Kakenya Ntaiya

”Kakenya’s Dream” - song written by Sarah Llewellyn
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honored in partnership with United Nations Decade of Women and University of Wolverhampton

Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya is the Founder and President of Kakenya’s Dream, a nonprofit organization leveraging education to empower girls, end harmful traditional practices, and transform communities in rural Kenya. After escaping child marriage and surviving female genital mutilation (FGM) as a young teenager, Dr. Ntaiya became the first woman from her remote Kenyan village to attend university in the United States. Upon earning her PhD in education, she founded Kakenya’s Dream to fulfill her promise to return home to serve her community.

In 2009, her first boarding school opened its doors, serving 30 girls. The school requires that parents agree not to subject their enrolled daughters to FGM or child marriage. Today, Kakenya’s Dream reaches thousands of young girls, boys, and community members across rural Kenya each year through three holistic, girl-centered programs. Dr. Ntaiya was featured in Melinda Gates’s first book, The Moment of Lift, has been named a Top Ten CNN Hero, a National Geographic Emerging Explorer, and one of Newsweek’s “150 Women Who Shake the World.” 

You can learn more about Dr. Ntaiya and Kakenya’s Dream at www.kakenyasdream.org, through Dr. Ntaiya’s TED Talks “A girl who demanded school” and “Empower a girl, transform a community,” and read about their work in publications such as National Geographic, the Washington Post, and Teen Vogue.