Dr. Kakenya Ntaiya is a Kenyan educator, feminist and social activist. She is the founder and president of , a nonprofit organization leveraging education to empower girls, end harmful traditional practices including female genital mutilation and child marriage, and transform communities in rural Kenya. Kakenya's Dream's operate in Transmara, one of the most marginalized and remote regions of Kenya, where nearly 80% of girls undergo FGM at puberty, 50% are married before the age of 19, and only 17% complete a primary education. In this region, girls’ education has not historically been a priority for family or community investment, and social norms perpetuate low educational achievement. Investing in girls’ education yields profoundly positive outcomes not only for the girl, but for her family and community, as well. Since 2009, Kakenya’s Dream has been changing beliefs about the value of girls’ education while empowering girls to reach their full potential.
Early life and education
Dr. Ntaiya is the eldest of eight children. Her life was supposed to follow the traditional path for a Maasai woman. Engaged at 5 years old, she underwent female genital mutilation in her early teens in preparation for marriage. This harmful traditional practice was supposed to mark the end of her childhood and prepare her for marriage. Since birth, she had been taught that she should only dream of becoming a mother and wife. Dr. Ntaiya had a different dream. She negotiated with her father to return to school after undergoing FGM. Though this was unheard of, he agreed. Several years later, she negotiated again, this time, to do what no girl from her community had ever done: leave the villageto go to college in the United States. She promised her community that in exchange for their support, she would use her education to serve the community. She received a scholarship to Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Virginia. She also became the first youth advisor to the , where she traveled the world as a passionate advocate for girls’ education. She went on to the University of Pittsburgh, where she received her PhD in Education in 2011. During this time, she married and had two children. Dr. Ntaiya returned to Kenya and founded Kakenya's Dream to fulfill her promise to serve her community and provide a pathway to education and empowerment for future generations of Kenyan girls and young women.
Awards
Dr. Ntaiya is the recipient of a number of awards that recognize her work to educate girls. She was honored to be featured this year in Melinda Gates’s first book, Dr. Ntaiya is a proud Top TenCNN Hero, and National Geographic Emerging Explorer. She was honored to receive the Feminist Majority Global Women’s Rights Award from the Feminist Majority Foundation in 2013 and the Vital Voices Global Leadership Award in 2008. She was recognized by Women in the World as a “Woman of Impact,” and named one of Newsweek Magazine’s “150 Women Who Shake the World.” In 2011, she was counted among the Women Deliver 100: The Most Inspiring People Delivering for Girls and Women. Her story has been the subject of a Washington Post series, a National Geographic feature, a BBC documentary, and many magazine articles.
