Our story
“I have held a torch in one hand and hope in the other.”
My journey began in the delivery room. As a midwife, I stood beside women giving birth in the dark. There were no gloves, no supplies, no electricity, and no dignity. I was trained to save lives, but I quickly realized that skill alone could not fix what was systemically broken.
The women I served were expected to be grateful for survival, even when care stripped them of voice and choice.
I held a torch in one hand and hope in the other. I cried many nights. Not because I lacked knowledge, but because I was surrounded by systems that refused to change. I saw women suffering through pain that could be prevented. I knew better was possible, but better was not coming. I saw midwives leave a system that was not responsive to their needs or those of their clients.
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That led me to become a trainer, equipping other frontline workers to carry the same weight. I believed that if we trained more health workers, outcomes would shift. I pioneered the first e-learning and m-learning training approach for frontline nurses and midwives in Kenya and the region to respond to the access and quality gaps — upgrading their skills as they worked, so as not to create more quantity gaps. This approach now serves across counties, sectors, countries and regions. But still, no amount of training could correct what was fundamentally unjust.
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So I stepped into development spaces, determined to help fix the system from above. But what I saw there was worse. Women and girls were not only underrepresented but absent. Their lived truths were dismissed, reduced to checkboxes. Especially those most underserved: adolescent mothers, women living with disability, pastoralist and Indigenous women, refugees, and those navigating deep poverty. Rarely consulted. Often spoken for. Almost always excluded.
That was my turning point. I could no longer patch broken systems. I had to go to the root and start again.
In 2017, I founded White Ribbon Alliance Kenya ; built on one radical shift: Ask. Listen. Act.
We have since listened to over 3.5 million women and girls across Kenya. What they shared was not anecdotal. It revealed a polycrisis of survival, care, dignity, and access. They named what they wanted. We took that as instruction. And we began turning asks into action.
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Today, we are building real, lasting solutions with women, girls, and communities through Action Villages and Women and Girls Action Networks for Change. These are shaped by those most often forgotten.
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 Angela Nguku
Founder and Executive Director
White Ribbon Alliance Kenya
