• The program promotes accountability, transparency, and efficiency in the health sector. Reporting in these areas is meant to create awareness among citizens and awaken their agitation for improved governance, financing, leadership, service provision, and commodity management in the sector so that fraud, waste, and abuse are reduced.

Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK), in partnership with USAID, has launched a five-year program focused on the health sector. The program named USAID-United Society Against Fraud, Waste, and Abuse (USAWA) is set to be felt in five counties namely Isiolo, Mombasa, Kakamega, Kilifi and Nakuru. 

AMWIKs program coordinator, Madam Lorna Sempele, emphasized the need to scrutinize the counties in areas of fraud, waste and abuse through reporting. This was during a meeting with Nakuru-based media managers and senior journalists on Thursday, June 24, 2024, at Buraha Zenoni Hotel in Nakuru County. 

“USAWA program seeks to work with the media in Nakuru to report on Fraud, Waste and Abuse. This is because the media plays an important role in informing the public,” she said.

The program runs in counties mainly where the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has many other development programmes; therefore, it is aligned with those.

Sempele says the programme is focused on the health sector because it is rated number one in corruption in most countries in the world. She further reiterated that the areas of focus will be service provision, commodities, governance, and leadership.

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The program promotes accountability, transparency, and efficiency in the health sector. Reporting in these areas is meant to create awareness among citizens and awaken their agitation for improved governance, financing, leadership, service provision, and commodity management in the sector so that fraud, waste, and abuse are reduced.

While training on sexual harassment in the media, Zipporah Nyangara, the Executive Director of Haven of Dreams, a youth and women-led organization based in Nakuru focused on mental health and adolescent & youth empowerment, said that one of the challenges facing fight against this vice is normalizing it.

Zipporah Nyangara, the executive director of Haven of Dreams, a youth and women-led organization based in Nakuru. (Photo/Courtesy: Daniel Kipchumba)

“Sexual harassment manifests itself both verbally and non-verbal. Things like winking at someone, cat calling, unwarranted sexual advances, and unconsented physical touch,” Zipporah said.

She said there is need to fight this vice to create a conducive working environment and safeguard mental health issues that can negatively affect efficiency and worker’s output.

A study analyzing sexual harassment in 20 countries finds that, on average, 40% of women media professionals have experienced sexual harassment of some kind in the workplace. Women and gender non-conforming media professionals are almost three and a half times more likely to experience harassment than men.

According to the most recent AMWIK research report regarding the spectrum of sexual harassment in Kenyan media, 60% of respondents reported experiencing sexual harassment in their professions, which ranged from unwanted advances to overt statements. 70% of participants know perpetrators of sexual harassment who get away with it. Despite legislative provisions, significant gaps remain between the law and its enactment.

Fear of victimisation was highlighted by 87.3% of participants as the most significant barrier to resolving sexual harassment in the workplace.46.8% of respondents don't know about safe reporting channels, and 64% of respondents believe that current guidelines are ineffective in preventing sexual harassment.

More than half of male respondents attribute harassment to women's behaviour, whereas 37% of women agree that 40% of female interns have faced sexual harassment, emphasising the vulnerability of entry-level professionals.

Fear of victimisation was regarded as a significant barrier to resolving sexual harassment in the workplace by 87.3% of participants, 46.8% of respondents are unfamiliar with safe reporting mechanisms, and 64% of respondents believe current policies are insufficient in preventing sexual harassment.

The Association of Media Women in Kenya (AMWIK) and UNESCO commemorated International Women's Day 2023 by releasing the documentary 'Speak Out Against Sexual Harassment in Kenyan Media.' The documentary was made within the scope of the UNESCO project to promote safer workplaces for women in the media, sensitize and enhance the ability of community media workers, both female and male, on the subject of sexual harassment in Kenya's seven counties.