CBO launches program for women’s sports in Kwale County

Kwale Sports Excellence, a community-based organisation from Kwale County, has launched a sports program that seeks to work with women in sports in the county. 

In partnership with British rower and Olympian, Rowan McKellar, the program dubbed 'TWALENGA Women In Sports', has prioritised improving the standards of women's sports in Kwale County.

Speaking to Citizen Digital during the launch of the program at Swahili Beach Resort in Diani, Diana Heri, Programs Lead at the organisation, laid out their plan for the program.

"We have noticed a very significant gap in women's sports in Kwale County. We have the talent, we have the support from relevant stakeholders, yet the standards of women's sports have significantly lagged behind their male counterparts," she started.

"Because of this, together with our partner, Rowan McKellar, we have come up with what we believe is the perfect blueprint for the development of women and girls' sports in Kwale County."

Kwale County boasts of some of the outstanding talents in girls' and women's sports in Kenya.

Some of the best performing institutions during school games hail from the region.

Schools like Kaya Tiwi Secondary School, Shimba Hills, Waa High School, Matuga High School, and Kwale Girls have over the years dominated their counterparts from the rest of Kenya in dsiciplines like basketball, hockey, netball, volleyball, and football. 

However, there is still lack of a clear pathway to professional sports for most of the girls involved with sports at school level. This has been compounded by the neglect of basic principles of talent development like sports nutrition, sports safety and well thought out talent development programs. 

By partnering with a seasoned athlete in Rowan McKellar, the organisation hopes her expertise will be a game-changer for women in the county.

Some of the focus areas in the program include sports and education, sports for social causes, safe training, sports nutrition, and sports tourism.

Speaking to Citizen Digital, Rowan McKellar explained how and why she chose to get involved with the program.

"I got involved with the Twalenga program after taking part in the UK Sport initiative, Powered by Purpose. This inspired me to reach out to the organisation's management and see if I could work alongside them to guide the sportswomen in Kwale County. We decided to meet online in order to create a mentor group where we could share ideas and help each other as females in sport," she said.

The British rower is currently preparing for the Olympic Games in Paris later this year.

She has competed at the highest level and was part of the team that finished second at the rowing World Cup and European Championship this year. She hopes she can leverage her experience to inspire the next generation of female athletes. 

"Being part of the Twalenga program in itself is inspiring. What the group is doing to help each other and bring awareness to women in sport in Kwale County is amazing. Being a small part of that is an incredible experience. As an Olympic athlete, I feel it is my duty to help inspire the next generation of female athletes, and I hope being part of Twalenga is doing just this," she noted.

The first stage of the TWALENGA Program will be the mentorship sessions, which will be followed by tournaments in different disciplines, a women's march to raise awareness, and empowerment forums.