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Economic empowerment of the pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors that included a combination of financial support, psychosocial support, and mentoring would result in their long-term economic empowerment during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Nine fistula survivors...

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Autores principales: McCammon, Mary Ann, Otondo, Norah Amisi, Kay, Nancy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9464944/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36106142
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2022.966390
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author McCammon, Mary Ann
Otondo, Norah Amisi
Kay, Nancy
author_facet McCammon, Mary Ann
Otondo, Norah Amisi
Kay, Nancy
author_sort McCammon, Mary Ann
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors that included a combination of financial support, psychosocial support, and mentoring would result in their long-term economic empowerment during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Nine fistula survivors participated in a 29-month pilot reintegration program offered by Kenya Quilts for Empowerment (KQFE), a registered Community Based Organization in Kenya. Originally, the program was intended to last for 18 months, but as a result of the pandemic, this was extended to achieve the long-term economic empowerment of women. The program was based on best practices for poverty alleviation that included multiple sources of income, psychosocial support, and mentoring, sustained over the entire 29-month period. All the women were severely impoverished at the baseline assessment, with one having some savings, and a few having productive assets, which were primarily chickens. Financial training and an initial non-refundable cash transfer provided start-up funds for small businesses; these initially flourished before floundering during the pandemic and eventually recovering. Funds were also used to buy livestock. A key component of the program was the provision of national health insurance for each woman and her family, which helped them stay healthy without having to sell any income-generating livestock. Other key components were the psychosocial support and mentoring provided within their support group. After 29 months, every woman had achieved long-term economic empowerment and “graduated” to become a KQFE ambassador, tasked with identifying fistula survivors within their communities, and referring them for surgery and participation in a reintegration support group.
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spelling pubmed-94649442022-09-13 Economic empowerment of the pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic McCammon, Mary Ann Otondo, Norah Amisi Kay, Nancy Front Glob Womens Health Global Women's Health OBJECTIVE: To determine whether a pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors that included a combination of financial support, psychosocial support, and mentoring would result in their long-term economic empowerment during the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: Nine fistula survivors participated in a 29-month pilot reintegration program offered by Kenya Quilts for Empowerment (KQFE), a registered Community Based Organization in Kenya. Originally, the program was intended to last for 18 months, but as a result of the pandemic, this was extended to achieve the long-term economic empowerment of women. The program was based on best practices for poverty alleviation that included multiple sources of income, psychosocial support, and mentoring, sustained over the entire 29-month period. All the women were severely impoverished at the baseline assessment, with one having some savings, and a few having productive assets, which were primarily chickens. Financial training and an initial non-refundable cash transfer provided start-up funds for small businesses; these initially flourished before floundering during the pandemic and eventually recovering. Funds were also used to buy livestock. A key component of the program was the provision of national health insurance for each woman and her family, which helped them stay healthy without having to sell any income-generating livestock. Other key components were the psychosocial support and mentoring provided within their support group. After 29 months, every woman had achieved long-term economic empowerment and “graduated” to become a KQFE ambassador, tasked with identifying fistula survivors within their communities, and referring them for surgery and participation in a reintegration support group. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-08-29 /pmc/articles/PMC9464944/ /pubmed/36106142 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2022.966390 Text en Copyright © 2022 McCammon, Otondo and Kay. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Global Women's Health
McCammon, Mary Ann
Otondo, Norah Amisi
Kay, Nancy
Economic empowerment of the pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic
title Economic empowerment of the pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full Economic empowerment of the pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_fullStr Economic empowerment of the pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_full_unstemmed Economic empowerment of the pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_short Economic empowerment of the pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic
title_sort economic empowerment of the pilot reintegration program for female genital fistula survivors in kenya during the covid-19 pandemic
topic Global Women's Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9464944/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36106142
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fgwh.2022.966390
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