Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organization: 7 Decades of Empowering the Kenyan Woman

“She is that African woman that stands proud amongst others her skin the color of mother earth, her eyes the crystal color of the waters, her face the perfect picture of nature’s beauty. The pride of Africa,” Mattsylver’s quote describes the ounce of beauty in an African woman.

She is the last one to sleep, she is the first one to wake up, she makes sure her family is taken care of, yes she is the custodian of the family.

It is in the spirit of the beauty of the daughter of Africa and the role played in the society to sustain households that conceived the idea to create a Maendeleo Ya Wanawake in the year 1948 whose birth was celebrated in the year 1952.

Maendeleo Ya Wanawake was conceived by wives of colonial Governors who agreed to create a platform where they would unify, nurture and empower fellow women economically, socially and even politically.

In December 14th, 1955, Maendeleo Ya Wanawake got registered officially to empower its members to deal with issues they faced at household, community, local and national levels.

The founders of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake allowed the government to use the organization as a channel to reach women in the grass-root level empowering them through development projects.

Maendeleo ya Wanawake has since existed through our great grandmothers, grandmothers and mothers reign, seven decades now to be exact, continually seeking to empower women whether from the rural or urban areas and has stood the test of time

Kenya gained independence in the year 1964 upon which it rewarded the Maendeleo ya Wanawake with funds to facilitate its projects and distinguished its role as a government-private women’s outreach development agency.

Maendeleo ya Wanawake which is abbreviated as MYWO which stands for Maendeleo ya Wanawake Organization has today maintained its founding traditions but has opened its doors to all women at a minimal registration fee of KES 100, for individuals and a life membership of KES 1,000

MYWO is a voluntary, nonsectarian, nonprofit organization of individual members, women groups, collaborating women societies drawn from Kenya and Kenyans living in the diaspora.

Maendeleo ya Wanawake’s membership is open to all women regardless of race, religion, ethnicity or disability and is the largest grassroots organization for women in the Country which makes it most effective.

Maendeleo ya Wanawake’s Leadership Structure

MYWO has an elaborate leadership structure of ten elected officials representing 1450 civic wards, a civic ward is the smallest administrative unit, ten elected officials representing the 290 constituencies and ten elected officials at the county levels Countrywide.

MYWO has a board  (National Executive Council, NEC) which comprises 58 members where 47 of them are county chairs while 11 are national officials.

National officials at the Maendeleo ya Wanawake have the mandate to coordinate formulate policies and are the oversight authority to the organization.

Maendeleo ya Wanawake’s Headquarters

Maendeleo ya Wanawake’s headquarter offices are located at Maendeleo building opposite anniversary towers in Nairobi where the National Chairperson’s office is located together with other National officials and the organization’s secretariat.

MYWO has a countrywide network of over four million individual women who are members and 25,000 affiliate groups.