Armed with the vision and deep desire to end all forms of gender and sexual violence and femicide, Lady Dr. Wangu Kanja, for the last two decades, has been at the forefront in seeking redress for these vices. Wangu is the Founder and Executive Director of the Wangi Kanja Foundation. Through her organisation, founded to address these pressing issues, she has been able to offer support to women and girls who were victims/survivors of gender-based violence in the country. She has seen six survivors, who were violated in tea farms, following a BBC documentary, supported during their petition before the High Court of Kenya. Through their interventions and support, 77 survivors of these ordeal received ex gratia payments from their employer. In addition, they provided financial management, mental health and coping skills training and sexual violence training for them. At least 12,000 survivors of sexual and gender-based violence have been supported through Wangu Kanja including receiving legal, medical, livelihood and psychosocial support. In 2019, WKF pioneered innovation in the application of technology in the collection of evidence through DNA Kits in low resource settings. 1,200 DNA Evidence Kits distributed to various health facilities across Kenya.
Appreciating the need for collaboration and joint efforts in combating GBV and sexual violence, Wangu Kanja founded and is the convenor of the Coalition Against Sexual Violence, which brings together seventeen national organisations that work on diverse aspects of sexual violence. Wangu Kanja takes pride in having founded the only network of sexual violence survivors in Kenya, the Sexual Survivors Network.
Despite the selfless efforts made by Lady Wangu on the fight against sexual violence, the same has come with challenges. She has been a victim of online backlash, where smear campaigns, mis and dis information has been shared about her, thus creating a negative perception about her and the work that she does. Limited funding remains a challenge, given the volume of work and the many sexual violence survivors who require assistance on an almost daily basis. Following her involvement and the support she offered at the petition, her house was broken into, as a way to harass, threaten and intimidate her. Despite these challenges, she remains steadfast in ensuring that women and girls live and exist in safe and secure environment. Her work has not been without recognition, where she has been recognised and received various awards, a testament to the commitment in advancing change for a better tomorrow for women and girls.