The male champions taking on FGM and child marriage in Tharaka Nithi
Geoffrey Gitonga, a male champion against FGM and child marriage in Tharaka Nithi County, during an interview on December 10, 2014.
What you need to know:
- Men hold public barazas, church forums and use school meetings to sensitise parents, students and locals to teenage pregnancy.
- Child Fund has trained 105 teachers, 210 pupils, 105 board of management members and 90 community members as champions to identify child abuse cases.
When we make our way this chilly evening to Gaceraka Chief's Camp in Chuka Igamba Ng’ombe, Tharaka Nithi, we find Geoffrey Gitonga addressing a gathering of men and women.
They are all attentive and occasionally nod their heads in concurrence with Gitonga. On listening keenly, we learn that Gitonga is creating awareness of child protection. He is in particular taking them through human rights for the girl, the most vulnerable in the Tharaka Community.
“As parents, guardians and caregivers, it’s important that you know the human rights that your children and more so girls enjoy. If your girl is, for example, violated, you need to know the reporting pathways to ensure she gets the justice she deserves,” Gitonga tells the forum.
When we later get a chance to speak to him, we learn that he is among male champions who have taken charge of the fight against FGM and child marriage. These harmful practices are rampant in Tharaka Nithi. Gitonga opens up that he started his activism against harmful cultural practices after learning of a girl who had been defiled by her own father.
“As a man who is a father of girls, I could not understand how a man could defile his own daughter. Through the joint efforts of the community, the man was arrested, arraigned and jailed.”
From that time, he has never looked back and has been leading initiatives at the grassroots aimed at taming retrogressive cultural practices. The father of five (three girls and two boys) says he has been a male champion for the past 15 years.
“In the course of my work, I have been trained by organisations, including Men End FGM and Child Fund. My passion for activism emanates from seeing girls discriminated against, including being subjected to retrogressive cultural practices like female genital mutilation, defilement and being denied education.”
To create awareness of the rights their daughters enjoy, Gitonga terms it important to do capacity building on human rights and reporting pathways. “There is a need for more awareness so that the people know what human rights entail and the rights their children enjoy.”
The male champions engage fellow men and recruit them as allies to discourage retrogressive practices. James Njeru, a senior assistant chief, supports efforts by Gitonga and his colleagues, saying girls must be protected. “We must ensure girls enjoy their rights and, among others, have access to education by making sure they go to school. It is also our duty to ensure girls are shielded from harmful cultural practices like FGM and child marriage.”
Tharaka Nithi is the only county in the Mount Kenya region where FGM is still rampant. According to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022, it has the highest prevalence of 27 per cent. Prolonged droughts have been blamed for driving families to “sell off” their girls as a survival strategy.
The area is also known to witness a surge in child marriage during December holidays, as girls who undergo FGM are deemed “ready” for marriage. These holidays expose girls to unsafe sex, contributing to rising teenage pregnancies and unsafe abortions.
Dennis Mutwiri, the Igamba-Ng’ombe children’s officer, is another male champion spearheading an effort to fight for the girl. Citing statistics, he says girls are more vulnerable because of their gender. He acknowledges that FGM is being practised, though secretly.
Read: Meet Samuel Lolkitekui, retired police officer leading fight against harmful practices in Samburu
“FGM prevalence in the area has really gone down because of the robust campaigns to eradicate the vice that we have been undertaking. Many perpetrators, including mothers and relatives, have been arrested and charged in court.”
He notes that the Anti-FGM Act, 2011, has greatly helped reduce FGM. “The arrests and subsequent arraignment of several perpetrators have made the locals who were still practising FGM to fear. A famous cutter was recently convicted and is currently serving a jail sentence, which has acted as a deterrent to those who were abetting the vice. This year, we have not recorded any cases.”
The children’s officer, however, observes that Kangaroo courts have been the biggest hindrance to war on FGM and children marriage. He adds that they are conducting awareness to educate residents on the dangers of FGM and child marriage and what the law says about the vices.
Dennis notes that teenage pregnancy remains their main challenge, with 249 cases having been recorded in 2024. This was, however, an improvement from 500 in 2022. “The teenage pregnancy prevalence is coming down because of awareness campaigns. We have been holding public barazas, church meetings and using school meetings to sensitise parents, students and locals to teenage pregnancy. The challenge is that many survivors shield and fail to disclose the perpetrators.”
Due to high cases of FGM and child marriage, the is benefitting from a project named Tujukumike. This is funded by Child Fund and implemented by Child Rise.
Faith Wambua, a child protection specialist at Child Fund, says the project is fighting FGM and child marriage. “In conjunction with the Children’s Department, we have trained 105 teachers, 210 pupils, 105 board of management members and 90 community members as champions who can identify child abuse cases, more so those that touch on girls. They have been trained in referral pathways in instances where girls or boys are violated.”
She adds that they have also trained 36 child protection actors across the county. “Our training has focused on duty bearers, with the Tharaka-Nithi County Children Advisory Council benefitting from training in gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and school-based violence protection.”
The officer reveals that they have refurbished five gender desks in police stations across Tharaka Nithi with a view to making them child-friendly. The project also spearheads operations to rescue girls at risk of FGM and child marriage and provide shelters for them. They are conducting family sensitisation, which entails educating families on their role in safeguarding girls and supporting them to achieve their full potential.
Coupled with persistent challenges such as child marriage, teenage pregnancies, and unsafe abortions, these issues have entrenched cycles of violence against women and girls. Child Fund has been at the forefront of addressing these challenges through rescue operations, in collaboration with the Department of Children’s Services, providing at-risk girls with safe spaces and support and community capacity building, working with child protection champions to challenge harmful practices. They have also been engaging male champions to discourage retrogressive norms and promote gender equity.
