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Featured Grantee Fact Sheet

About the Together Women Rise Grants Program

Content warning: This month’s materials include discussions of sexual violence.

Freely in Hope aims to end sexual violence in Kenya, Zambia, and globally by equipping survivors and advocates with the tools, resources, and support they need to take the lead in breaking the cycle of abuse. Founded and led by women – many of whom are survivors – Freely in Hope (FIH) is guided by the conviction that those most impacted by gender-based violence must be at the forefront of designing and leading the solutions to dismantle it.

Maryanne’s Story

In a community where sexual violence against children and adolescents is not only widespread, but often normalized, change is coming from survivor-leaders. Maryanne Kokl is among those leading the charge. She is a child protection coordinator for FIH, as well as a survivor and program graduate who found her purpose in empowering and educating children and their adults through trauma-informed care. FIH programs shifted her thinking, revealed her own power, and equipped her to lead others. Maryanne does more than teach – she reaches back and leads girls, women, and entire communities with her on the path to healing.

“My own journey taught me that when children are educated about safety and caregivers are equipped to respond, healing becomes possible for everyone. It’s not just about preventing harm to one child; it’s about creating an environment where safety is the foundation everything else is built on…What makes a survivor-led approach different is that we teach from experience. It’s not just theory; it’s the truth. I’m not standing in front of caregivers reading from a manual about what trauma might feel like. I’m speaking from the inside of that experience, and that authenticity creates connection in ways that traditional training simply can’t. Combining that lived experience with trauma-informed education for caregivers creates a complete circle of care. Children are empowered and adults are prepared to protect and support them. Both sides of the equation have to work together for real safety to exist.”

Understanding the Issue in Context

In Kenya, deeply entrenched patriarchal norms, poverty, and limited access to education create environments where girls are especially vulnerable to sexual abuse. According to FIH, 1 in 5 girls in Kenya experience sexual abuse during childhood. Survivors face entrenched barriers to justice – they are silenced by stigma, retraumatized by systems, and left to navigate lifelong consequences such as early school dropouts. (In Kenya, only 20% of girls ages 10 – 14 are enrolled in school.)

Despite the scale of the crisis, existing child protection efforts often fall short. Many well-intentioned interventions adopt a top-down, one-size-fits-all approach that fails to consider the cultural context or lived realities of survivors. Survivors are too often viewed as passive recipients of services, rather than empowered leaders capable of driving change within their own communities. While Kenya has implemented some child protection models, including national policy frameworks, school-based safeguarding protocols, and community-led mechanisms, these efforts often are not survivor-informed. They may also lack cultural relevance, age-appropriateness, and trauma sensitivity. As a result, interventions often disempower those they aim to support.

Community-Based Solutions in Action

FIH takes a different approach to ending sexual violence by equipping survivors to take the lead through:

Holistic education, including high school tuition and university scholarships, medical insurance, safe housing if they live near their abuser, counseling, mentorship, legal aid to pursue justice, and more
Leadership development, including training in sexual violence prevention, self-defense, financial management, art therapy, meditation, restorative storytelling (sharing stories to promote healing), public speaking, trauma healing, career development, transformational leadership and more, and
Storytelling platforms that allow survivors to put leadership skills into practice and advocate against sexual violence.

Together Women Rise’s grant of $50,000 funds Pendo’s Power: Survivor-Led Child Protection for Safer Schools in Kenya:

Freely In Hope’s child protection program, “Pendo’s Power,” is a trauma-informed and play-based intervention that equips girls ages 4–12 and their support networks in underprivileged communities in Kenya with the tools to recognize, prevent, and respond to sexual violence. Co-designed and facilitated by survivors of sexual abuse, the program delivers age-appropriate workshops using storytelling, music, games, and role-play – transforming child protection education into an engaging, culturally grounded experience. It includes the children’s book, “Pendo’s Power,” written by Freely in Hope’s Program and Partnership Director Lydia Matioli. Born and raised in Kibera, East Africa’s largest slum, Lydia experienced the effects of sexual violence, lack of education, and poverty firsthand.

Over two years, this grant funds Pendo’s Power in six schools across two counties, directly reaching 3,000 children and 90 educators (15 per school). Each school will host three interactive workshops per term, aligned with the academic calendar. Educators will engage in capacity-building sessions on trauma-informed care, safe disclosure handling, and safeguarding practices.

Children’s workshops will provide story-based worksheets, art supplies, snacks, and menstrual hygiene supplies to ensure dignity and engagement. Educator training will equip 90 teachers with trauma-informed tools, culturally relevant print materials, and facilitation support. Survivor-leaders will receive stipends to lead age-appropriate sessions rooted in lived experience. Monitoring and evaluation efforts will track child knowledge gains, educator confidence, and safeguarding practices. Experts will guide the adaptation of the “Pendo’s Power” curriculum for age and cultural relevance.

Additional activities include caregiver engagement, psychosocial support (groups and counseling referrals), baseline and endline assessments, and development of a replication-ready toolkit.

To ensure sustained impact, the project adopts an ecosystem approach – training educators, caregivers, and local leaders to create safe, informed environments for children. Trained educators will form peer learning circles, reinforcing continued learning and support.

Evidence shows that well-designed school-based abuse prevention programs increase children’s self-protection skills by 20% and reduce future incidents of abuse by 50%. A 2023 pilot project by FIH confirmed this impact: 1,187 children and 197 educators demonstrated increased safety knowledge, improved confidence, and greater disclosure. Critically, the program was developed through deep community consultation, with survivors, educators, and caregivers shaping the curriculum from inception. Their leadership ensures that the solution is not only effective but rooted in lived experience, local trust, and long-term sustainability.

“My vision is to be the best in the legal profession, advocating for the rights of underprivileged individuals in society. I would love to assist another girl or woman, just like how FIH held my hand to help me become who I am today. I want to assist in the betterment of girls’ lives; to ensure girls that they can achieve whatever they set their minds to. The seed FIH planted in us blossoms into a tree that will help another person.”
– Mary
Bachelor of Laws, Class of 2013

Impact and Transformation

Since 2010, Freely in Hope has impacted more than 10,000 people through outreach programs, including high school students, women in prostitution, survivors of trafficking, educators, parents, and children. More than 370 million girls and women alive today – or 1 in 8 – experienced rape or sexual assault before the age of 18. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of victims, with 79 million girls and women affected.

Based on data from country-wide statistics of the demographic who the Freely in Hope serves and who live on less than $1.90 per day:

92% of FIH Scholars finished all four years of high school, compared to 22% in Kenya and 6% in Zambia
71% of FIH Scholars enrolled in higher education, compared to 5% in Kenya and less than 1% in Zambia
Of those in higher education 100% of FIH Scholars graduated with a bachelor’s degree, compared to 2% in Kenya and less than 1% in Zambia.

Direct impact: 3,000 women and girls, Indirect impact: 6,000 women and girls

Mission Alignment

This project places survivors at the center – as designers, facilitators, and leaders – ensuring the program is grounded in lived experience and local trust. It empowers young girls with the knowledge and tools to recognize and prevent abuse, while also equipping educators and caregivers to build safer, more informed environments. Funding this work changes outcomes for marginalized women and girls from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds, addressing barriers that sustain cycles of violence and prevent girls from reaching their potential.

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