BEING THE DRIVER OFYOUR OWN LIFE : A case study of the Pangea network and women’sempowerment in Kenya

Sammanfattning: This study focuses in women who participates in Pangea networks program for empoweringwomen. The aim of the study is to understand the participants experience of empowermentand the influence of empowerment on their self-esteem. To study the purpose of the study,qualitative methods have been used based on semi-structured interviews with sevenrespondents, as well as observations of the organization's approaches and empowermentstrategies. Thematic analysis has been used to analyse the collected data, hence three mainthemes were found that the study focuses on. The study shows that respondents experienceincreased knowledge in terms of their rights as individuals, as well as knowledge in businessskills, nutrition, bookkeeping, women and leadership, personal development, basic andreproductive health. The study also shows that empowering women through increasedknowledge in many essential areas as well as offering financial assistances is one of manyways to strengthen and support women, this seem to have a positive impact botheconomically, through improved life situations as well as personally and emotionally throughincreased self-esteem.