Yvonne Oyieke: I'm an oops baby making the world a better place for women

Yvonne Oyieke is the name. She is a remarkable force to be reckoned with!

With an insatiable drive for success, she describes herself as an ambitious and empathetic young woman. 

As the current Utu Wetu executive director, Oyieke prides herself in being a blessing to her family.

How do you describe Yvonne Oyieke?

I always describe myself as an oops baby, but a wonderful blessing because I'm sure they can't imagine their lives without me.

Growing up, I had really good support from my siblings who had been through life before me and interceded on my behalf with my parents when I was naughty.

How would you describe your childhood and memories

I had a good childhood. I'm the last of four siblings.

So even though I was the last one after a long break, my parents did make an effort to at least find ways to keep me entertained and have my cousins around me.

I went to a good school, for my primary school and then for my high school, before my father moved to Namibia.

So with my mother, we moved to Ventuk, and that's where I finished high school.

It was a good experience to live in another country at such a young age and be shaped by values that are in many ways different from yours.

Then I was also privileged in terms of my university because, from Namibia, I joined the University of Pretoria. So that's where I did most of my studies.

How has your upbringing influenced the person you are?

I studied law. Initially, that's not what I wanted to do. I got accepted for accounting because I didn't like math, but I understood it.

So I was accepted for accounting, law and environmental science.

I had a very candid conversation with my brother and he helped me gain some clarity in terms of the things that I enjoy in a career opportunity.

So that's how I ended up choosing law. And I think I was privileged because I have family who are practising lawyers.

On holidays, I would come home from South Africa, and I'd intern at my uncle's firm. 

But I think that also gave me a glimpse into the practice of law and what that entails. So by the time I was finishing my law degree, it was very clear to me that I didn't want to practice formally, but I'd studied the degree already.

So because of the institution that I was in and the opportunities that they had for students to participate in faculty, I joined as an academic associate. 

At the time, I wasn't quite sure which direction I was going to go, but I knew that I wanted to do my postgraduate studies. So I had the opportunity to teach and research with my institution.

I think that's where my research interest and maybe academia was cultured because I didn't want to practice going to court and all of those things didn't interest me. But I found academia interesting.

I found it interesting to have these philosophical debates about life and society and to think through in a very ideal and ideological way what, you know, like to imagine a new sort of society and a new sort of world. 

So I think that's how I ended up in the trajectory that I am, because from then I continued in academia with the University of Pretoria, moving to the Centre for Human Rights and working in their gender unit.

I think that's where my interest in the promotion of women's rights did develop.

Where do you draw your passion from?

I think generally, I would just like to live well.  So that also means doing what I can for the environment around me to ensure that it's a good, peaceful sort of environment.

I think I'm always very aware of my privilege, and I think that consciousness also helps keep my passion alive because I think you're placed in certain positions to do more than just exist.

So if you've been given a platform, whatever it is in your particular sphere of influence, I do think that people and the world around you should get better after interacting with you.

So that just does push me. A reminder that you've been bestowed with all of these privileges, and what then do you do with them?

You use it to do good for other people and to do good for yourself. So I think that's what gets me up and that's what pushes me.

What challenges have you experienced and what are the opportunities as well?

I've risen through the ranks and some of the challenges. I think being a young woman comes with a certain level of baggage depending on which context you are in. 

I've worked in contexts and with partners who have been difficult, perhaps because of their personality, but certainly because I'm a young woman.

In that way, they almost don't treat you as a peer and you have to be patient, so I think that's a value that I've built over time because it's not ingrained.

But it also helps you develop a thick skin because you have to show up day after day and prove people wrong, that despite your age, that's not a hindrance to the things that you can achieve.

I think aligning myself through these different consulting opportunities and networking, did place me at a certain advantage when it comes to taking certain opportunities.

How does it feel to be recognised for the good you do?

It's nice. I think when you are amongst your peers, having conversations with your team, I guess you don't think about the impact outside of reporting on donor obligations.

So I think it feels nice for someone to want to have a conversation with me about the work that I do. It feels nice that people think the work that I do is interesting and worth profiling.

It's quite an honour for someone to just applaud and recognise you for the work that you're doing.

On this International Women's Day, what are you doing to inspire inclusion and what is Utu Wetu doing?

I think inclusion and equality do sit at the core of our organisational values. We are survivor-centred in our approach and that is because we seek to include the voices of a marginalised group of women.

If you speak to survivors of sexual violence, the common thread is the indignity that comes with that violation, and because of prevailing societal norms, the stigma and discrimination that comes with it is also disturbing.

So through our platform, we hope to amplify the voices of women who have undergone sexual violence.

So if you listen to survivors of the 2007 post-election violence for example, especially the ones who experienced sexual violence, they feel like they have been forgotten, because reparations and compensation were granted to a lot of other people and attempts were made to address the challenges of 2007,  but not intentionally so for survivors of sexual violence in that period. 

So to be seen and to be heard is something really important, and because of our position, then we hope to amplify these survivor voices.

It's not our story, it's their story, it's just that we hold their hands and help with putting forward this message so that people can see and hear them.

But concerning International Women's Day, we'll be collaborating with some of our partners and we'll be having a community engagement.

We will collaborate with our partners and have community engagements to put some of the power back into the hands of the community and remind different duty-bearers of what their duty is especially focusing on women.

How can we make the community safer for women and more resilient?

I think it comes about as a product of different conversations and engagements and there have to be very honest and candid conversations around the way things are, around our harmful gender norms and practices that put I think both men and women in certain positions of vulnerability.

I think we need to have conversations around those normalized behaviours that make it okay to behave in certain ways.

That looks more at long-term change because no one is changed by one conversation.

It means that you have to engage and interact at a community level. So once again, I think drawing on the power of a story, just have these community dialogues persistently and consistently.

Because that kind of change, which is internal, really does take a while.

It's not something that we can achieve in the short or medium term.

What are some of the policies that can be laid down to end femicide?

I think Kenya has a very robust legal framework. So if you look at our laws that protect against violence, on paper we do much better than a lot of other states.

So I think we should implement the laws that we already have.

I do think if we're more diligent in implementing the laws that we have, then we will go quite a long way in terms of preventing femicide.

I think in addition those are some of the conversations that need to happen to address an issue like femicide.

How can we hold the government accountable for every death?

CSO have tried and reporting is quite important. Where these scenarios come to our attention, we need to make sure that we follow through in terms of reporting and going through the formal processes.

So if you think about the challenges that survivors of sexual violence go through to get the P3 form, then it becomes clear that the formal systems in and of themselves are not sufficient.

I think that's where advocacy and community engagement can or should focus our efforts.

So make noise, engage, speak with people, come together, talk to the government, talk to your fellow civil society organisations, the community and the international organisation.

So if advocacy and engagement at that level go on, then there's that additional pressure to be accountable, even as we continue with these formal mechanisms and these formal processes, which can be a bit exclusive for a variety of reasons.

So as CSOs, our strength lies in our collective numbers and efforts. If we're able to come together to advocate and remind the government what its responsibility is, then I think that would go a long way in terms of addressing some of these issues.

We need more women in leadership, how can we ensure that we achieve this from the grassroots level to the national level?

I struggle with the legal provisions because they are focused on elective politics. But I think women's participation in leadership extends beyond just the political sphere. So I think it's good to have representation but think these things need to trickle down a little bit more.

So I think that collective power is important whereby women come together and actively agitate for the inclusion and recognition of their fellow women where the opportunities present themselves.

But once again, maybe at a more communal level. I think it's only if we have a conversation at that level and start to change people's perceptions at a community level that you can experience change.

Then it will make it easier to implement, for example, the two-thirds gender role, because then it will be something that we as a community have actively bought into.

But the reason we have these challenges is because women's leadership is still questioned. So I think if we're able to have those broader social conversations around gender norms and gender equality and what that looks like for us and how that impacts both men and women, then we can somehow see more women or greater equality when it comes to leadership and participation. 

What advice would you give women in leadership positions?

It's tough because they face a lot. Women are judged very harshly when they're in certain positions of leadership. It's almost like the scorecard is different when you're a woman. And there are certain things that you'll never be able to get away with, whereas your male compatriots would probably be able to.

But I would say keep your head down and stay on course. I think there'll be a lot of noise, there'll be a lot of distractions, but if you stay true to the reason why you wanted to be in that position in the first place, then hopefully the results will show themselves.

There'll be noise, people fighting you, people who are over-glorifying you and almost giving you a big head and building your ego in that way, and that's the nature of being in a leadership position.

But I think if you just keep your head down and focus on the journey ahead then all of the rest really shouldn't matter.

What is your message to young women?

Be patient. It does work out the way it's supposed to. I can remember, I've had very many instances of anxiety or frustration that have come from like a certain speed. I want certain things and I want them now and I want them this way. But I found that the harder you fight, the harder you resist, at the end of the day, you're tired and you're beaten and you're bruised and you're not getting where you need to be. So I think if you sit down and plan and keep your head down, then things do work out the way that they are supposed to.

So anxiety and anger are normal, but to remember at the end of the day, things work out just the way that they're supposed to.

What interests you about being an executive director?

It was a challenge and I think I like a challenge. I think I can get bored a bit easily, but I like the challenge that this particular position presented me with.

Because steering an organisation is not an easy thing. There are a lot of considerations that you have to factor in. And until this point, I had been an employee, so on the other end, someone else had to make the decisions. But in this instance, it's me. I'm the one who decides how things proceed and how things move. And if I don't, then nothing moves.

And as scary as it is, it's also really exciting because it's an opportunity to learn. It's an opportunity for me to develop skills that, to this point, I hadn't really. And I think the exciting thing about being the director of Utu Wetu specifically is because we're new, I think there's a lot of promise in a new organisation. 

I think that was the most exciting prospect with this particular position and that's really what convinced me that this is what I wanted to do, aside from the fact that it was a big challenge.

I like to be challenged. I don't like to be complacent, because that breeds boredom.

What are your hobbies?

I like art and crafting. I'm not very good, but I enjoy it. I also like to be in the kitchen.

I like to bake and cook. I don't always consume.  Sometimes I send it to my friends. But then I also enjoy physical activities. I just got into yoga and I've also started playing golf. So let's see where that takes me. 

What is your parting shot?

My parting shot on this International Women's Day is Aluta Continua, but context.

Last week we were in Kisumu for a community engagement where we brought together survivors of sexual violence in the 2007 post-election period.

We had a full day of discussions, because from 2007 to now, I think that's about 17 years, they've been waiting for reparations.

So if ever there was a picture of resilience if ever there was a picture of just pushing through and never giving up, I think those ladies inspired me, because of the circumstances that they find themselves in.

So the entire engagement just really made me think, you know what, the journey or the battle continues, even when we think we've won in one area, for as long as there's one woman who continues to be burdened by the legacy and the impact of conflict-related sexual violence, then none of us should be comfortable, and none of us can be free.

So the battle continues.