Child Safety Project

The challenge
Frustration due to poverty, a malfunctioning legal system, little respect for the rights of children and misuse by positions of power cause many abuses in Africa. It is no different in the West Kenyan border district of Busia. Children especially are often neglected, abused and battered. The victims need social, psychological and legal support. But almost nobody knows where help might be available and what kind of help is offered. Far too often, the victim has to stand by and watch how the perpetrator buys off his ‘guilt’ from the parents of the victim, without an appropriate punishment being imposed.

The changers
CLAN and REEP (Rural Education and Economic Enhancement Programme) stand up for these victims and their families. ‘Of course there are laws, but no one knows about them,’ explains CLAN director Edward Ouma. This lack of knowledge has to be fixed. Together CLAN and REEP want to reduce the abuse of children, by explaining the rights of children to teachers, public servants, lawyers, parents and carers. And to children themselves. They also teach children how to reduce their risk. ‘Things like: always walk to school in a group and don’t go near certain parts of the village,’ according to Edward Ouma. The different organisations also guide victims to inexpensive or free legal and medical aid.

Partners in the child safety programme are:

REEP (Rural Education and Economic Enhancement Programme)
Focuses on protecting the rights of the most vulnerable groups in communities in Kenya: children, people with HIV/AIDS, widows, carers and women.

CLAN (Children’s Legal Action Network)
CLAN works together with local partners in legal assistance. This gets the community more involved in children's rights. This network offers legal advice, legal assistance and psychosocial support.

Also have a look at the website of this organisation.

The change
Both organisations have been working hard since 2008 to get a social worker stationed in every village in the district who can also offer legal support. There are now sixty social workers at work. ‘We train and coach these legal social workers intensively,’ says Edward Ouma. CLAN has its own centre in the town of Busia, providing things like legal advice, legal representation and psychosocial support. CLAN is also working on the realisation of a ‘mobile juvenile court judge’ in the district, so that legal assistance can be offered even in the remote areas. CLAN also collaborates with the National Legal Aid and Awareness Programme (NLAAP). The organisation lobbies for child-friendly legislation through this collaboration. It also urges the national government to make an effort for child protection.

Some results so far:
• The first legal protection centre was opened in Busia. Two lawyers work fulltime on taking care of and supporting people who need legal support;
• Training manual developed for Alternative Dispute Regulation; this is to give people a solution-oriented method of coping with conflicts without having to resort to the courts;
• 30 of the intended 84 legal social workers are at work in various villages in Busia District;
• Police and doctors have been trained in supporting victims of sexual abuse in a child-friendly manner.

Some concrete goals up to 2015:
•  Two well trained legal social workers are stationed in all 42 municipalities of Busia District;
• The Legal Protection Centre receives funding for the long term in cooperation with the government;
• Two pro bono lawyers are available fulltime in Busia District;
• A ‘mobile juvenile court judge’ is instituted who travels from village to village to administer justice where necessary;
• 720 households in Busia will have obtained the correct legal help against child abuse;
• CLAN will have handled 780 cases, counting from 2011.