About COSWA
A feminist, community-led network advancing transformative change at the intersection of women's empowerment, social justice, health equity, and inclusion across Kenya's Coast region.
Coast Kenya
Rooted in lived experience. Driven by feminist solidarity.
The Collective Solidarity of Women Alliance (COSWA) is a feminist, community-led network advancing transformative change at the intersection of women's empowerment, social justice, health equity, and inclusion across Kenya's Coast region. Founded in 2015, COSWA works to protect and expand the rights, well-being, and resilience of vulnerable women and girls in all their intersecting diversities.
Rooted in lived experience and grassroots leadership, COSWA addresses the structural drivers of inequality that disproportionately affect women and girls — including gender-based violence, harmful cultural and religious norms, economic marginalisation, restrictive policies, and barriers to accessing essential services such as healthcare, justice, education, and sustainable livelihoods.
Through community mobilisation, feminist leadership development, evidence generation, service navigation, and policy and systems advocacy, COSWA strengthens the agency and collective power of women and girls to claim their rights and influence the decisions that shape their lives.
"Nothing for Us, Without Us! We believe that young women and girls are the experts of their own lives — and must lead the conversations and decisions that shape their futures."
What guides everything we do
Vision
A just, resilient, and socially inclusive society where women and girls in all their intersecting diversities can fully exercise their rights, and thrive in dignity.
Mission
To improve the quality of life of vulnerable women and girls by advancing their human rights, expanding access to health, justice, and economic opportunity, and building resilient, empowered communities through feminist leadership, grassroots organising, and systems-level advocacy.
Goal
To improve coordination, networking, institutional capacity strengthening, and knowledge management for enhanced synergy in programming for and with vulnerable women and girls across the Coastal regions of Kenya.
What guides us
Integrity
We are transparent, honest, and accountable — to the women and girls we serve, to our partners, and to one another.
Intersectionality
We recognise that women's oppression is shaped by multiple overlapping systems — class, ethnicity, disability, age, sexuality — and our work responds to these realities.
Empowerment & Learning
We invest in the growth, knowledge, and agency of women, girls, and the organisations that serve them, embracing continuous learning as a feminist practice.
Feminist Solidarity
Our strength comes from the bonds between organisations, collectives, and individuals — across the Coast region, nationally, and globally.
Teamwork
Sustainable change is collective. We collaborate across networks, disciplines, and movements, sharing leadership and centering women's voices at every level.
Dignity
Every woman and girl deserves to live free from violence, discrimination, and economic exclusion — with full recognition of her humanity and rights.
6 Counties. 50+ Grassroots Groups.
COSWA operates across all six counties of Kenya's Coast region through a coalition of more than 50 affiliated grassroots groups. This regional footprint covers urban centres, peri-urban informal settlements, rural and pastoralist communities, fishing villages, and cross-border towns.
Leadership Team
Amina Hassan
Human rights lawyer and feminist activist with 15 years of GBV advocacy and systems-level advocacy experience across East Africa.
Grace Muthoni
Specialist in community development and women's economic empowerment, formerly with UN Women Kenya.
Zawadi Jumwa
Journalist and digital activist championing feminist narratives and movement memory in Coastal Kenyan media.
Khadija Ali
CPA with expertise in NGO financial management, donor compliance, and resource mobilisation across East Africa.
Mercy Wanjiru
Paralegal specialist running COSWA's community legal empowerment networks and GBV response continuum in 5 counties.
Zainab Mwenda
Trauma-informed psychosocial support specialist leading COSWA's SRHR justice and mental health programming.
Affiliated Grassroots Groups
COSWA works through a coalition of more than 50 affiliated grassroots groups spanning all 6 coastal counties.
We are proudly a feminist movement
We are proudly a feminist movement. Rooted in feminist values and driven by a deep commitment to gender justice — empowering all women and girls to break free from patriarchal oppression, discrimination, and violence.
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