ALARM Kenya conducted three days of Gender, Equality, Reconciliation, and Partnership (GERP) training to pastors and leaders in Imaroro Ward, Mashuru Sub County, Kajiado County. The training aimed to increase leaders’ capacity to address gender, equality, reconciliation, and partnership challenges in their churches and communities. The cohort consisted of 46 pastors and leaders from 15 different churches. This included 16 women and 30 men.
Imaroro Ward, Mashuru Sub-County, The majority of Kajiado County’s territory is semi-arid and is populated by the Maasai community. The Maasai people are pastoralists, and their society is patriarchal, with men making the majority of decisions and holding property (land and livestock).
FACILITATION METHODOLOGY
The training utilized an interactive approach, including one-on-one engagement, group discussions, presentations, and questions and answer sessions.
The participants were 46 Pastors and leaders from Poka region, Kajiado East sub county, Kajiado County. They included 16 women and 30 men from different denominations. The denominations represented include:- Pentecostal Evangelistic Fellowship of Africa (PEFA), Baptist Church, Methodist Church of Kenya (MCK), Kenya Assemblies of God (KAG) Free Pentecostal Fellowship of Kenya (FPFK), Dominion Chapel, victory church, Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA), Cornerstone Church and New Life Church
TESTIMONIES
“This training has been so timely for us. We have learnt a lot and I believe this will bring change in our community. We thank God and ALARM as this was the first meeting for us as Pastors and leaders of different denominations in this Imaroro ward. It has been amazing to see leaders engaged in small group – discussions even before training starts and I hope and pray that this continues beyond this training to foster unity in Imaroro. We ask for more training on this as gender issues are so much and as leaders, we lack knowledge to handle them well. This training has opened our eyes. Thank you so much.” Rev. Joshua Nkaru – PEFA Church Pastor
“Thank you so much for this training. It has been a blessing to us. We have never had a meeting like this where we have leaders both men and women and pastors from different denominations gathered together. Normally our meetings are for one gender only separately, men alone or women alone. This meeting has given us an opportunity to interact and also share our concerns on these gender issues affecting us. This meeting has given us a voice as women. We are so happy. How I pray and request ALARM to bring us another training. Thank you so much and God bless you.” Charity Turere – Women Leader
Conclusion
The GERP training in Imaroro Ward brought together pastors and leaders, many for the first time, to address deeply rooted gender issues such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), early marriages, and the exclusion of women from leadership. This gathering fostered unity, sparked critical conversations, and empowered leaders to challenge harmful cultural norms in their churches and communities.
We are deeply grateful to our partners whose support made this training possible. Your generosity is creating lasting change.
As similar needs persist in other regions, we invite you to join us in expanding this work. Through your donations and partnership, we can reach more leaders and communities with the tools for healing, equality, and transformation.
Together, we can build stronger, more just communities.
