COMMUNITY LED ACTION FOR CHILD RIGHTS AND WELFARE – 2014
Project Objective And Strategy
From October, 2014, KYFA has been implementing a project titled ‘Community Led action for Child Rights and Welfare supported by Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF).
This project uses a participatory approach in improving access to and completion of schoolby all children including those with disability. It also aims at long term safeguarding of rights of all children in partnership with parents,school management committees and other duty bearers in the community including government and other non state actors.
The project main goals are :
To increase effectiveness of protection and development mechanisms and opportunities for the overall wellbeing of the girl child and children with special needs
To improve accessibility to services for children with special needs and access to basic rights and supportive environment for all children.
Objective One
To improve accessibility to services for children with special needs and access to basic rights and supportive environment for all children with special needs
Objective Two
To increase awareness on children rights and improved protection of children from all forms of abuse and exploitation with a focus on improved service delivery to children in Kisumu County.
Objective Three
To bridge the gap between education talent and the job market to improve retention and transition of children in schools.
So far , the following project activities have been implemented:
A baseline survey to capture children with disabilities both in school and at household level in Kisumu County.
These were the preliminary findings:
12% of the children in school from Kisumu East, West and Central constituencies have one form of disability or the other
65% of schools visited were not friendly to children with disability. They had no rumps, had pit latrines without access paths and no sitting and/or support handles.
65% of primary schools’ latrines visited were unhygienic
School heads reported high dropout rates for the girl child at 52.23% and for the boy child at 47.77% per year in the sampled schools amongst children with disability.
80% of the households interviewed earned less than Kshs. 10,000
65% of the respondents lacked knowledge on service providers for persons with disability.
10 service providers of children with disability and children with special needs have already been identified and linkages are being made for development of a referral system. These bodies include :
Kisumu Action Disability Development Network, Family Support Community Outreach Initiatives, Leonard Cheshire Disability, and Kenya Alliance for Child Rights Actors, EARC, Kisumu County Government, Plan International, Agape Children’s Home, KUAP and the Children’s Department. Four special schools also identified including Kibos School for the Deaf, Lutheran Special School, Joyland Special School and Maseno School for the Blind.
School Management Committees have also been trained on their role in education quality, skillful parenting and protection of children. Each school was represented by three people from the School Management Committees with a total of 48 representatives being trained.
Establishment and launching of 20 child rights clubs in schools with a total of 30 members each.
The first phase of capacity development of new board members on the new strategic plan and how to operationalize it has been done. The second phase on resource mobilization is planned for August, 2014.
Expected Project Outcomes
Increased outcomes of parenting responsibility to children with disability.
Improved respect, protection and fulfillment of CWD rights to survival, development, protection and participation.
Improved implementation of policies, laws, programs and practices responsive to child rights and welfare.