Assessment of The Wellness of Young Women Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in Kenya

Abstract

Interventions by human rights defenders (HRDs) in society are critical in the development of society but little has been done to support HRD’s wellness. This study addresses this gap by examining the wellness challenges for young female HRDs in the course of their work in Kenya. Mixed method approach and purposively sampling was used targeting 53 respondents sampled from a cross-section of young female and male HRDs, CSOs working in human rights advocacy, and senior male and female HRDs. Results indicated that the most challenging issues for HRDs was financial constraint (38%) followed by discrimination (29%) and sexual exploitation (24%). 67% indicated to have experienced abuse in their work with 43% of the abuse faced being of sexual nature. 64% of the abuse cases were not reported for redress and of the 36% reported, 58% were not adequately addressed. The study also found that there were gaps in CSOs’ success in effecting their own policies against abuse to enhance HRDs wellness and concludes that HRDs wellness requires both structural and institutional mainstreaming to help young female HRDs in their activism. Key recommendation for the study calls for institutionalization of wellness support for HRDs within the civil society space in Kenya.