Shyleen Momanyi – a story of rage and resistance  

Shyleen leads transformative change as part of Young Women’s Leadership Institute (YWLI), a feminist organisation based in Nairobi that works across five Kenyan counties. “Young Women’s Leadership Institute is a feminist organisation that is led by young women and feminist activists from across Kenya,” she explains. Their approach is deliberately collaborative, working “in partnership with grassroots organisations” because “we believe in resource sharing, and also because of the shrinking resources coming to feminist organisations.” 

Their work spans four critical areas, with sexual and reproductive health and justice at the core. “For instance, in Kenya, the term ‘rights’ is very controversial because they don’t want us to have conversations around choice,” she says. 

For Shyleen, the greatest threat to feminism today is technology’s double-edged sword. “The biggest threat to feminism today is evolving technology. I know it presents many benefits for women and girls, but there’s also a growing normalisation of backlash and misinformation shared through online platforms where feminist ideas are being dismissed and misrepresented as being irrelevant,” she explains. 

This digital weaponisation has devastating real-world consequences. “Such narratives being driven online create fear, silence voices, and weaken collective action,” Shyleen observes. More alarmingly, “online spaces are contributing to femicide – when you look at it, most perpetrators have connected with their victims through online spaces. We have cases in Kenya where they met online, and when they met in person, the woman was killed.” 

The threat is compounded by “the rising power and influence of the anti-gender movement, propagated through online spaces, backed by political and religious institutions working to roll back feminist gains.” Recent examples include government-organised conferences “that was geared towards anti-LGBTQ sentiment” during femicide commemorations. 

Funding cuts have created an impossible landscape for feminist organising. “It’s scary, honestly. It’s so scary,” Shyleen admits. “In 2022, a report came out showing there was just 1 per cent of funding going to feminist organising, and then AWID shared that report showing 0.42 per cent going to gender equality work and feminist organising.” The impact is brutal: “We’re doing so much more for less with very little money. For instance, those activities were actually meant to be three consecutive weeks, not two. Because we were travelling to the same area, we had to combine activities to cut costs on travel.” 

The funding crisis forces organisations into compromising positions. “I know organisations that have completely changed their language and how they speak about issues just to maintain funding.” 

Despite these challenges, YWLI continues adapting through strategic partnerships. “One thing we’re doing is being very intentional with the resources we have – sharing and partnering more with other organisations,” Shyleen says. “We’re investing in community-led organising and solutions” and “working within movements because we can build resources together for common causes.” 

Shyleen’s vision for solidarity is uncompromising. “Supporters need to trust feminist organisers for the work we do and be firm on that work. If you’re a supporter, there’s no way you’re going to support half and not support the rest – you can’t say ‘I’ll support women and girls but not LGBTQ’ because feminism is about everyone.” 

She emphasises that “allyship should also mean naming and challenging systems of power and oppression, including within the philanthropy space” and calls for supporters to stay “present when things are difficult.” 

In her call to courage, Shyleen’s message is powerful and unwavering: “My call to courage is that even though it’s hard, it makes us angry and emotional even when we speak about it, it’s important that we never become comfortable with situations that are happening. We need to keep the rage. We need to keep resistance. We need to dream bigger and defend our work, our countries, and the world.” 

“Because if we stay silent, we lose our power. But if we don’t, we are powerful – that’s why they’re coming for us. Because we’ve dared to speak truth to power. It’s important for us to build the rage, resistance, the sisterhood, and stand with each other at all times.”