December 2012

Women’s Safety Audit

Are you aware of dangerous areas in your community, such as where you would not walk around alone at night? In order to secure safety within the community, it is very important for us to be aware of such hazardous places.
There are many crimes, such as snatching handbags and stealing, occurring in Mathare slum in Nairobi, exacerbated by high unemployment and poverty. Nairobi is Kenya’s capital city, and JCCP is currently organizing a Community Safety Project in this slum. There are many people who use drugs and illegal alcohol, and sexual and physical violence against women and children has been a large problem. To reduce the number of crimes and to improve safety within the community, it is important for every citizen in this community to learn where crime(s) is happening, and what crimes are occurring there. In this way, they can learn how to protect themselves.
From October to November, 2012, twelve women from Mathare slum conducted a survey regarding the community safety from a women’s perspective, under the supervision of JCCP. First, they conducted an interview from women who are working as street venders, asking where they feel unsecured or unsafe. They collected 417 interviews in ten days. Next, they interviewed community leaders and representatives of different organizations. Finally, these interviewers themselves walked around and assessed the slum.
From the survey, they found that because many street lights are broken, crimes often occur where it’s dark and hard to see at night. Places near bridges with no street light are especially dangerous. There are many cases when gangs wait under the bridge for a woman at night to attack, rape, and murder her. It was also revealed that although illegal alcohol productionand drug dealing are conducted in the area, police do not regulate them. Residents are concerned that the police are involved in this business, and they can’t do anything but ignore it.

Near Ochola Bridge in Mashimoni District
What needs to be done is to consider possible effective measures towards these community problems based on thesurvey, and then to put these into practice. As part of the Community SafetyProject, JCCP has been organizing an awareness raising campaign, hosting workshops to prevent crimes, and counseling victims of the crimes. Combining JCCP’s ongoing project and these women’s awareness of these problems, JCCP expects to create an environment where each citizen of Mathare can participate and cooperate to solve these problems in their community.

Awareness Raising event to improve safety in the community

After the Women’s Safety Audit, these women who conducted the survey exchanged practical ideas with gender specialists and JCCP workers to work out how to prevent these crimes. In the end of November 2012, they organized an awareness raising event to share the survey outcome. They ran a parade in each area, invited community leaders and residents to a community hall and reported the survey results, as well as making songs and plays so that the audience can understand it easily.

This report introduced their preparatory meeting and a rehearsal was held one week before the actual event took place.

In the preparatory meeting, the twelve women projected their ideas and discussed the parade route, order, and methods of awareness raising. They decided to ask the Huruma Theatrical Group, which is composed of teenagers from Huruma District of Mathare , to perform a chorus and play. Many of the Huruma Theatrical Group members have problems with their family and/or school, and they used to have counseling as a part of JCCP’s project. They organize this association to make the most of their talents in song and dance, and now they work under advice from adults who have experience in traditional dance and plays. Since they deal with not only love story and comedies, but also social problems, they are invited to a variety of social events.


the rehearsal of the song and dance that advocates for achieving gender inequality In the rehearsal, which was organized a week before the actual event, they had a traditional Massai dance with drum performance, a skit using different languages spoken within Kenya, dance expressing violence against women, and a short play. In the play, the father uses physical violence against the mother and yells at his daughter not to go to school but to marry someone soon. The play ends with the son talking to his father, saying, “I learned at school that we have to respect women.”



Participants exchanging their opinions animatedly.


What was interesting is the meeting held after the rehearsal. They gathered in a circle, and female audience who were taking notes during the entire rehearsal stood out and began sharing their opinions.
“The sound of the drum is too loud and I can’t hear what you were saying. You have to do something with it.”



“The second song was too abstract to convey the message.”
“Put more feelings on your words!”
“In a typical Mathare family, men would not be that talkative. In addition, a married couple would not stand like that when talking. A wife would show more respect to her husband. This is a very important issue, make it more real!”
The young actors answered sincerely towards these critiques from the women who are wives and mothers.


Huruma Theatrical Group preforming the traditional dance on the day of eventOn the actual event, the performers did an excellent job in front of a large crowd. Some might imagine “slum” as a very dangerous place, where male criminals gather, or a horrifying area filled with desperate poverty. However, “slum” in developing countries is full of power from the children and women who live there. Of course they find it precious to have a happy family life and good relationships, with neighbors, and desire for a safe and secure community. This event organized by the young people and women who hope for peace, assured us that these events are strongly linked to the increase in security in the community.