ICS SP in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (MOE) acknowledged 8 schools in Seme and 2 in Muhoroni as intervention schools in their operation year 2021/2022. Ranen Girls is among the 8 schools that benefited from the ICS SP Life Skills program, EVAC training and other Mentorship sessions.
Ranen girl’s population has blossomed over the years from 23 girls in 2016 to 313 girls. Ranen girls have a high population of children coming from under-privileged backgrounds whose families live hand to mouth. The school is located in a rural setting, proving difficult for learners to know about their rights and freedom. Awareness of these fundamental contemporary issues is lacking. They are not well equipped on how to report cases of abuse, referrals and linkages on the very essential issues.
8 mentors identified in their respective communities were trained by ICS SP VACiS program on Life Skills and Mentorship were attached to the schools. The Life Skill’s teacher highlights great improvement within two weeks of interaction as they’re willing to share more information and seek help.
Through interactive sessions, within the first month they had only registered 20 girls; through the safe space provided the numbers of girls who asked questions and shared their experiences incredibly improved as they started owning the session, they grew to 50 girls. They were more punctual as more attended the session. This led to creation of 3 safe spaces consisting of 163 girls.
The Mentor successfully covered 12 modules as contained in the ICS Life Skills manual such as negotiation, communication, self-esteem, self-awareness, empathy just to mention a few. Through interactions with the learners, self-esteem, self-awareness and communication were the most mentioned modules that have created a lot of change in their lives.
“I thank ICS for the Life Skills sessions, I used to be shy, I could be punished for someone’s mistake, right now my self-esteem is high, and I fight for my rights,” Says a form 2 girl.
The Guidance and counseling department echoes that girls have become friendly with teachers, they easily share their challenges they undergo such as parental neglect, and this has helped to solve many issues on child protection.
I can confidently say, ICS SP Life Skills training has produced the highest number of active debates ever in Ranen Girls, Says the Debates teacher.
Through CAREER TALK, the majority of the girls can make informed decisions of who they want to be in the future, there is a high level of self-awareness and positive expression, a clear indication of personal motivation.
“I used to just attend classes with no focus, but since ICS SP took us through career talk, I challenged myself. I want to be a Doctor, I will make use of my teacher and ICS SP mentor to advise me,” Says a form 3 girl.
Remarkably, ICS SP is currently engaging a Mentor to walk each girl through a therapy session on Psychosocial support (PSS) in the school safe space.
