A significant number of young people in Nyeri County are among victims falling prey to Gender Based violence (GBV) and suicide.
A report by the Centre for Rights, Education and Awareness (CREAW) shows that the twin challenge poses a serious threat to the future of young people in the county, whose literacy levels are estimated to range between 80 percent and 97 percent for those aged 15 years and above.
The NGO, which is undertaking an empowerment programme for GBV survivors in 16 counties says this challenge should be taken as a matter of urgency to avoid losing more teenage girls to early pregnancies and premature deaths.
“The cases we are having for GBV and suicide are really affecting our youth aged between 18 and 35 years. Under the Jasiri programme (which we have been implementing in at least 16 counties), we are trying to tackle of matters of economic empowerment.
The program is targeting young people between the ages of 18 and 35 and adolescent girls aged 16 and 18 years who dropped out of school,” said Jamila Mohammed, CREAW programmes officer.
The officer has also said most of the girls they are assisting happened to have dropped out of school while in Form Two, which has led to the increased number of teenage mothers.
Mohammed says society needs to help these young mothers on how they can pick up from where they fell, including encouraging them to acquire practical life skills instead of reprimanding and labelling them as social outcasts.
“We are doing more harm to our kids trying to retestify. We want to teach them a lesson on why they got pregnant or why they ran away from school without trying to understand our kids. Let us try as much as possible to understand that our kids lest we bring more harm to them,” she warns.
Nyeri has seen a rise in both suicide and GBV cases, with the former bearing sway among men.
Government statistics show a total of 107 persons have reportedly committed suicide since June 2025 with the youngest aged 11 years, while the oldest was 87 years.
On average, eight to ten people are reportedly taking their lives in Nyeri today.
On the other hand, the number of reported GBV cases has been on an upward trajectory from 335 victims in 2022 to 435 in 2025.
Currently, CREAW has managed to enrol 1,200 GBV survivors in the Jasiri programme in order to equip them with financial, practical and legal skills, which they can utilise in improving their lives.
Most of these girls are aged between 16 and 17 years, with 700 having already completed financial literacy training.
Another batch of 84 girls have completed certificate courses in various disciplines at local vocational training institutions and are on internship in various work stations.
“We are supporting survivors of Gender Based Violence, who have gone through difficult forms of violence, by training them on financial literacy and life skills. So far we have disbursed grants of up to Sh 3.6 million so that they will be able to start up their own businesses,” she disclosed.
Mohammed has nevertheless called for synergy among all stakeholders involved in the war against GBV, warning that a disjointed coordination will only prove counterproductive to such efforts.
The officer similarly said more needs to be done to affected victims and their families to get psychosocial support to help them go over the trauma experiences.
“We need to strengthen our surveillance system on matters of suicide and Gender based Violence. If we are able to strengthen the surveillance system, we shall be able to know where the child was and who she was last seen with. If you report this, we shall be able to trace this child,” added Mohammed.
By Samuel Maina
