20 years of HarambeeSusan Kinyua is the winner of the Harambee 2024 award. Wife, mother and economist, she is the General Project Coordinator and Director of Awareness Raising at 'Kianda Foundation'. However, she was not always attached to this project. Kinyua spent twelve years working in the world of finance, until she felt a calling to do something different.
Aware of the need to promote the role of the woman She left her position at Barclays Bank and joined the Kianda Foundation, where she has been working for more than twenty years. This organization has been, as its website explains, "60 years promoting education that transforms lives".
Harambee Award: positive empowerment
The goal of the Kianda Foundation, in the words of Susan Kinyua, is to "empower women and improve their education". Susan defines this oft-maligned "empowerment" as "making women believe in themselves, not having to depend on someone else for everything, not having to wonder when their next meal will be". In practice, "empowering women means helping them to be masters of their lives."
To this end, 'Kianda Foundation' develops several projects, "the 'Fanikisha' Program, the 'Kibondeni College', which is a hotel management school; or the 'Kimlea Girls Technical Training College'". In addition, they also have a clinic and a children's health program.
The person as a unit
Among all the work of the Kianda Foundation, Susan Kinyua speaks with special affection about the "Fanikisha" program, where she has been working since 2003. The Harambee Award winner explains that in this program "we train women in basic business skills. But we also focus on them as human beings, because we believe in the dignity of the individual". In short, she stresses, that is the goal of 'Fanikisha': "to help women as people, not just in business." In short, "for women to become the best version of themselves".
As part of the development of people, Susan stresses the importance of mental health. Aware of the importance this area gained after COVID-19, she decided to study Psychotherapy as well. What she likes most about it is that it helps her develop the ability "to listen to people".
Education, the engine of change
However, even above mental health, the award winner affirms that "education is the most important thing". An area that at 'Kianda Foundation' is not just about academics. "It's about the whole person," explains Susan Kinyua, "the mind, the soul, the heart and the body. Because the person is a unit, and if you strengthen only one part, you leave the others limping."
It is for this reason that Susan asks, especially young women, "to take their education seriously". She advises them to "do things at the right time" and mentions the frequent case of girls who start their families at the age of 16. Nevertheless, "we will never tell women to give up," she says. However, she recognizes that when you don't look for the right time for everything, the situation becomes more difficult.
To accompany the women at all times, Susan Kinyua points out that in 'Kianda Foundation" they have a mentoring system: "someone who takes you by the hand and with whom you can talk about everything, not just academics".
Women in the workplace
In addition to the impact of education, Kinyua is witness to the changing role of women in the workplace. When she started working in finance, "there were few women, and even fewer married women". But things are moving forward and there are more female faces in the business world.
The Harambee Award winner says this is a positive change, as women have a lot to offer in the workplace. "Women are patient, they can be very hardworking, efficient and professional. They are also often very honest and want to do things right. All of this is important."
The future of women
Before ending the interview, Susan Kinyua talks about the changes she would like to see in the role of women in Kenya in the next ten years. She wants to see more equality between men and women, "in the terms that we have talked about, because obviously there are things where we are different. But when we do the same work, I want us to be compensated in the same way."
In addition, Susan confides to Omnes her dream that "women can really break the cycle of poverty". She stresses the importance of the family and hopes that household members, boys and girls, will "walk closer together and be able to meet their basic needs without having to break their heads."
As she says goodbye, Susan Kinyua remembers her colleagues and all the women who work hard to achieve what they set out to do, for they are her real motivation. And she says goodbye "very grateful to Harambee and all those who have supported us all these years".
