Give and Grow Community Development Organization (GaGCDO) operates in Northern Kenya, which faces numerous socio-economic challenges including extreme poverty, high rates of child/forced marriage, and deeply entrenched cultural practices such as FGM and child labor. Many girls are denied their right to education and are instead tasked with herding animals and domestic chores like fetching firewood and water from far flunged areas from a young age, increasing their vulnerability to sexual and gender-based violence.
GaGCDO focuses on programs that address these root causes of modern slavery and exploitation. The organization combats child labor, forced labor, and forced marriage by promoting education, raising awareness, and providing legal and psychosocial support to survivors. Key programs include Engage Men Fridays, an innovative approach that leverages the influence of Friday Muslim congregations and interactive theatre and community engagement to raise awareness about the exploitation of girls through child labor, forced marriages and domestic work. This initiative empowers men to take a stand against exploitation as custodians of culture and family heads, hence leads to signing of pledge book to protect their children and girls.
In addition, GaGCDO offers support to vulnerable individuals and groups to be capable of resisting and seeking redress on their recruitment into modern slavery especially women/ girls and children given their comparative vulnerability to the various forms of modern slavery. They offer training for government officials, community leaders, and workers to enhance their understanding of modern slavery, while also providing direct support to survivors through alternative income-generating activities.