Young Positive Women living in the streets.

Kenya has an estimate of 15752 families living in the streets majority being young women living with HIV and abuse hard drugs to cope with their life situation, poverty has submitted them to scavenging, begging and picking food from rubbish for survival. These group has been subjected to marginalization and discrimination by the society making it hard for the acquire SRHR from the public health facilities this has resulted to the rise in HIV mortality among them caused during child birth and through unprotected sex. There has been an increased number of deaths caused by unsafe abortion and unattended illnesses caused by HIV virus, unintended pregnancy caused by unprotected sex has contributed to the high rise on the number street children in Kenya this due to the ignorance on the SRH needs of the young women living in the streets. 

Improved access to essential SRH services and comprehensive Sexual education will empower young women living in the streets with knowledge and skills to make informed choices about their sexual health which will reduce risky behaviors.

-Through SRH services there will be reduced HIV mortality among the young women living in the streets, by providing  Antiretroviral therapy (ART) and support for adherence for treatment.

-Family planning services will help this young women living in the streets prevent unintended pregnancies' by conducting outreaches to reach them where they are.

-Provision of access to regular STI screening ,prevention education and treatment will reduce its transmission.

-Capacity building in the society will reduce stigma and discrimination towards young women living in the streets creating an environment where this young women will feel free to seek SRH services from the public health facilities and our Drop In Centers.

-Integrating mental health and psychosocial support to address the emotional and phycological  challenges faced by this group of young women with unique SRHR.

Positive young women is a marginalized group whose sexual needs have been ignored and neglected by the society, majority of them are total orphans who found themselves in the streets, some of them  contracted HIV during birth and others cannot trace how they got infected. Integrating  sexual reproductive health services will empower these young women to make informed choices on their SRHR and get medical assistance according to their health needs, improved SRH services will reduce transmission of  STIs and death caused by unsafe abortion and complications during child birth while they live a healthy life. Conducting outreaches to educate and administer SRH services will  attract well wishers to offer other needs like food ,clothes and support for stable housing. Sensitizing the society and public health care workers will make them understand the unique sexual rights of the Positive young women living in the streets, this will create a friendly environment and trust among the service providers and the recipient encouraging this young women to seek medical support and assistance when in need, trust from the society will also benefit the young women by being offered domestic jobs by the people in the community which will reduce their dependency on begging from the streets. Offering mental health support will  help this young women be able to cope with their trauma in street life reducing their dependency on abusing drugs.

Our team is made up of  qualified clinical officers who are sensitized on how to relate with key populations, they work in our Drop In Centre and also go for the community outreaches to offer SRHR services and do follow up.. We have Peer educators who through our support and mentorship reformed from drug abuse and used to live in the streets and are now able to afford a normal lifestyle free from STIs and SRH challenges brought by living in the streets through the stipend they get from the organization and other small business that they do. They mostly educate the young women living in the streets on life skills and share their real life stories for encouragement and hope, we work with a lot of determination to change and improve lives of our fellow sisters as we view the young women living in the streets as part of us . We have continuously been working with the community since 1998 and have earned their trust through our support and friendly services. 

we are currently having 636 peer educators from all over the country and 60 young women who still live in the streets.

In the past years normally well wishers and organizations viewed the needs of people living in the streets as being food and clothes, and we end up assuming their sexual reproductive health needs which has led to the rise of STIs and HIV infection among them ,death caused by unsafe abortion has continued to rise. Marginalization and discriminations from the society made it hard for the positive young women from the streets to access SRH services from the public health care facilities. Positive Young Women will make it possible for the young women living in the street to access SRH services by doing community outreaches to facilitate them with STI and HIV testing, preventive methods, family planning methods, cancer screening and SRHR education to empower them with skill and knowledge in making informed SRH decisions. Integrating  SRH services will build trust between the young women living in the streets and our team, this will encourage  more women  to seek help and support, we will also build a relationship with the community through sensitizing them on the unique needs of the women living in the streets. When the overall SRHR needs of the young positive women living in the streets are addressed there will be an overall improvement in their quality of life leading to a better physical and mental well being.

Good Health and well being

In the next one year 70% of the positive young women living in the streets will be able to access SRH services from our Drop In Centre and through our community outreaches. The young positive women will have a prolong life from being enrolled to taking ARVs. Integrating SRH services will improve their overall well being and they will have a chance to live a healthier life.

Eradicating Poverty

Being in good health and having a sober mind means being more productive in the community and in what you do. The Young positive women living in the streets after mentorship from the peer educators will be enrolled in our organization as peer educators ,they will be receiving a stipend of 6500 every month alongside other jobs from the community.

Vocational training

we will refer and seek partnership from other organizations to refer our young positive women living in the streets for vocational trainings, they gain skills that may assist them venture into the world of employment.

stable housing

we will seek partnership that will assist in finding stable homes for the positive young living in the streets thus reducing the population of street families.

Being an organization that has been integrating SRH services to key populations in the past years and have created a good relationship with the community, it will also be impactful to work with the positive young women living in the streets. We are looking into conducting community outreaches to administer family planning, cancer screening, STI and HIV testing and giving out preventive methods, we will collaborate with well wishers to give out food and clothing to the positive Young women living in the streets as they receive SRH services, this will create a good relationship between us and the recipients, which will encourage them to seek help and support. A team of peer educators will be assigned to specific areas to be checking up and doing follow ups on the positive young women living in the streets. Once this women are mentally stable they will be taken to rehabilitation center or move in with some of our peer educators for mentorship, as they attend vocational training  and later on be enrolled as peer educators. This solution will eventually help the women living the streets transition from street life.

full time staff-200

part time staff-150

peer educators-636

we have one year since we started working on our solution, we started in a August in 2022.

Our solution team is well sensitized on human rights and how to deal with marginalized groups, we are working on ending stigma and discrimination from the society through sensitization on stakeholders. Through involving policy makers and health care workers from the government of Kenya, we will advocate and fight for the rights of the positive young women living in the streets in accessing special medical care according to their special needs. Through the community outreaches positive young women living in the streets will be able to access family planning methods, STI treatment ,HIV testing, prevention materials and cancer screening like any other person. When the positive young women living in the streets come for SRH services we will be able to train them on forming support groups, where they will be coming up with business ideas and then implement them as a group, they will be able to be referred and linked to opportunities that my benefit them from the community. 

our plan for becoming financially stable will be through grants from the government and donors.