Kusima Girls Initiative
Nikibasika graduate Britah Atusimiire founded the Kusima Girls Initiative in 2020 to empower young, vulnerable women and girls. Kusima works with small groups of girls and young women to support their education and independence through improved menstrual hygiene, concrete planning for their futures, developing confidence in their own skills, and knowledge about sexual and reproductive health and rights. Our vision is that every girl in Uganda has access to a healthy, safe, empowered future.
Kusiima Girls Initiative recognizes that the rights of women and girls are fundamental human rights and that promoting them is necessary to advance development and reducing poverty across the world. We envision a world where diverse young people are empowered to make informed and safe sexual and reproductive health choices to enable their transition to adulthood in a supportive social, cultural, political, economic and legal environment.
Kusiima builds relationships with communities of girls and young women through practical activities like creating reusable menstrual projects, sexual health workshops, food security through school gardening, and fundraising for improved access to clean water. Through these activities, girls are encouraged to identify personal goals, find new confidence and create personal pathways for their futures. Menstrual products, sexual health knowledge and access to food and clean water make it possible for girls to continue their education — Kusiima’s community building gives them the personal support they need to focus on their own futures.
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Why Kusiima is needed
Women across the world continue to suffer from gender inequity, including child and forced marriage, gender-based violence, unfair stereotypes, as well as barriers to participation in education and employment. Achieving gender equality globally is crucial to meeting development goals, reducing human suffering and solving our biggest environmental problems.
In Uganda, more than 700,000 girls in Uganda have never attended school. In addition, around half of girls between the ages of 15 and 24 are illiterate, and four in five girls do not attend high school.
For Uganda to attain its sustainable development goals, girls and women need to be supported in their sexual, reproductive and health rights. Kusima supports education for economic empowerment by supporting girls and young women to learn, lead, decide and thrive in their day to day lives.
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What Kusiima does
Kusiima builds community with girls and young women through:
Workshops for hands-on skills including making reusable menstrual pads and liquid soup, to improve hygiene and enable girls to continue to attend school
Mentorship sessions on life skills including communication, negotiation and self-advocacy, supporting safer sex and enabling girls and young women to enjoy their reproductive health rights.
Partnering with organizations like Equal Aqua Uganda to ensure access to clean, safe water and sanitation, enabling health and education for girls in rural communities.
Working with adolescent girls to reduce barriers to education and to improve self-confidence.
Developing skills of peer mentors and coaching to create a large community of volunteers to support girls in their own communities.
Supporting intergenerational dialogues through door to door outreach in rural communities to engage with parents and caregivers of adolescent girls to build a support system for delivery of sexual and reproductive health and menstrual hygiene information.
The Kusiima team is all volunteer, and continues to grow. Some of the amazing women who are making Kusiima what it is include:
Britah Atusimiire is a graduate from the Nikibasika program, and is a founding member of Kusiima Girls’ Initiative. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from Makerere University. She has over five years’ experience in sexual health and reproductive rights (SRHR) programming, including teaching as a fellow with Teach for Uganda and youth programming and research with Restless Development. Britah has been instrumental in advocating for government to deliberately design interventions to support girls’ SRHR.
Gloria Kinene has demonstrated experience in sexual health and reproductive rights programming and has supported project set up and training for Kusiima. She holds a bachelors’ degree in Social Sciences with three years of demonstrated experience in SRHR programming.
Ninsiima Prima learned about sexual health and reproductive rights through a Kusiima initiative, and is now a passionate teenage volunteer. She is currently in high school with dreams of being a fashion designer. She has played a critical role in ensuring Kusiima Girls Initiative engages with girls both online and offline platforms. especially her age mates.
Nandwowa Joanita is a graduate of Business Administration and management from Nkozi university. Currently working as a program manager at Kenganda, she volunteers with Kusiima and supports young women using her platform as a presenter on her you tube channel.
Dinah Elizabeth Akwii is a sexual health and reproductive rights specialist with Restless Development. She is very instrumental in designing SRHR interventions for Restless Development and is a lead for SRHR programs. She has ten years of demonstrated experience in the same field backed by a masters’ degree in management studies, a post graduate diploma in project planning & management and a bachelors’ degree of Arts with Education. She serves as an Ex-Officio and mentor at Kusiima Girls’ Initiative.
Meet the Kusiima Team
Make a donation.
Donations to Kusiima can be made through Nikibasika, and are eligible for charitable tax receipts in Canada.
