Who We Are
Founded in 2008, RefuSHE has supported thousands of women, girls, and children who have have been displaced due to war, conflict, violence, and drought. We provide the short and long-term support they need to become emotionally resilient and economically independent. Formerly known as Heshima Kenya, RefuSHE has grown alongside the young women we serve, ensuring that our programs are always for and by them.
Our Mission
RefuSHE protects, educates, and empowers orphaned, unaccompanied, and separated refugee girls and young women to build healthier and more resilient futures for themselves and their children.
Our Vision
We believe that every refugee girl, woman, and child deserves a life of dignity with equal access to safety, education, and economic prosperity.
Our Core Values
Heshima. (n). Swahili. Respect, honor, dignity. Our purpose lies in protecting, defending and advocating for the most vulnerable to ensure every human being is able to receive respect and live a life of dignity. We shall always strive to challenge systems that encumber the enjoyment of human rights.
Why Refugee Girls?
The global refugee crisis is more severe today than ever before. There are now 117.8 million forcibly displaced people around the world, including 35 million refugees—more than at any time in modern history. In Kenya alone, there are more than 857,065 refugees and asylum seekers, 119,000+ of whom reside in urban areas. According to UNHCR, Kenya continues to be among the top refugee-hosting countries in Africa.
76%
OF REFUGEES IN KENYA ARE WOMEN AND CHILDREN
REFUGEE GIRLS ARE LESS THAN HALF AS LIKELY TO ENROLL
TO IN SECONDARY SCHOOL COMPARED TO THEIR MALE PEERS, PER UNHCR
Who We Serve
RefuSHE serves one of the world’s most vulnerable populations – refugee girls. Our programs prioritize the needs of young refugee women and girls living in urban and peri-urban Nairobi who have been separated or orphaned due to war, conflict, violence, and drought. They have fled instability and persecution in their home countries across East Africa in search of protection and essential needs like clean water, food, shelter, and health care.
Urban refugees who live outside of designated refugee camps have less access to resources and face unique risks. Unaccompanied refugee girls and young women are particularly vulnerable to sexual and emotional violence, physical abuse, domestic servitude, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), depression, illiteracy, forced or early marriage, early pregnancy, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)/Female Genital Cutting (FGC), xenophobia, extortion, human trafficking, and persecution from host communities.
50%
OF REFUSHE’S PARTICIPANTS HAVE EXPERIENCED SEXUAL ABUSE OR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
Our Holistic Model
Protection
Provide protection and well-being support through mental health care, mental health justice, menstrual justice, social support, and safe shelter.
Self-Reliance
Promote self-reliance through vocational skills training; skilling, reskilling and upskilling certification; functional literacy and numeracy; entrepreneurship development; and support for business start-ups.
Legal & Advocacy
Advance advocacy and community engagement through peacebuilding, legal aid support, GBV awareness and response, and community strengthening.
Refugee women and children carry overlapping needs — legal, medical, psychosocial — that no single service can meet alone. That is where our Case Management comes in, the first point of contact, building a personalized plan for every girl. 3,088+ items of material assistance distributed last year.
20,000+ refugee children in Kenya are unaccompanied or separated. Our transitional Safe House gives girls and their children a secure place to heal. 100% report feeling safer after arrival.
Kenya has just 150 psychiatrists for 50 million people. This is the gap RefuSHE’s Mental Health Department exists to close. We offer trauma-informed talk therapy and somatic healing to fill that gap for refugee girls. 83% show a decrease in psychological distress after talk therapy.
Only 37% of refugee adolescents reach secondary school worldwide. RefuSHE exists to close that gap. Our Girls Empowerment Programme gets refugee girls into school and equips them with skills for the future. 98% of GEP students earn their certificate.
60% of refugees in Kenya are unemployed, leaving many women economically dependent and at risk. RefuSHE’s Artisan Collective empowers refugee women with business skills to build sustainable livelihoods. 100% of proceeds fund RefuSHE’s mission.
Just 7% of women-owned businesses in Kenya have access to formal finance. We provide the training and capital that refugee women need to build lasting livelihoods. 700+ women have received a loan to grow their own business.
Nearly 2 in 3 refugee women in Kenya have experienced gender-based violence. We train communities how to prevent and respond to it when it happens. 70% leave feeling empowered to act.