STEM Education for Empowerment Project In Kenya and Ethiopia

This project aims to enhance gender equality and empower adolescent girls from marginalized communities in Ethiopia and Kenya. The project takes a multi-level and multi-stakeholder approach to address barriers adolescent girls face in sciences technology engineering and math (STEM) education and employment. Project activities include : (1) delivering training through in-person and digital methods that include STEM technical skills life skills entrepreneurship skills mentorship sexual and reproductive health and rights and work readiness; (2) providing adolescent girls with STEM industry mentorship and exposure opportunities through partnerships with technical and vocational education training and tertiary academic institutions and industry partners; and (3) improving the enabling environment for adolescent girls’ education and employment by working with duty bearers and key gatekeepers to address harmful social norms and systemic barriers. The project is estimated to reach 34 890 adolescent girls (aged 13-18) in Addis Ababa Ethiopia and Kisumu Region Kenya.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) enhanced gender-equitable participation of adolescent girls in-school from marginalized communities in the targeted regions of Kenya and Ethiopia in sciences technology engineering and math (STEM) education through tertiary academic pathways or technical and vocational education training; (2) enhanced gender-equitable participation of out-of-school adolescent girls from marginalized communities in the targeted regions of Kenya and Ethiopia in STEM-related employment; (3) increased awareness of the importance of educating adolescent girls in STEM in the targeted marginalized communities particularly among caregivers or parents adolescent boys young men and key community actors; and (4) enhanced STEM skills and work-readiness of adolescent out-of-school girls in the targeted marginalized communities.