The Women’s Collective Kenya (WCK), in partnership with the Center for Reproductive Rights, and funded by the Changing the Law, Changing Lives Project from Global Affairs Canada, recently held a reproductive rights workshop. The workshop sought to equip grassroots sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) champions with storytelling and public narrative skills. This capacity-building initiative created a ripple effect, fostering greater awareness and public engagement on SRHR in Kenya–particularly around safe, legal abortion, and shifting attitudes among historically marginalized communities.

Adolescents and young women in Kenya face numerous barriers to accessing SRHR services. This is particularly true for those in informal settlements. Challenges accessing care and information are exacerbated by harmful stereotypes, legal ambiguities, stigma, and a lack of adequate health resources. As a result, many women and girls have experienced complications or died from unsafe abortions. Yet their voices were largely absent in policy-making spaces. The Beijing+30 Country Report process presented an opportunity to change this narrative.

WCK issued a critique of the official Beijing+30 Country Report and developed a grassroots-focused shadow report. This initiative brought the lived experiences of underserved women and adolescents into national dialogue. Public hearings further enhanced community engagement and made advocacy efforts more inclusive.

The power of storytelling

The power of storytelling to change hearts and minds became clear. After participating in WCK’s storytelling and public narrative training, individuals such as “Inspiring Ama,” who was previously outspoken against abortion, shifted her views entirely. Now, she actively advocates for safe abortion access through her social media platforms, reaching audiences in Nairobi’s Dandora area. Her story illustrates the power of narrative advocacy in dismantling harmful ideologies.

Similarly, WCK’s Mercy Ingashia emerged as a skilled spokesperson on SRHR issues. Following the same training, she confidently represented WCK in media interviews, amplifying calls for safe and legal abortion.

WCK has since collected more stories and narratives from community members, with the aim of curating them into a refined advocacy toolkit for future use. Grassroots SRHR advocates included sex workers, queer and trans women, and young mothers, all of whom played a crucial role by participating in the training and sharing their experiences.

Positive outcomes

The campaign’s success aligned with key GAC project desired outcomes, including increased leadership and participation of women and adolescents in advocacy efforts, improved national accountability on SRHR, and strengthened global and regional SRHR standards. Critical activities that drove this impact included the storytelling training, grassroots shadow reporting, strategic lobbying through memorandums, and media engagement. Participation in the SDGs Kenya Forum, a coalition of over 350 organizations, also gave WCK a unique opportunity to input its shadow report into the national planning processes. WCK also intends to develop specific policy, as well as legislative and regulatory proposals from the shadow report, that will inform targeted SRHR advocacy.

Overcoming challenges

Despite these achievements, challenges arose. The termination of funding from the new U.S. administration hindered collaboration with some SRHR partners. Nevertheless, WCK adapted, underscoring the need for flexible funding that allows for responsive advocacy work. The project also highlighted the importance of refining grassroots messaging on abortion to ensure clarity and effectiveness. Additionally, integrating mental wellness and psychosocial support into future advocacy work was identified as a crucial improvement area for both staff and community advocates.

Future advocacy

Looking ahead, sustaining these advocacy gains requires continued documentation and dissemination of community stories, validation of narratives for strategic use, and the nurturing of grassroots leadership. The storytelling approach has proven not only impactful but scalable–empowering communities to change laws and lives.