstract

The role of women in peacebuilding efforts has been recognized through various international instruments that have advanced the ability of women to access the peace table. In order for women to act as leaders, they must possess the capacity to disrupt structural, cultural, and direct forms of violence, engage in peacemaking activities, and employ prevention strategies for sustainable peace to be secured. This paper draws on qualitative research on a leadership program called Women of Integrity, Strength, and Hope (WISH) offered at the Daraja Academy, an all-girls boarding school in Kenya. The case study is situated within the larger global context of the women’s peace movement galvanized by the United Nations to highlight the potential role women may offer as peacebuilders. The WISH program engages Kenyan girls through critical peace education pedagogy to enhance capabilities required for future female architects of sustainable peace in Kenya and in the world.

Introduction: the role of women as architects of peace

Anwarul K. Chowdhury, the former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations and Culture of Peace emissary, succinctly concluded that, “the participation of women in peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding assures that their experiences, priorities, and solutions contribute to stability, inclusive governance and sustainable peace” (Chowdhury 2010a: para. 15). Including women at the peace table begins early by providing continuous messages to girls that they have the knowledge, skills, and self-worth to have their voices heard. In communities where the girl child is seen as a commodity rather than a leader, female role models are unseen, and poverty places undue responsibility on the girl child to serve the needs of the family; often, girls have little chance to sit at the peace table let alone speak at it (Brock-Utne, 2009). However, young women enrolled in the secondary school called the Daraja Academy in Kenya are breaking this pattern by participating in a program called Women of Integrity, Strength, and Hope (WISH). This paper presents the findings from research on the WISH program to demonstrate how one school is listening to girls in Kenya and responding to their sentiments through transformative curriculum that is aligned with the principles of “critical” peace education.

While women have gained access to rights within the international arena through instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) on Women, Peace and Security, these documents do not always translate to the local community where women are not treated in an equitable manner (Jenkins and Reardon, 2007). Feminist scholars insist that if these top-level messages promoting the protection and access to human rights are to be heard at the ground level, they must be translated into the local vernacular to be relevant (Merry, 2006).

Women peacemakers around the world are successfully bridging this gap by demonstrating international human rights initiatives through local actions to halt violent conflict, reverse discrimination, and safeguard freedoms (Noma et al., 2012). Women have played a significant role in transforming conflict by facilitating space to employ strategies of effective listening, fight against injustices, and offer a holistic vision to break the cycles of violence (Galtung, 1969; Noma et al., 2012). This has been documented across the globe and can be seen in Kenya, home of the first African female Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Wangari Maathai (2004). While Kenya is celebrated as a stable African nation, the last decade has been fraught with election violence (Roberts, 2012), tribal tensions (Tornquist, 2010), and acts of terrorism by the hands of extremist groups (Lind et al., 2015).

However, Kenyan women championing the path to sustainable peace such as Dr. Wangari Maathai (Beller and Chase, 2008; Maathai, 2010), Alice Nderitu (Nderitu, 2013), Sarah Akoru Lochodo (Tornquist, 2010), and Wahu Kaara (Morse, 2011) have been celebrated for their courage and ability to rise as leaders of positive social change. All of these leaders altered the perception of traditional societal norms where women were excluded by demonstrating their ability to broker peace deals in diverse communities in Kenya.

Considering these notable women were able to reverse this preconceived notion based upon patriarchal gender biases, several questions arise. (1) What skills and knowledge were required for these women to become leaders for peace? (2) How did these women overcome discriminatory practices and beliefs based in societal, cultural, and structural norms? (3) What current efforts are there to foster leadership skills to promote peace and social change for Kenyan girls in formal educational settings? While the first two questions are beyond the scope of this paper, they are indirectly addressed based upon a case study analysis focused on the leadership program, WISH, developed at the Daraja Academy.

The WISH program serves to empower Kenyan girls to recognize their own capacities as leaders to advocate for social change, understand their rights, and reinforce their essential role in the community (interview with Daraja administrator, 2016). By highlighting the WISH program as a peace education model, this paper contributes to the mapping of transformative education for peace that is “critical” (Bajaj, 2008), employs a gendered lens (Jenkins and Reardon, 2007) and promotes the ethical framework, skills, and knowledge to enhance peacebuilding capabilities (Jenkins, 2013) required for future female architects of sustainable peace (Noma, 2007; Noma et al., 2012).

Peace education

Practitioners working in a variety of contexts point to the essential role quality education contributes toward building capacity among youth to promote a vision of peace (Brantmeier and Bajaj, 2013; Harris and Morrison, 2012; Jenkins, 2013; Reardon, 1988; Smith, 2011). Peace education offers a critical lens to uncover and deconstruct structural and cultural violence embedded in societal norms to foster the knowledge and skills needed to develop values required to manifest a culture of peace ¹ (Bajaj, 2015; Chowdhury, 2010b; “Culture of Peace,” n.d.; Galtung, 1990; Galtung and Hoivik, 1971; Jenkins, 2013; Navarro-Castro, 2010). ² While peace education is recognized internationally, the field is vast and there is currently no singular commonly agreed upon definition (Bekerman and Zembylas, 2012; Jäger, 2004). However, most practitioners would agree that peace education works to re-imagine the dominant narrative that permits the argument that violence is part of human nature ³ to construct a paradigm shift where conflicts are transformed nonviolently (Jäger, 2004), human rights are realized (Bajaj, 2008; Reardon, 1997), social justice is reclaimed (Snauwaert, 2011), and sustainable development principles are employed (Brenes-Castro, 2004).

Freire (1970) and Giroux (1983) both discuss the importance of agency which is essential when thinking about how students in formal school settings can act as agents for transformative social change. Acknowledging that schools mirror the complexities of a society, Giroux (1983) increases awareness of the positive role education can play to disrupt inequities with his theoretical framework around resistance within schools (Giroux, 1983). Therefore, educators are in a powerful position to set in motion a movement within society through formal schooling to challenge the culture of violence by offering an alternative model.

A focus on gender and peace

Gendered roles ⁴ are normalized in different sectors of society and can be found in educational spaces further perpetuating these inequities resulting in diverse dimensions of oppression against girls (Brock-Utne, 1989, 2009). Researchers have documented instances of gender bias against girls in Kenya and have called on educators to address this issue through gender-sensitive programming (Chege and Sifuna, 2006; Warrington and Kiragu, 2012). Jenkins and Reardon (2007) posit that the concept of gender can be employed in educational settings to disrupt patriarchal systems to consider the possibility of an alternative vision of a holistic and inclusive peace.

Scholar-practitioners have documented various ways women and girls have been impacted by war and violent conflict (Gumru and Fritz, 2009; McKay, 1998) as well as highlighted the positive role of women in transforming violent conflict as peacebuilders (Dharmapuri, 2011; Kirk, 2004; Noma, 2007; Noma et al, 2012a). It is essential to highlight the gender disparities girls face to investigate what forms of violence are most prevalent in Kenyan society that limit the potential of the girl child and, later, how the WISH program seeks to interrupt the transmission of these inequalities.

Violence against women and girls in Kenya

Peace scholar Johan Galtung (1969) brought to light the various dimensions of violence through his distinction of direct, structural, and cultural violence. He explains that direct violence is visible and may result in physical harm suffered at the hands of the oppressor. Conversely, structural violence may have a less immediate impact than direct violence and therefore may go unnoticed. Structural violence, “kills, although slowly, and un-dramatically from the point of view of direct violence” (Galtung and Hoivik, 1971: 73). This form of violence might be seen in abject poverty that decreases the ability to meet one’s needs leading to a shortened lifespan. Structural violence may also be referred to as a social injustice and may be institutionalized into the foundation of a society in a systematic manner through legal and political channels (Galtung, 1969). Cultural norms may perpetuate injustices through what he refers to as cultural violence which is, “the symbolic sphere of our existence – exemplified by religions and ideology, language and art, empirical science and formal science (logic, mathematics) – that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or structural violence” (Galtung, 1990: 291). Galtung diagrams these three forms of violence – direct, structural, and cultural – into a triangle of violence to demonstrate the interconnected and fluid nature of these actions that negate the realization of peace (Galtung, 1990).

This distinction is essential when considering the rich diversity of traditions celebrated by 42 recognized tribes living within the borders of Kenya (Balaton-Chrimes, 2011). Furthermore, Kenya is home to many immigrants and offers temporary residency to over 600,000 refugees and asylum seekers from the region (UNHCR, 2015). In order to engage a pluralistic perspective, it is essential to honor the diversity of cultural practices and acknowledge the forces of globalization and neo-colonial practices that may impose an alternative identity upon Kenyan’s residents (Maathai, 2010).

Culture, as described by Dr. Maathai, can act as “a double-edged sword that can be used as a weapon to strike a blow for empowerment or to threaten those who would assert their own self-expression or self-identity” (Maathai, 2010: 164). Therefore, it is crucial to raise awareness of oppressive cultural norms and educate girls on their rights, illuminate their voices, and bolster their abilities to make informed choices about their lives. While there are many norms that Kenyans celebrate as a part of their cultural wealth (Yosso, 2005), there are other practices that young generations of girls are speaking out against.

Daraja Academy students originate from diverse rural and urban areas throughout Kenya where the communities are locked in a cycle of material scarcity. Their families are surviving under severely impoverished living conditions that are further exacerbated by stagnated economic opportunities available to the girls upon reaching womanhood. Many of the Daraja students suffer from what Brock-Utne (2009) articulates as the process of “feminization of poverty” which is the international phenomenon resulting in the disproportionate suffering of females when families are faced with abject poverty.

Students from the Daraja Academy reported that girls in their communities are also at risk of female circumcision, early marriage, and other forms of gender-based violence (Student focus groups, 2015 and 2016). All of the Daraja Academy students shared a similar story of their struggle to gain access to quality education at the secondary school level. According to international reports on the girl child in Kenya, 26% of girls are married before the age of 18 (UNICEF, 2014) and 11% of girls between the ages of 15 and 19 undergo the practice of female circumcision ⁵ (The DHS Program, 2015). In terms of educational access, 83% of girls are enrolled in primary school, yet just about half of those girls continue onto secondary school (UNICEF, 2014). In addition, girls reported challenges such as the inequitable distribution of household duties, limitations on land rights, and an overall feeling that their voices, opinions, and ideas were not always valued in their communities due to their age and gender (student focus groups, 2015 and 2016). Recent reports indicate that one in five women in Kenya is a survivor of gender-based violence (Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kenya to the UN 2013).

The Kenyan government has responded to these gender disparities with strong statements made to the UN Commission on the Status of Women, and has implemented new laws such as the anti-early marriage laws (Marriage Act, 2014), anti-female circumcision laws (Female Genital Mutilation Act, 2011) and also educational policies (Education Sector Policy on Peace Education, 2014) promoting positive and negative peace to halt direct, cultural, and structural forms of violence (“Education Sector Policy,” 2014; Kenya Law, n.d.; “28 Too Many,” n.d.). The following section offers a brief overview of the Kenyan initiative to educate for peace to identify how the WISH program is reinforcing this national effort at the local level.

National policy on peace education in Kenya

The government of Kenya is one of the few in the world to institute a national policy related to peace education ⁶ (“Education Sector Policy,” 2014). The development of the Education Sector Policy on Peace Education was initiated in response to the 2007/08 post-election violence that left an estimated 1500 dead, 300,000 forcibly displaced and 3000 rape survivors (“Interview with Mary Kangethe,” 2012; Roberts, 2012). The ethnic violence witnessed by the world during this time rendered the country in dire need of both reconciliation efforts and prevention strategies to avoid violence in future elections. In response, the Kenyan Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MoEST) supported by UNICEF and the UNHCR initiated the integration of a Peace Education Programme into the primary schools systems that was further institutionalized in 2014 as national policy (Kangethe, 2015; Lauritzen, 2016). The policy is aligned with the 2010 Kenyan Constitution and the Kenyan Vision 2030 initiative and has reached over 8500 educators in the country (“Education Sector Policy,” 2014; Mendenhall and Chopra, 2016). It is essential to note how peace education is conceptualized according to policy in Kenya.

Peace education aims to employ participatory, interactive, experiential and transformative teaching approaches that enhance the learner’s ability to internalize knowledge, values, skills and attitudes for peace. Encouraging self-expression through co-curricular activities such as art, music or drama presents important opportunities for transmitting messages of peace, non-violence and respect. Peace clubs also provide a platform where the skills that promote harmonious coexistence can be learned and practiced. (“Education Sector Policy,” 2014: 10)

The majority of the curriculum that has been developed thus far at the national level is targeted for primary school students; however, there are current efforts underway to expand the program to secondary school levels (Lauritzen, 2016; Mendenhall and Chopra, 2016). While the MoEST and the WISH program at the Daraja Academy were developed independently, they both aim to reach a similar goal to align the MoEST Life Skills Curriculum to facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills required to develop an ethical stance for peace (administration, 2015, personal communication).

Methodology: research purpose and design

In 2012 Alice Nderitu, Kenyan Women Peacemaker, ⁷ spoke to the Daraja students about her experience as a former commissioner for the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) (“Alice Nderitu of Kenya,” 2012). Nderitu’s work to establish social cohesion in the aftermath of the election violence resonated with many of the students who struggle with ethnic and tribal tensions in their communities (personal communication, 2015). Inspired by Nderitu, a group of students founded a Peace Club and expressed interest in gaining the knowledge and skills necessary to develop a career in peacebuilding (interviews with students and administration, 2015, 2016). The Daraja Academy administration and partners ⁸ listened to the students’ interest and invited the author, as a peace educator, to design an interactive workshop centered on the lives of Kenyan Women PeaceMakers. Through this collaborative voluntary project, the author was inspired to formally examine the methodology and pedagogical approach of the WISH program and began the research in 2013. Practicing engaged scholarship, the author continued to support the development of lessons on peace, human rights, and conflict resolution through the creation of new lesson plans based on the findings of the 2015 site visit that were piloted as part of the WISH program.

Drawing from the methodology employed by Hantzopoulos (2011) to examine the model of one school, the author conducted site visits in 2015 and 2016 focused on the impact of the WISH program from the student, teacher, and administrative perspective. The findings presented in this paper represent the culmination of the research conducted both during the site visits and through off-site research since 2013 on the WISH program. Throughout this work, the author has maintained regular communication with the administration of the school to offer constructive feedback according to the findings.

During each one-week site visit, the author stayed on campus and was immersed into the school environment, the surrounding culture, and the lives of the students. The author shadowed two different Daraja students throughout their day, observed WISH classes, shared meals with an assigned “family” of students, and participated in extra-curricular activities such as the student-led spiritual time and organized sports. Detailed field notes were taken each day, transcribed for further analysis and cross-referenced with notes from previous correspondence with the school administration.

The author conducted focus groups using semi-structured questions in both 2015 and 2016 with current students from Forms 1–4 (n=22), administrators (n=5), and Daraja alumnae (n=3). All of the students, alumnae, and administrators were given a detailed written release form and provided a verbal explanation prior to initiating each focus group. Students were provided copies of the forms and a letter was presented to the administration for students’ parents or guardians to be notified of the study. The study was conducted in English, the official language of instruction at the Daraja Academy. Special care was taken to ensure that students understood the release forms and the questions by taking time to rephrase or have peers translate any questions that were not understood.

Data was coded using QSR Nvivo software by creating categories that emerged from the qualitative interviews with the students and administrators (Creswell and Clark, 2011). In addition, data was collected from the field notes, a document review of the four-year WISH curriculum, published blog articles authored by the students, and content from the website and social media. The data from these sources were also coded according to themes and triangulated with the themes that emerged from the interviews.

Case study: Daraja Academy WISH program

The Women of Strength, Integrity and Hope (WISH) program at the Daraja Academy

In 2008, an American couple teamed up with an all-Kenyan staff to realize a vision where poverty-stricken girls who demonstrated high academic potential, illustrated the qualities of leadership, and expressed a desire to promote positive social change could attend secondary school. As a result, the Daraja Academy opened their doors in 2009 as a non-profit school offering tuition-free education to girls in Kenya. Daraja is Swahili for the word “bridge” to acknowledge that the school aspires to increase access for girls to reach their full potential (personal communication, 2015).

In their inaugural year, the Daraja administration recognized that something was missing in their curriculum (personal communication, 2015). As the first group of students arrived from all corners of the country, the team felt ill prepared to support the new students based on the tremendous gap they felt existed in their curriculum. In response, the administration designed the first lessons for the Women of Integrity, Strength and Hope program. Since the inception of the Daraja Academy, the school has served girls from 30 of the 42 tribes in the country (personal communication, 2015). Currently (2016), over 100 students representing over 15 tribes from across the country are enrolled in the school and are welcomed as “Women of WISH!”; an identity that is at the core of the school culture.

The aim of the Daraja Academy’s WISH program is to “encourage the girls to share their stories and rebuild their sense of inner self-worth” (Daraja, 2011: 9). Through the innovative curriculum, students are able to explore issues of identity and self-awareness while gaining skills on leadership for social change (administration, 2016, personal communication). WISH classes are integrated as a mandatory non-tested subject once a week for Forms 1-4 and are aligned to meet the Kenyan MoEST Life Skills Curriculum Standards. The WISH lessons also draw from the foundational pillars of the school that embolden the students to: (1) be accountable for the role you play at Daraja, neither neglecting it, nor abusing it; (2) maintain open communication, speak honestly and listen effectively; (3) embrace differences and treat all with dignity and respect; (4) every day, leave it better than you found it (“Four Pillars,” n.d.). Through pedagogy that promotes critical thinking and engages in dialogic practices, WISH classes provide students the space to practice these pillars in a secure environment.

During the three breaks between each term, students are required to conduct a total of 30 hours toward a service-learning project in their own community (“Women’s Empowerment,” n.d.). This component reinforces the WISH lessons through the application of skills they have learned. Service-learning projects may include volunteering at a local organization or working with younger girls to teach WISH lessons that address the needs within a student’s community (personal communication, 2015).

“WISH is the heart of Daraja”: youth responses to peace curricula

Leadership skills for girls

When the students were prompted to offer an example of their favorite WISH lesson, many of them referenced a moment when they strengthened their leadership skills. Students reported the essential role that self-reflective exercises played in understanding their abilities as leaders, “You are taught in WISH to understand yourself” (student focus group, 2015). Intrapersonal skills are emphasized in the curriculum through identity work and reinforced through a practice of maintaining a WISH journal, meditating, and by offering a space for the girls to express their emotions in a supportive environment. According to peace educators (Bajaj, 2015; Jenkins, 2013), continuous reflective practices are necessary for learners (and educators) to build their capacity as peacebuilders. Students reported that leadership lessons helped them gain communication skills, reinforced a positive self-image, taught them to be resilient, and instilled the characteristics of confidence, strength, courage, and hope.

Furthermore, students articulated specific qualities of a positive leadership that include the need to act in an equitable, non-hierarchical, and empathetic manner. A majority of the responses focused on the desire to utilize their leadership skills to teach other girls about WISH, fight against corruption, and act as positive role models by striving for and attaining their future goals.

I think we should uphold WISH very well, because with WISH I think even if you go outside you won’t be corrupt like this, like corrupt leaders, you see like in Kenya today you will have everything corrupt…so if you upheld WISH very well and you go and spread it out, I think we will do away with corruption in the country. (student focus group, 2015)

This enhanced vision to eradicate structural forms of violence and the ability to embody an attitude that girls can achieve their preferred future indicates an increased sense of agency. This is also visible in the students’ ability to sharpen their critical lens to focus on oppressive power dynamics prevalent in their lives.

Individual and coalitional agency for social change

According to Jenkins (2013), peacebuilding competencies include the ability to respond to a conflict in a strategic manner and to transform destructive attitudes into more peaceful beliefs. Similarly, Bajaj (2014) posits that a core competency for students of critical peace education is to foster the capacity to be agents of change either through individual action or coalitional agency to protect the rights of others. Both Jenkins (2013) and Bajaj (2014) point to the need for learners of peace to take action in various ways such as preventing injustice or advocating for accountability mechanisms when prevention strategies fail.

Daraja students reported how WISH classes allowed them to discover their voice, explore their emotions, work in solidarity with one another as “sisters,” and push past challenges. Many of the students reported a liberating sense with their newfound ability to speak in front of a group and have their voices heard after years of being silenced. The practice of public speaking through a pedagogy that emphasizes group discussions and presentations also created a non-hierarchical relationship among the students and teachers which is one of the main principles of peace education (Reardon, 1988).

Some of us came here when we were shy, you can’t stand in front of people, you cannot communicate with teachers, but…by going through WISH classes, we were able to not fear our teachers, but respect them. So WISH class has helped us to have that courage to speak to them to talk to them so we have created a bond that has bind us together and that is why we act as a family. (student focus group, 2015)

Many girls pointed to the realization that the safe environment coupled with the unique familial relationships developed among the students fostered trust and deeper connections.

Perhaps due to the transformative nature of the curriculum, many of the girls reflected on their desire to share WISH lessons within their home communities. This increased sense of agency was reported on the individual level, but also as a form of coalitional agency as several girls articulated the desire to stand up for the rights of other girls (Bajaj, 2012). One student dropped her head into her hands in tears and whispered, “I feel sorry for the girls in my community who don’t have WISH” (student focus group, 2016). Many girls voiced this frustration around the tension that exists in recognizing their own opportunity to unveil their agency while witnessing ongoing gender bias in their home communities against their sisters and friends. However, some reported that they were able to apply what they learned in WISH through various actions such as mediating a familial conflict, advocating against female circumcision of a sibling, counseling their peers, or through community awareness activities to educate girls on WISH lessons.

[W]hen we go back to our villages maybe our siblings there don’t know more about WISH and they need to…get to know themselves…to get information about how they live…Let’s say a girl has been raped and you have more information…because you are a woman of WISH, you can teach them…not be demoralized about the act, you teach them good qualities and now that if you need to become a leader, you can talk to those children in a way that they can change their lives. (student focus group, 2015)

One Daraja alumna shared a story about a discussion she had with a friend about the high percentage of girls from their village who were choosing to marry at a young age instead of furthering their education. The drop out rate in secondary school is higher for girls than boys and may be contributed to pre-marital pregnancy, sexual harassment in the school environment, and cultural beliefs negating the value of educating the girl child (Chege and Sifuna, 2006; Warrington and Kiragu, 2012). For many girls in Kenya, a quality secondary education is the key to rise above the perils of poverty (Bora, Wambui, and Wanjiku, 2014). Furthermore, education can act as an emancipatory force for women to fight against oppression, injustices, and exploitation (Owano, 2014). However, many Kenyan girls are not afforded the opportunity to continue their education and instead are forced into a life of servitude; convinced early marriage is the only viable path to survive.

She was telling me about a lot of girls being pregnant and dropping out of school and most of them, they prefer being married rather than going to school because going to school everyday is becoming hard. So they prefer getting married and staying with a man who can provide everything to them, they just stay at home, give birth and do this path. (student focus group, 2015)

Daraja students also reported on this issue in a public space through an online news article focused on women’s issues.

Many of my classmates are either married off after finishing primary school or not even given a chance to finish. Others drop out of school to go and provide for their family by becoming prostitutes and others go and become house helps where they face a lot of problems for instance they are underpaid, given lots of work and even sexually harassed. (Bora, 2014: para. 4)

The Daraja alumna spoke to her mother and received her support to approach the village chief to request an opportunity to hold a meeting with the girls. As a result, girls from her community were able to discuss these issues and share their stories in a similar manner as the Daraja alumna had done in WISH classes, only this time she was the facilitator.

Ten girls who attended the meeting were pregnant and sought the advice of the Daraja alumna. In the following quote, she comments on the gravity of this task to act as a role model to her fellow community members and recalls seeking guidance from her WISH journal.

I had to go back and read my papers, my WISH papers, because sometimes you have to be prepared mentally for something like that…So I had to go and prepare my time and I went and talked to them and…most of them appreciate what I have done; like making an impact into their lives. (student focus group, 2015)

There were several other accounts of Daraja students who either had the desire to teach WISH or had already successfully navigated a path to act as a facilitator of WISH in their home community. During a site visit to a local Maasai village, another Daraja graduate shared how she had initiated a WISH club upon returning to her home. This student utilized her social capital as a member of an influential family and was able to align her efforts with the village chief, the local teachers, and a non-governmental organization to teach WISH classes to young girls. Through her efforts she coordinated a meeting with 40 women to advocate for the importance of education for girls and speak out against early marriage. Through the knowledge these two students gained, they were able to successfully spread WISH beyond the walls of the classroom.

A gendered perspective to question power

Due to the fact that WISH was birthed out of the need to address gender disparities that adversely affect Kenyan girls, the curriculum inherently possesses a gendered lens. Students not only recognized how unique the WISH curriculum is within the formal education sector, but also reported that others notice something different about a Daraja girl.

WISH is also an empowering…because if you compare Daraja graduates with other students who graduate from Daraja, the community looks at Daraja students, or the girls who have graduated as…people with great minds who look at things at different angles. (student focus group, 2015)

The students took great care in their responses and held the program, the facilitators, and the opportunity to engage in this emancipatory educational program with the utmost respect and reverence.

Through increased access to knowledge about women’s bodies, their rights, and the consequences of early marriage, premarital sex, and female circumcision many girls are able to make informed decisions and also help others do the same.

WISH has helped me a lot because in my community they don’t consider like a young girl. If you are a girl, you are nothing. So, it has helped me go and face other girls, traditional girls and tell them more about sex – the consequences of sex and what sex can lead to. (student focus group, 2015)

Through fostering a trusting environment within WISH, students are able to express their concerns regarding formally taboo issues like sex. Furthermore, the WISH curriculum challenges power dynamics as well as cultural and societal norms that marginalize girls in Kenya. Critical discussions regarding early marriage and female circumcision are integrated in the term on sex education and serve to disrupt these practices and reinforce national and international laws to protect girls.

Holistic dimensions of WISH

According to Jenkins (2013), education for peacebuilding requires five key competencies that include: (1) analysis of a context to critically assess the root causes of violence; (2) responsiveness to engage in methods of nonviolent strategies to address the structural, cultural or direct forms of violence; (3) a foundation of prevention to maintain positive peace through the development of community relationships that help to foster more just and equitable spaces; (4) the ability to envision a preferred future to work toward a culture of peace; and (5) a transformation of values toward a nonviolent vision and a peaceful worldview. Examples of all five of these competencies can be extracted from the data collected as will be demonstrated in the following analysis of the students’ collective response to tribalism. The theme of tribalism is highlighted as it was a main driver of the 2007/08 post-electoral violence and is still a prevalent tension today with presidential elections in 2017 (Roberts, 2012).

Many students were able to articulate the issue of tribalism as one of the root causes of violent conflict in their communities. Some students shared their commitment to respond to tribal tension through nonviolent strategies and demonstrated their willingness to reject these biases. One student co-founded the school’s Peace Club based on her negative experiences rooted in tribal conflict (personal communication, 2015). She reflected on her resistance to tribalism and activated her story by sharing it in a published blog post where she recounted a time when she invited a fellow classmate into her home (Doherty, 2014). The student’s mother declined her guest out of fear that manifested from the fact that the young girl was from a rival tribe. The Daraja student insisted that their guest would not harm their family, “Mom, would you harm a house guest just because they were from another tribe?” (Doherty, 2014: para. 8) and welcomed her friend for the night. Through nonviolent interventions these two Daraja Academy students employed strategies to dismantle this form of cultural violence.

Other girls shared this sentiment as they reflected on how WISH had built positive relationships founded in respect and peaceful coexistence, thus countering tribalism.

Now in WISH we are taught unity and the effects and consequences of tribalism now that we are in school…we have different tribes in our school, now you live together as sisters, now when you go there [to the community] you will…notice others fighting with others saying “this is not my tribe…” you’ve gained an act of equality and respecting others as the act of brotherhood and you will treat each other as sisters and brothers. (student focus group, 2015)

Peace educators have drawn from the contact hypothesis articulated by Gordon Allport (1954) to put forth the theory that increased personal interactions among diverse parties in equitable environments could diminish prejudice feelings (Bajaj, 2011). Allport’s contact hypothesis suggests that spending time with the preconceived “other” can decrease bias among opposing groups. However, recent research indicates that certain conditions such as cooperation, a supportive institutional foundation and the presence of equality and a common goal among the group must be in place for this process of humanization to occur (Niens, 2009). Daraja students shared numerous stories of how they benefited from spending time with their “sisters” and enjoyed being part of the Daraja “family” (field notes, 2015, 2016). However, many students also reflected on the challenge of returning back to their home community where tribalism may be embedded in the minds of their family members and friends.

In one conversation, a Daraja student shared that she did not harbor any ill will toward a classmate who was a member of a rival tribe that had committed mass killings against her tribe when they were both children (personal communication with student, 2015). Violent conflicts among pastoral communities in Kenya have caused widespread bloodshed and forced displacement, furthering tensions among different tribal groups (Mwangi, 2006). When prompted why she offered her heart in forgiveness, she pointed to the fact that she was able to see the humanity in her classmate though her shared experiences at the school. The philosophy of unity is reinforced throughout the school through the “Pillars” and exercised in the WISH classes.

I think the culture in Daraja is different because in Daraja we are taught how to be united, to be respect, to be honest, all the good qualities of a good leader…we are different tribes in this school and we are taught in the WISH class to respect other people’s opinions. (student focus group, 2015)

Furthermore, when considering their role in navigating these tribal tensions, the students were able to envision a preferred future that disrupts stereotypes and replaces them with empathy and acceptance.

In Daraja we have different communities, different religions, and different cultures. So, by learning WISH we get to…know how to embrace differences…Like in Kenya we usually have tribal clashes, so if I learn WISH and I am being taught there to embrace the differences. I will get to…know that we are all the same and I’ll have to understand her just…as a person from my own community and that will create peace even in the country as a whole. (student focus group, 2015)

While peacebuilding is a term as widely debated as peace education (Barnett et al., 2007), the following definition is offered by John Paul Lederach, leading peace theorist in the field:

[Peacebuilding] is understood as a comprehensive concept that encompasses, generates, and sustains the full array of processes, approaches, and stages needed to transform conflict toward more sustainable, peaceful relationships…Metaphorically, peace is seen not merely as a stage in time or a condition. It is a dynamic social construct. (as cited in Greenberg, Mallozzi, and Cechvala, 2012: 9)

Returning to the work of Jenkins (2013) to identify peacebuilding competencies, the Daraja students demonstrated these abilities through their attitudes and behaviors to reject tribalism and adapt methods of conflict transformation to establish peaceful relations between rivalry tribes. Johan Galtung, in his enthusiasm for youth to be included in peace efforts, stated, “Youth who are good at conflict transformation, peace building, and peacemaking should be nursed, trained, encouraged, and rewarded…Youth may well be our best protection against further deterioration toward total war” (Galtung, 2006: 276).

Discussion and concluding thoughts

Future steps

In rolling out the Peace Education Program, Mary Kangethe, the MoEST National Coordinator for the program, identified the need to offer teachers additional training, materials, and support (Kangethe, 2015). Educators working in programs similar to WISH would also benefit from support to increase access to new pedagogical strategies to teach peace (Bajaj, 2015; Murithi, 2009; Zembylas, 2011). In addition, with the ever-changing nature of conflict, it is recommended for educators to consider conflict sensitive approaches to reflect on and respond to the needs of the context (“Conflict Sensitive Education,” n.d.). Furthermore, when integrating lessons focused on human rights, educators may need to check in with their students to ensure that they are not compromising their own safety and well-being by acting as advocates of social change (Bajaj, 2012).

WISH acts as the “heart of Daraja,” the students may be challenged to keep this spirit alive once removed from the unified culture found at the boarding school. Educators working with similar models may also need to enhance strategies to bridge these transformative educational spaces with the realities found in the students’ home communities. Recalling Allport’s contact theory (1954) is only effective under specific conditions (Niens, 2009), students need to gain support when stepping out into society where their voices are once again hushed. Even if educators are able to foster the conditions required to shatter deep feelings of prejudice, the process to support the student must continue even after they leave the confines of their school environment. Once a student has released negative biased beliefs, learned negotiating skills and identified their rights, how can she take this knowledge with her in other non-sheltered spaces of society to enact change in a safe manner?

The WISH program: a pedagogy of peace

While the foundation of the WISH program is to enhance agency among formerly silenced girls to reach their full potential, the results of this research suggest that the WISH program also advances the rights of girls and increases their capacities as peacebuilders. Through an emancipatory pedagogy “women of WISH” are able to surpass societal limitations based on gender bias and envision a future where women can break patterns of direct, structural, and cultural violence. The Daraja students point to the WISH program as a space that fosters an increased sense of agency, a deeper understanding of themselves, and an increased ability to act as leaders in their communities (student focus group, 2015).

The WISH curriculum places a strong emphasis on dynamics of power, identity, and cultural norms related to gender issues while connecting the girls to the needs of their own lives. Furthermore, a gendered lens is woven throughout the WISH lessons that has resulted in the embodiment of an identity as women of integrity, strength, and hope. The four themes that emerged from the data include: (1) leadership skills through intrapersonal reflection, confidence building exercises, and communication training; (2) the ability to explore agency by questioning gender roles, engaging in service-learning projects, and exercising their right to full expression; (3) gender-sensitive curriculum that galvanizes students to teach WISH in their communities, raise awareness of gender injustices, and empower other girls; and (4) the attitudes, knowledge, and skills to enhance peacebuilding capabilities to analyze, address, and prevent conflict and promote positive peace. Therefore, the Daraja Academy WISH program is an example of peace education that is critical, places gender as a focal point, and builds peacebuilding capacities in Kenyan girls (Bajaj, 2008; Jenkins, 2013; Jenkins and Reardon, 2007).

The central argument of this paper is that critical peace education programs like WISH ought to be supported, expanded, and further institutionalized to advance the goals set forth in the UNSCR 1325 which are echoed in the Kenyan Constitution (2010) and Kenya Vision 2030 to ensure that the next generation of women have the ability to act as leaders to destabilize societal norms of violence and promote sustainable peace. Through access to quality education that includes programs like WISH coupled with academic rigor, it is believed that girls can surpass their structural blockades and blossom into the future leaders and peacebuilders of Kenya. The Daraja students have voiced their desires to serve as role models for the next generation of girls to promote peace and social change. This, in turn, may shift the paradigm toward a more gender-just peace in Kenya.