Flone Initiative

Based in Kenya, Flone Initiative is a women-led organization that aims to attract, retain and advance women professionals in the public transport industry and provide well paying, safe and stable jobs. With the Giving Joy grant the Initiative worked with 60 women in the transportation field and taught them skills to effectively communicate, understand and address the transport needs of commuters with hearing impairments. Sessions focused on signing letters to fingerspell participant names and other commonly used words in the transport sector; numbers to communicate fair charges; and etiquette to improve awareness of common courteous phrases to use while interacting with and supporting persons with disabilities.

The grant had individual, organizational and community impact. Funding enabled Flone staff and interns to learn basic Kenyan sign language, and increased participant confidence to support and interact with people with hearing difficulties. Some women stated that learning sign language inspired their children to learn sign language, and used the teaching opportunity to bond with their children.

The training improved customer relationship and services to the disabled community. Hard-of-hearing individuals now prefer riding with women drivers who took part in the training - increasing their revenue.

The grant also helped sustain Flone’s interventions in Machakos, keep the Chapter doors open for its members, and gage support from the Machakos County Government who will participate in the next sign language training.