3.3 Initiatives Identified with Women Empowerment
More than a few of the respondents identified various Church groups as a major source of
support or channel for women empowerment. Financial institution mainly geared towards
support of women and others running programmes specifically addressing women needs
amidst providing financial services for their male counter parts were also identified.
Health institutions also emerged as channel for women empowerment and liberation.
Those identified include such as:-
3.3.1 The Catholic Women Association (CWA)
This is a group of women in the Roman Catholic Church (R.C.C) in Kagio. It is generally
concerned with lay apostolate among women.
Its formation dates back to December 1966, when a group of Catholic women, from
various lay organizations such as catholic action, the legion of Mary, the young children
student among others, met in Gitooro, Meru to share ideas about their organizations and
lay apostolate among women. As a result of the meeting a decision was arrived upon to
establish an umbrella or common organization to facilitate the activities of women in the
Catholic Church on a national basis and thus the formation of the Kenya National
Council of Women (NCCW). The constitution of NCCW was ratified by the Episcopal
conference in 1967. The NCCW now has branches which are then referred to as the
catholic women's associations, which are all over the country and thus CWA in Kagio.6j
The CWA is guided by the NCCW's constitution but groups such as the diocesan and
parochial have fairly some freedom to interprets and actualize the laid down roles,
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3 Focus group discussion. Members of the CWA on March 18lh 2012
4 3