Construction of infrastructure and facilities
Protection, education, and healthcare for children in the Tangulbei area
KenyaContext
The Tangulbei region is characterized by extreme poverty, prolonged droughts, food insecurity, and a shortage of drinking water and sanitation, exacerbated by conflicts and internal displacement. The population, belonging to the Pokot community, is scattered across small villages throughout the territory, separated from one another by great distances.
In this context of high vulnerability, harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage persist.
Although education is officially considered free, in practice infrastructure maintenance is severely lacking, and the small local communities where they live must bear this cost. Children must walk dozens of kilometers to attend schools that lack sufficient classrooms, water and sanitation systems, electricity, and safe spaces.
In addition, there are numerous hidden costs, such as tuition, uniforms, supplies, or school fees, which remain a real barrier for many families and result in many children not attending school—especially girls, due to pressure to perform domestic chores, forced marriages, and the extreme difficulty in accessing menstrual hygiene products.
To address this discrimination, efforts are being made to provide elementary schools with safe havens where girls can seek refuge from FGM and forced marriage while continuing their education. However, not all schools offer this safe space, and in many cases, those that do lack adequate facilities—either because they are dilapidated or because they are makeshift spaces set up in classrooms not designed to accommodate minors.
Furthermore, food insecurity, a lack of water and sanitation, and inadequate health infrastructure have a negative impact on the population’s health, particularly among children, which jeopardizes their continued education.
Our Intervention
This project, fully funded by the AREAS Foundation and in collaboration with the Kirira Foundation, seeks to implement a comprehensive intervention strategy combining protection, education, and health, ensuring that the community’s children have access to safe environments, quality education, and basic healthcare, while addressing in a coordinated manner the factors that may limit their development and future.
It is being carried out in the Tangulbei area over a period of 5 years and consists of:
- The construction of a shelter for girls escaping FGM, providing them with a safe haven to live and focus on their studies. It will be built on the grounds of Lomuge Primary School and will have a capacity for 50 girls.
- The construction of four classrooms at the Kwokototo and Komolion primary schools (two classrooms at each), which would benefit 1,000 students.
- The provision of water, electricity, and equipment (renovation of basic medical supplies and clinical furniture) to the health clinics in Lomuge, Komolion, Kadokoi, and Tangulbei, which will improve community health services serving more than 29,000 people.
This school-clinic network covers a 13-kilometer radius, creating a zone of protection, education, and health that enables and enhances academic performance. Furthermore, it ensures that resources are distributed equitably to key areas, promotes sustainability, prevents the abandonment of outlying schools, and establishes a fair and lasting impact for the entire beneficiary population.
UN Sustainable Development Goals to which we contribute through this project:
– SDG 1. No Poverty.
– SDG 3. Good health and well-being
– SDG 4. Quality education.
– SDG 5. Gender equality.
– SDG 8. Decent work and economic growth.
– SDG 10. Reduced inequalities.
– SDG 17. Partnerships for the Sustainable Development Goals.
Project Updates
Phase 1: The construction of a shelter for girls escaping FGM:
To see how construction of this dormitory has progressed, click on the following dates to watch and listen to the videos showing the state of the construction at that time. You can also go directly to our YouTube channel.
