Jane Njeri Otai

Jane Njeri Otai manages the Empowerment Girls Initiative in Kenya and Uganda. Its aim is to identify girls who dropped out of school due to unintended pregnancy, work with them to acquire their education goals and ensure they have a brighter future. Previously, Jane worked for several years as the Adolescent Health Advisory for Jhpiego a non-profit global health affiliate of Johns Hopkins University. She worked to ensure adolescents have access to health services and information, including reproductive health services to ensure that young girls are empowered to make informed decisions concerning their health. Under Jhpiego, Jane has worked to provide women access to family planning, prenatal care, HIV counseling and testing, screening for cervical cancer and sexual abuse, immunizations and sanitation just to name a few. After identifying rape as a significant cause of unwanted pregnancies, she started a program to fight sexual violence. Jane has been featured several times by Melinda Gates and her MOTH Story has been widely. She is a 2013 fellow with the Aspen Institute New Voices Fellowship. Otai attended Makerere University in Kampala and got her master’s degree from United States International University in Nairobi. It wasn’t until she finished her education and started a job that Jane had children.  She credits access to family planning as the reason for her success.