Mercy Odondo is an award winning Human Rights Defender, Actress, passionate community servant, Equitas alumni of year 2016, YALI RLC Fellow 2020, Trainer of Trainees, The Founding Director of Gender Dialogues KE, The Kenya Annual Human Rights Debate and Mercy Odondo Unplugged. Mercy uses art and dialogues to condemn sexual and gender based violence by providing safe spaces for adolescent girls and young women, with an intention to keep them safe from all forms of violence.
Greatly inspired by Wangari Maathai’s courage, passion and resilience, Mercy has been featured in Brave Campaign by Amnesty International Kenya, One Vibe Africa documentary (Made in Kisumu, episode 9), Hear My Voice; Women’s Network and Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world, a campaign by OHCHR, within the framework of the African Union Women, Gender and Youth Directorate, OHCHR, UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF and UNHCR in 2021.
Over the last 10 years, Mercy, through her initiatives, uses theater, debates, dialogues, community organizing and social media platforms to reach out to adolescent girls and young women. Since the Covid 19 pandemic, Mercy reached over 2000 adolescent girls and young women with information, services, linkages and dignity kits in regards to Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights and Sexual and Gender Based Violence, through partnerships with organizations like UNFPA, Talanta Africa and Plan International. She believes that, because periods don’t stop during pandemics, every girl and young woman deserves more than visitation and sorry things will be an okay kind of consolation.
Mercy has also, through her social media platforms, been consistent in awareness creation on ending period stigma and poverty, ending sexual and gender-based violence, training, creating safe spaces and documentation of SGBV cases in regards to adolescent girls and young women in Kisumu County and beyond.
Mercy Odondo goal’s is to use her skills, talent, knowledge, experience and exposure to end sexual and gender-based violence by creating safe spaces, community training and theater performances with an objective of keeping girls and women safe from all forms of violence. Mercy has received several awards like the Safe Space Champion of the year 2018 award, the Golden Women Awards 2019, the Community and Human Rights Awards under the Apostles Hayford Alile Humanetria awards.
