The Nikumbuke Women Soccer Initiative is an ongoing community-based women’s empowerment program implemented by the Hijabi Mentorship Program in Matuga Sub-county, Kwale County. The initiative was initially launched in 2022 through support from the United States Embassy in Nairobi and Rutgers University under a two-year community resilience and women’s leadership program.

Nikumbuke was designed to use adult women’s football as a platform for:

• Psychosocial healing
• Community resilience
• Women’s leadership
• Gender equality advocacy
• Social cohesion and peacebuilding
  
  

The initiative officially launched on 7 June 2022 in Lunga Lunga, Kwale County, with:

• 3 women’s teams
• 66 elder women participants
  from:
  • Vuga
  • Chinarini
  • Ziwani
    
    

What began as a pilot initiative has since evolved into a growing grassroots movement reaching 176 rural women across six villages and eight active teams by 2025.

Nikumbuke responds to persistent barriers affecting rural women — particularly older women, young mothers, and survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) — including social isolation, economic exclusion, psychosocial stress, and restrictive gender norms that discourage women’s participation in sports and public life.

Beyond football, the initiative creates trusted community spaces where women gather to build solidarity, access psychosocial support, strengthen confidence, and engage in broader conversations around wellbeing, safety, leadership, and economic resilience.