Girl Child Empowerment and Women Development Campaign in Kenya - Case Study Example

Public Information Campaign, The case of The Girl Child Empowerment and Women Development campaign in Kenya Public Information Campaign Public information awareness is defined as the role-played by the community’s knowledge in an attempt to develop a sustainable society. It the business field, it is the act of making the public conscious of the commodity or service you are offering. Public awareness is the role of everybody in that each person has a responsibility to ensure that the people around are aware of the current issues. It has been use-full in saving the human race from difficult situations or from foreseen problems. All over the world, public information campaigns have been carried out and some have been successful while others have failed. The success of a Public campaign is determined by how well it is planned and how well the plans are implemented. According to Prante, (2012, pg 11) an effective public campaign must be well designed, implemented well and have a follow up plan. In Kenya, among the most successful public awareness campaigns is the Girl Child Empowerment and Women Development campaign that started in the year 2000. It was introduced by the president in collaboration with the ministry of Education. It came into being after the filing of a report that showed 67% of girls in the country did not have sufficient education. Kenya is a country made up of 42 ethnic groups and in many of these societies, the girl child still faces multiple discrimination by mare fact of being female. Traditional norms in the communities view the female gender as weak and because of this many potential girl children end up not being educated (Maslak, 2008, pg 83). In most cases, they are married of at very young ages an act that is unconstitutional. Those who luckily evade being married face a great opposition from the community and face risks of being subjected to violence. The girl child empowerment and development program was therefore established with a mission to eradicate this discrimination. The major function of the campaign was to educate the society on the importance of education to the girl child. Their motto was ‘all children are equal despite the sex and should have equal chances of education’ a statement derived from the countries’ constitution. They also had an aim to eradicate the culture of female genital mutilation that has been a persistent tradition across all the tribes. Early marriages and marriages without free consent was also the order of the day before the campaign started and it was their aim to reduce this cases (Maslak, 2008, pg 83). The campaign also had an aim to provide life skills, financial support to women so that they would escape the ruthless poverty and become the light to coming generation. Their last aim was encouraging women participation in the countries politics as well as advocate for women to be given chance in top management positions. All their aims worked as one in un-packing the loaded capacity in women. In the year 2000 before the start of the campaign, a research by the statistical board of Kenya showed that out of the approximate twelve million students in all the learning institutions in the country only four million were girls. This was contrary to the expected value considering the fact that from the national population of forty million citizens, 60% were female. However, the campaign was determined to change the situation despite the expected negativity (Presser & Sen, 2000, p. 20-102). Although not all communities shed the culture of female genital mutilation, the cases have reduced and it is no -longer carried out openly .Schools have experienced increased numbers of girl child enrollment. The campaign has advanced in improving women financial sates. They have introduced women self help groups that have empowered them to higher levels. Rotary groups have become common and have made women that were formerly at grass level raise their standards of living. Women political involvement has also changed and many women are now more involved in politics. Their involvement has created support to the rest of the women. A report by the statistical board of Kenya in the year 2013 have shown that the number of female students in higher level learning institutions is 51% .This is more than the expected success in just a time frame of 12 years. The campaign is still in progress and much better results are expected. The target population of the campaign is mainly women who are still in the cacoon of traditions. They also targeted the women were luckily educated at that time but had lacked the courage to be involved in leadership or political position. Indirectly, the campaign was also targeted to the men in the society particularly the uneducated who do did not see a reason to educate their girls children. However, it did not leave out the educated men as it had a message for them to enlighten the community on importance of girl child education and women empowerment. Public information campaigns involves major components which must be linked together to attain a specific goal. It is usually an interactive forum to engage the key audience so to achieve the intended specific goal (Prant, 2012, pg 11). This campaign targets the illiterate communities who still think education is a colonial thing and therefore the method of approach should be technical. I would propose that the more funds of the campaign are directed towards educating a small group among each community and use them as an example to train the others. This method could take time but in the long end work effectively. Language barrier and the technological barrier will have been eliminated and therefore reaching the target audience will be much easier. This campaign approached the issue on culture change from the top. This has faced opposition from the communities and thus slowing down the rate at which the development has occurred. Utilizing the community leaders could also prove beneficial. According to the African culture, the leaders have the mandate to make decisions for the community and convincing them is easy. I would advise the initiatives of the campaign to involve the leaders of the communities in their bid to convert their practices. Despite having shortcoming, the campaign has been successful and most of the success is based on the proper usage of media tools. Being a government initiative, the campaign has not suffered from the common financial constraints like many public awareness campaigns. They have utilized the radio media mostly as their get through in their targeted audience. The greater percentage of Kenyans listens to the radio each day and hence passing of the information has been easy. Television media has helped convert the culture-held communities by holding forums to educate them on the need for education of girl children and the disadvantages of female genital mutilation. (Osita-oliribe, 2007, pg 32) Billboards along the highways and in the cities have created a good chance for many people to have the message loud and clear. The billboards have an attractive, direct and easily memorable message on the issues. Humans have more memory of sight than hearing and therefore putting the message on billboards have been instrumental in the run for change. (Maslak, 2008, pg 83) The campaign has also utilized the Newspapers to address the issue. Newspaper media groups have been of great support by allowing them to advertise on first pages that have more readers. The information has been written in books and leaflets that are given free to the communities. Some pamphlets are printed in the native languages so that even the most un-educated get the message. The social medial media networks have created a forum for the campaign to make known its missions and pass their message. The largest population percentage is made-up of young generation and hence this has proved effective to them. They have created web pages and in facebook and twitter where they post issues that help convince the generation on the importance of what they are doing. In return, it is a measure to make sure the generation to come will find a women friendly environment. Public information campaign is present in all sectors. They benefit specific people in different ways and in certain cases; they benefit the public as a whole. The campaigns help educate the residents of a country on basic matters such as health and education. They campaigns also help restore peace in cases where the campaign involves peace. By this, they end up uniting the country or a specific region. Public information campaigns help in preparation to foreseen disasters. It is through this that people learn about situation that is to come and in turn react accordingly. It also helps in educating, informing and effecting change. In conclusion, public awareness campaigns are important and very effective if well planed and implemented. Bibliography Maslak, M. A. (2008). The structure and agency of womens education. Albany: State University of New York Press. Osita-Oleribe, O. E. (2007). Neglect of Girl-child Education: Bridging the Gap. A Case Study of a Nigerian Agrarian Northern Community. International NGO journal, 2(2), p.30-35. Prante, C.(2012). Public awareness tools. Logan, Utah: Utah State University. Presser, H., & Sen, G. (2000). Womens empowerment and demographic processes: Moving beyond Cairo. Oxford University Press. Read More