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Kenya should be the launch pad for a proposed global movement of organisations working for the improvement of the lives of women and girls, a Dutch princess has said.
Princess Mabel Van Oranje of Netherlands explained that Kenya would be ideal because of what she termed the country’s practical approach to health issues.
The Dutch Princess was speaking when she met First Lady Margaret Kenyatta yesterday on the sidelines of the ongoing International Aids Conference in Amsterdam.
The two discussed collaboration between the Princess' ‘Girls Not Brides’ global partnership and the First Lady's 'Beyond Zero' initiative.
“Kenya is known for its practical approaches to many issues. It should be an exemplary case for the global movement,” she said.
The First Lady supported the proposal.
Mrs Kenyatta held separate talks with UK's Prince Harry and rock star, Sir Elton John.
The Duke of Sussex and the rock music icon launched a $1.2 billion (Sh120 billion) initiative dubbed 'The MenStar Coalition' - to fight Aids in sub-Saharan Africa.
The first project on the coalition’s list will be to encourage Kenyan youth to undergo HIV self-testing in a campaign dubbed 'Chukua Selfie'.
During the First Lady's meeting with Princess Mabel, the two focused on reproductive health, including child marriages, early pregnancies, gender violence and HIV/Aids, and how these issues affect the education and development of girls.
The First Lady used a short video clip to demonstrate the successes of the five-year Beyond Zero drive and how the initiative has delivered health services to millions of Kenyans in the hard-to-reach parts of the country.
Princess Mabel said there were many similarities between the work of Beyond Zero and her ‘Girls Not Brides’ partnership, and called for closer collaboration between the two.
'Girls Not Brides' is a global partnership of more than 1,000 civil society organisations from more than 90 countries committed to ending child marriage and empowering girls.
Three Kenyan organisations are members of the partnership.
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