Widows in Uasin Gishu are among the special groups identified to benefit from a three-year project that targets vulnerable groups.
According to Naomi Wanjiru, a monitoring and evaluation officer at Centre for Human Rights and Mediation, the widows will be offered free legal services and training.
The project will be sponsored by Amkeni Wakenya through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Centre for Human Rights and Mediation.
“The number of cases of widows being disinherited and those who face challenges of conflict with relatives of their deceased husbands has risen and we receive 10 to 15 cases per week,” she said.
Wanjiru was speaking in Eldoret Town on Wednesday during a training programme for paralegals and law students on alternative dispute resolution and access to justice.
She noted that they will screen the widows before picking the ones who qualify for the programme, adding that they will train and advise them on self-presentation and documentation to ensure they get legal justice.
“The purpose of the project is to ensure everyone has access to justice especially the most vulnerable and the indigenous communities in the North Rift region,” she added.
She said many widows have been forcefully ejected from their matrimonial homes and disinherited by their families without intervention from the local administration, hence the need to also involve chiefs and assistance chiefs in the project.