Maasai Girls Education

Maasai Gir's Education

Maasai Girls Education Emancipation (MGEE) empowers Maasai girls and women through community education, formal schooling, and culturally sensitive awareness-raising. Drawing from deep knowledge of Maasai society and the broader global context, MGEE has developed a unique, culturally respectful approach centered on three key working methods:

  • Outreach Education Programme

    MGEE’s outreach education program operates in two main parts:
  • In Schools:
  • Volunteer teachers educate students on the effects of ignorance, Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), early and forced marriage, and gender-based violence. These sessions also provide a safe space for students to share their personal experiences, emotions, and opinions on these issues. Students are encouraged to reflect on whether change is needed—and if so, how it should be approached.
    • In Communities:
  • Motivated students are invited to participate in a wider community education initiative. These young changemakers visit Maasai bomas near their schools to raise awareness about the consequences of denying girls access to education and the harm caused by FGM/C, child marriage, and gender discrimination.
  • “I am a member of MGEE because, as a Maasai girl, I have experienced discrimination just because I was born a girl. I want to protect my sisters and daughters from the difficulties I have faced. I know I can help, because I have first-hand experience with it.”
  • — Namelok Moko, 15 years old

  • Cross-Generational Conversation

    Maasai society is structured around a patriarchal and gerontocratic "age-set" system, where older men hold most decision-making power. This often makes it difficult—especially for girls—to speak openly with elders about sensitive issues. Recognizing this, MGEE created the cross-generational conversation approach.
  • MGEE organizes and facilitates respectful dialogues between youth and elders, including traditional midwives (“Ngariba”), to build mutual understanding. These conversations aim to create shared goals for societal growth, especially around gender equality.
  • “The youth are very ready to go to school and be educated, stop female circumcision and forced marriage. But the elders want to continue their traditions. Parents are not ready to face the shame of their sons marrying uncircumcised and educated girls.”
  • Loshiro, 37 years old
  • MGEE also believes that strengthening relationships between youth and their parents is key to long-term change.
  • “When my father decided I had to be married before school, I ran away to my aunt’s house. But it hurt me to be in conflict with my father, and I missed my family. Eventually, I asked to meet him and explain why I ran away and why I needed to go to school before getting married. It took him time, but he listened—and in the end, he understood and supported my choice.”
  • — Naserian Lomnyack, 17 years old

    • Ethnographic Research as the Foundation for Change

  • MGEE stands apart from organizations that aggressively attack Maasai culture in their efforts to end gender-based discrimination—approaches that have largely failed due to a lack of cultural understanding and community involvement.
  • Instead, MGEE bases its vision and interventions on the lived experiences of Maasai girls and women and on patient, in-depth ethnographic research led by MGEE team members with gender expertise. This research serves two key purposes:
  • 1. Contributing to Knowledge:
  • Documenting and analyzing gender issues within Maasai society by involving community members as participants and knowledge-holders, rather than passive subjects.
  • 2. Developing Community-Led Solutions:
  • Using local insights to co-create culturally sensitive interventions that are informed by—and supported by—the very communities they aim to serve.
  • “I think it is important for all of us Maasai—men and women, young and old—to sit together and discuss where we want to go as a society. We must understand that we can continue to honour our culture, while also eliminating the practices that harm us—especially our women.”
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  • — Lemalian, 50 years old