Qabale Duba Foundation
This organization has already been registered
Someone in your organization has already registered and setup an account. would you like to join their team?Profile owner : q**************n@g***l.c*m
Mission Statement
To empower pastoralist communities in northern Kenya by enhancing access to education, healthcare, and sustainable livelihoods, while promoting resilience, cultural preservation, and environmental stewardship for a better, self-sustained future
About This Cause
Qabale Duba Foundation (QDF) is a community based organization that is championing for the right of girls/women in northern Kenya. The aim of the foundation is to promote the development of pastoralist’s communities through facilitating their access to quality education, better health, social services and economic empowerment. This is done through building on women’s and youths aspirations and achievements as far as possible. Qabale Duba Foundation realizes that even small steps can greatly improve self-confidence and social capital for these groups. The activities and interventions put in in the implementation of the programs, considers the issues that affect women and youths at different stages of their lives. In particular, our programs are developed to ensure clear understanding of the motivations and possibilities for girls/women and young people who are the entry point for ensuring the sustainability of pastoralism as a valuable and sustainable way of life. While working with women and youths in the community, we look at their daily roles and aspirations in their households and communities, especially in relation to education, Women empowerment, Maternal health and women/youths as agent of peace in the society. Qabale Duba Foundation's strategy is to work with these groups to create awareness that women and youth are the pillar in every society so they should not be left out. QDF has Six major programs that include; 1. COMMUNITY LITERACY PROGRAM - The literacy program is to empower the entire community but majorly focus on girls and women in the rural villages through the school for children and adult learners. Apart from the formal education, the women benefit from various other training such sexual reproductive health and rights, menstrual health management and economic empowerments. Empowered women will be able to see the importance of educating their girls as well not only boys like in previous years where girls are never taken to school. Through the adult education, these women learn how to read and write and it’s a great step for them since they can help their little ones with basic school work unlike before. Their thirst for getting education is real, because nothing hinders them from attending the classes. Many of them are nursing mothers and since they have nobody else to leave the babies with, they bring them along and proudly breastfeed them while in classes. Therefore, as the first graduate girl from my small village I (Qabale Duba) decided to give back to my community in a little way that I could just to bridge the illiteracy gap in the society. Due to their nomadic nature, the pastoralist communities move from one place to the other in search of pasture and water for their livestock’s. Therefore, only few children get opportunities to be taken to boarding schools far away from home. Such opportunities will only be given to boys and definitely the girls remain at home to help the mothers with house chore. To give these little pastoralist angles hope, we have started Torbi Pioneer Academy with slogan of Daring to Dream. It’s with the support from McKinsey and Company that we built the nursery class and we would like to build two more classes and the staffroom as we progress slowly to realise a dream of becoming a life changing pastoralist school in Torbi village of Marsabit County 2.GIRLS/WOMEN EMPOWERMENT- This is mostly done through provision of sanitary towels and undergarment, under the program named Pads and Pants (PAPA). PAPA project is to help girls in rural villages have access to sanitary pads and panties to avoid them miss classes or drop out of school due to the lack of this basic necessities. Many organizations who also does similar project of donating sanitary pads only give to the school girls. Therefore QDF thought that just focusing on girls alone can't solve the problem because the girls go home to share those pads with their mothers and sisters who have not gone to school and have no access to the pads. Hence the problems of girls missing classes or even dropping out of schools continues. So we are trying to help both girls and women in remote villages through donations of reusable pads and panties. Our aim is to avoid any girl drop out of school due to lack of sanitary pad . On the other hand also to put smiles on the faces of the innocent women in remote villages who have been using pieces of clothes, mattresses, pieces of blankets etc when on their menses. Having a period has been a great shame to pastoralists women who can't leave the house to avoid soiling themselves in public. So QDF is bringing dignity to girls and pastoralists women through PAPA PROJECT. No matter the tribe, the location and age every woman deserve a dignified period. 3. MENTORSHIP PROGRAM - The mentorship program is where our motivational speakers visit different schools especially village schools to motivate students more specifically girls.This help the village girls believe in themselves that they can as well achieve their dreams. In our Mentorship program we work with young professionals from local communities to go around the schools to mentor students using their own life stories and successes. The mentorship program is for both primary and secondary schools, we not only motivate but also give the students career guidance. As part of mentorship program QDF does opportunity awareness outreaches to youths and school leavers, we motivate youths to try different available opportunities like scholarships, fellowships and also conferences both locally and abroad as well. We mentor youths to take part in entrepreneurship so that they can be able to create job for themselves and also other youths who are jobless. 4.MATERNAL HEALTH/SAFE MOTHERHOOD - QDF does the advocacy for safe motherhood and also maternal health in general. We work closely with Traditional Birth Attendants(TBAs) to train them about safe deliveries and also urge them to help us advocate for hospital deliveries. On the other hand we work with women who got complications during deliveries like FISTULA among many others to help us pass the massage about danger of home deliveries and complications that might comes with. Our main aim is to eradicate foetal and maternal deaths that could have been prevented when deliveries are done in hospitals/health facilities. Patoralists women still very few of them deliver in a health facility hence this increase the danger of complications and also foetal and maternal deaths. Working with traditional birth attendants helps us trace the women at risk and also advocate for the need of antenatal care and hospital deliveries. 5. CHAMPIONING AGAINST HARMFUL CULTURAL PRACTICES The communities in Marsabit county and entire upper eastern and northern Kenya still have got deep rooted culture which are undiluted. The preserved culture is what is making the pastoralists communities unique but on the other hand there are some harmful cultural practices that is still practiced. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Early/forced marriages are among the most harmful cultural practices that is done in all the Cushitic communities of northern Kenya. As an organization that is championing for the right of pastoralist girls and women QDF is doing campaign against FGM and early marriages in entire Marsabit county. The campaign is done from village to villages approach and also through radio shows where we publically discuss about the effects of FGM and the need of stopping it because its harmful to the health of the girls who undergo. Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) are the same women who does the FGM in the villages, therefore QDF is using these women to campaign against the act and also discuss with them about possible alternative rite of passages that can be used instead of FGM. 90% of the girls in pastoralist communities undergo FGM especially those uneducated that live in the villages, however QDF has decided to bridge the gap by reaching the unreached in the communities and empower them. The alternative way QDF is using to end/minimize early marriages is by advocating for the education of the girls even those that are in the remote villages. Because of our advocacy against FGM our founder Qabale Duba was recognized as the WORLD'S BEST NURSE in 2022 wining $250,000 price out of over 24,000 applications globally. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-61435153 6. PEACE INITIATIVES - Qabale was once crowned Miss Peace Kenya 2013/2014 for her peace advocacy in the northern part of Kenya. Qabale Duba Foundation bridges the gap between warring communities in northern Kenya using women and youth as peace agents. This is done through yearly celebrations of international peace days in different areas which brings together different communities. we also do peace marathons, peace tournaments and peace mentorships among youths and women.