Empowerment of Women with Disability – Case of Kanana Disability Group
In rural Meru County, 203 people—88% of them women living with disabilities—found themselves pushed even further into poverty by the COVID-19 pandemic. Discriminated against, overlooked, and struggling to survive, they refused to give up.
Through the Boresha Maisha ya Mama Mlemavu project, something remarkable happened.
The Kanana Disability Group received detergent-making supplies—not as a handout, but as a seed of opportunity. What followed was powerful: they produced, packaged, and sold their own products, earning their first collective income. With their profits, they reinvested, paid it forward, and launched a sustainable group business.
From a single self-help group of 33 members, the impact now reaches over 200 women and men with disabilities—empowering them with loans, savings, and dignity.
They are no longer just surviving. They are building better lives, stronger businesses, and united communities.