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About us
Who we are
Upendo Tena Initiative (meaning ‘to love again’), was set up in 2019 and officially registered as a National NGO in Kenya in 2023. We aim to enhance gender equality, to combat child exploitation and to raise awareness of mental health and well-being throughout Kenya, whilst supporting children to understand and access their fundamental human rights. Gender-based violence, inequality, trafficking and exploitation, harmful cultural practices, poor mental health, and a lack of trauma-informed/mental health support, continue to be significant concerns facing children and young people.
Our innovative hands-on workshop programme is delivered in a variety of settings across Kenya, including in both primary and secondary schools, in children’s rescue centres and in provisions for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. Our workshop sessions are tailored to the particular needs of the community/group of children and young people. We have adapted our programme to specifically meet the needs of those with additional needs and/or disabilities to ensure that our programme is accessible. We also adapt our topics and area of focus depending on the identified gaps and needs that arise in individual counties and communities.
Some of the topics we deliver sessions on include:
· Mental Health & Empowerment
· Children’s Rights & Handling Discrimination
· Child Abuse & Gender-Based Abuse
· FGM & Forced Marriage
· Puberty including Personal Hygiene & Menstruation
· Sexual Health & Early Pregnancy
· Child Trafficking & Exploitation
· Substance Misuse
· Personal Safety & Safety Planning
· Healthy Relationships & Boundaries
· Grief & Bereavement
· Life Story Work
· Future Aspirations & the Importance of Education
We currently work with children and young people from the age of 8 – 21, or up to the age of 25 for young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
