Researching (Re)Integration: A Survey of Emerging Practices for Managing Safe House Transitions (MGSH) (2025W UBC-Based)

This program is part of the Global Experiential Education Program (GEEP) and is informed by ORICE values. GEEP aims to strengthen the bridge between classroom learning (theory) and application (practice) to address pressing global issues, in this community-based praxis initiative. Students who participate in GEEP can participate in experiential education projects designed and led by global community partners.

Details at a Glance

Application Deadline: September 14th, 2025 (11:59PM)

• Program Type: Co-curricular (Not-for-credit)
• Engagementship Type: Community-Engaged Research Project in collaboration with Maisha Girls Safe House
• Engagementship Location: 2025W In-person, UBC-Based
• Duration: 4 months starting in September 2025
• Eligibility: Open to UBC-V Undergraduate (60+ credits) & Graduate students (more details below)

Project Description

Organization Details

Maisha Girls Safe House (MGSH) is a grassroots Non-Governmental Organization committed to reaching out, receiving, and protecting girls from sexual violence and human trafficking. They provide a continuum of care and support while fostering resiliency for a better quality of life.

Maisha runs a safe house that temporarily hosts and supports girl survivors of sexual exploitation and abuse under 19 years of age, as well as community-based safe spaces targeting girls and young women vulnerable to human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

Since its inception, MGSH has supported more than 700 girl survivors, meeting their essential needs, providing healthcare, trauma healing, and guiding them through the justice system. Afterward, they carry out family tracing, reconciliation, and reintegration processes. Additionally, MGSH is a strong advocate against Sexual Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and collaborates with various stakeholders to promote interventions aimed at addressing SGBV.

Current Project

By design, Maisha Safe House is intended to provide temporary housing for girls proceeding through the justice system.  Assisting girls to transition into the safe house following traumatic events requires care, and while the Maisha team regularly navigates this process, they are continuously developing approaches and processes to ease the integration experience for all involved.  However, the safe house is not intended to be a long-term or permanent housing; and supporting girls to reintegrate into the community and alternative housing post-justice system can be challenging.

Maisha Safe House is partnering with ORICE for this desk research project to identify good/innovative practices for (re)integration into and out of safe houses in comparable environments to Nairobi, Kenya.  Maisha is also interested in learning about assessments that have been completed and the criteria that were used to make such assessments regarding (re)integrations.  This first stage will be presented in a final presentation and a written report, after which the Maisha team will decide whether and how to utilize it in programming and/or research.

Students joining the 4-month engagementship (September -December 2025) will have an opportunity to work with Maisha Safe House to deliver research to inform their (re)integration practices for girls accessing their safe house.  Activities associated with this project will include meeting with Maisha Safe House staff to gather a stronger understanding of what kind of information they hope to learn about and why; undertake desk research using academic journals and grey literature about the research themes; develop a comparative case study of 3-4 safe houses in agreed upon regions- with particular attention to assessment methods.  All materials will be delivered to the Maisha team in the form of a presentation and written report.

Project Timeline

Over a period from September 2025  to December 2025,  the selected team of students will spend 3-5 hours weekly working collaboratively to complete the project. Students will be asked to participate in weekly scheduled in-person meetings (on the UBC Vancouver Campus) to ensure collaboration and accountability goals are defined and met. However, the remainder of the allotted time will be self-directed or in small work teams as per agreements with teammates.

More Information

This program is part of the Global Experiential Education Program (GEEP) and is informed by ORICE values. GEEP aims to strengthen the bridge between classroom learning (theory) and application (practice) to address pressing global issues, in this community-based praxis initiative. Students who participate in GEEP can participate in experiential education projects designed and led by global community partners.

Details at a Glance

Application Deadline: September 14th, 2025 (11:59PM)

• Program Type: Co-curricular (Not-for-credit)
• Engagementship Type: Community-Engaged Research Project in collaboration with Kamili Organisation
• Engagementship Location: 2025W In-person, UBC-Based
• Duration: 8 months starting in September 2025
• Eligibility: Open to UBC-V Undergraduate (60+ credits) & Graduate students (more details below)

Project Description

Background

For 11 years, Kamili Organisation has been offering scholarships for qualified general nurses to come to Kamili for specialized training in mental health. Selected nurses, pursuing further education in mental health nursing with Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC) are provided a scholarship that includes a 1 week intensive training on the Kamili model – a community based approach that aims to provide mental health care at a primary level health facility, making services accessible, affordable and sustainable. The newly trained nurses return back to their place of work around the country and become part of a growing network of Kamili-trained nurses with a mental health specialization. This network now comprises 156 nurses in 44 of 47 counties across Kenya. Once trained, the network supports one another and has access to the staff at Kamili for guidance, receives site visits from Kamili leadership and participates in annual training and network development activities. During the 2024 winter semesters, Kamili and ORICE partnered to begin the process of developing an evaluation to understand the impacts of this program on the nurses and their service provision. In August 2025, two students went to Kenya to engage in person with Kamili to gain a stronger understanding of the organizational context and goals. 

Current Project

Kamili Organisation is midway through developing an evaluation to understand the impacts of this training for selected nurses once they return to their home site of work. Kamili would like to understand the facilitators, barriers and impacts the nurses experience when bringing their specialized knowledge to their practice site. The purpose of this evaluation is both to inform the current program and to develop evidence to influence policy at multiple levels/sites in Kenya.

Students joining the 8 month engagementship (September 2025 – April 2026) will remotely continue the work completed with previous cohorts with a student team of 4-6 students to prepare, implement, analyze and document the findings of the evaluation. Activities associated with this project will include a full review of the research and draft evaluation materials developed to date, refining evaluation tools with the partner, project planning, implementation protocols, evaluator training materials, data cleaning, analysis, final report writing/policy brief and contributions to grant applications for related programs.

Learn more about previous students’ experiences working with Kamili on page 16 of ORICE’s 2024/2025 Annual Report.

Organization Details

Kamili Organisation provides affordable mental health services via 30+ clinics across Kenya. Our model clinic in Nairobi provides: accurate diagnosis, treatment, support to patients and their families and psychosocial care in the form of education. Kamili also regularly works with the local community to raise awareness about the symptoms and stigma associated with mental health.

Project Timeline

Over a period from September 2025  to April 2026,  the selected team of students will spend 3-5 hours weekly working collaboratively to complete the project. Students will be asked to participate in weekly scheduled in-person meetings (on the UBC Vancouver Campus) to ensure collaboration and accountability goals are defined and met. However, the remainder of the allotted time will be self-directed or in small work teams as per agreements with teammates.

More Information