Promoting child rights in Kenya - Pelastakaa Lapset ry

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Working closely with the ministry is the para-statal National Council for Children Services (NCCS)which was established in 2003 under Section 31 (1) of the Children Act to exercise generalsupervision and control over planning, financing and coordination of child rights activities and toadvise the government on all aspects relating to children. 2 Membership to the Council is drawnfrom key line ministries with the Director of Children Services acting as the secretary and with civilsociety representation. Under the Children Act the NCCS is mandated to establish AACs at district,divisional and locational levels to play the same role that NCCS does at a national level. The DCSis in charge of running Statutory Children’s Rescue Centers. These are established under theChildren Act to care for children in need of care and protection. The current rescue centres are inNairobi, Thika, Machakos and Garissa. Statutory Children Rehabilitation Schools (originallyreferred to as Approved Schools) are also provided for under the Children Act to rehabilitatechildren in conflict with the law. 3 They serve both girls and boys and are found in different parts ofthe country.The institutions described here have done a lot of work in terms of providing services to children,parents and guardians including creating awareness on the rights of children. With time the needarose to enable citizens to address child protection issues through a help line where children andadults could call at any time on child related matters. The Child Help Line 116, a toll free numberwas established to enhance protection of children from abuse and neglect. Calls are made by bothchildren and adults to report abuse, suspected abuse, seek information or counseling.All these interventions lead to generation of information which the government manages throughKenya Info (KENINFO) and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). Given the importanceof information and data for planning and coordination purposes mechanisms have beenestablished to ensure that data collection and analysis is centralized and that dissemination takesplace through appropriate platforms. Through these efforts, information on children is availablealthough it is not always up to date or adequate to meet the stakeholders’ broad information needs.For more details on key state actors and their programs, see Annex 1.2.3 Key Non State Actors and ProgramsCivil Society working for children in Kenya includes Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs),Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Faith Based Organisations (FBOs). Their efforts aresupplemented by those from international organisations which fund programs in the country.According to the government run NGO Registration Bureau there are currently an estimated 8,000registered NGOs and over 300,000 registered Community Based Organizations. Due to thediversity of the CSOs, it is not possible to accurately quantify the impact of their interventions in thechildren sector although the positive results are visible and significant for all to see.Most CCIs (originally referred to as Children’s Homes) are established and managed by non stateactors. They are regulated by Charitable Children Institutions Regulations of 2005 with supervision2Kenya 2 nd State Party Report to the UNCRC Committee.3The term “Approved School” was used in the Children and Young Persons Act, Cap 141 of the Laws of Kenya that was repealedwith the enactment of the Children Act in 2001. The term was considered demeaning and stigmatizing to children and was replacedwith the term “Rehabilitation School” under the Children Act.14
carried out by AACs at the district level. The mandate to register CCIs nationally lies with NCCS. Tothis day many children sector actors that consider themselves NGOs are actually registered astrusts (under the Ministry of Lands), as the conditions for NGOs are stricter. It is still unclear, howthe new NGO Bill or Public Benefits Organisation Bill would affect civil society in Kenya.Networks and Coalitions have been formed by organizations to undertake joint activities forchildren, coordinate, exchange and share information, support government initiatives, as well asadvocate government for legal and policy reform. The key network regarding child rights is theNGO Child Rights Committee (NGO CRC) which was originally formed to lobby the government toratify the UNCRC and ensure its implementation. Now it is mandated to monitor Kenya’simplementation of international treaties regarding children and participate in their periodic reviews.NGO CRC currently has four sub-committees: Legal and Policy, Child Participation, RapidResponse and Child Poverty. Regionally, a similar outfit is fashioned as County Child RightsNetworks (CCRNs); currently still operating as provincial networks. Membership is open andvoluntary to civil society organisations working with children.The other important networks include The Child Protection and Response Center; Elimu YetuCoalition (EYC), The Consortium for street children, The Juvenile Justice Network, The Coalitionto End Child Prostitution in Kenya (ECPIK), Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI). Prominentprograms include programs for street children by individual agencies and the Diversion Program.The National Children in Need Network (NCNN) was formed in the mid 1990s and even though itno longer exists it formed the basis for most of the initiatives undertaken by non state actors inKenya today.For more details on these initiatives particularly on child protection see annex 3.ChallengesThe impact of efforts from Non State Actors at national level is not easily quantifiable due tolack of a harmonised reporting mechanism and coordination among the different actors.The current National Plan of Action 2008 – 2012 was developed late thereby affectingdevelopment and implementation of key programs.Not all stakeholders among State and Non-State Actors have the capacity to collate,disseminate and store data efficiently thereby impacting on program formulation, executionand monitoring.Not all Charitable Children Institutions are registered according to established regulations andthis makes it difficult to monitor them.Lessons learnedCollaboration between state and non state actors is important for successful and effectiveimplementation of programs for children.15
Page 5: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThe United Nations
Page 8 and 9: The team held several consultation
Page 10 and 11: KEY DEFINITIONS USED IN THIS DOCUME
Page 12 and 13: emergency responses. This was in li
Page 16 and 17: Timely development of a National Pl
Page 19 and 20: The Initial State Party Report on t
Page 21 and 22: At the end of the workshop it was a
Page 23 and 24: presentation to the Department of I
Page 25 and 26: map for the process and a standard
Page 27 and 28: Collaboration between State and Non
Page 29 and 30: after ratification and thereafter a
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Page 33 and 34: stakeholders were sensitized on the
Page 35 and 36: in conformity with the Constitution
Page 37 and 38: campaigns in order to adhere to and
Page 39 and 40: Administrators such as chiefs have
Page 41: Upon finalization the Bill was hand
Page 44 and 45: Since Kenya gained independence in
Page 46 and 47: After engaging with government and
Page 48 and 49: the Rights of the Child has identif
Page 50 and 51: After input from stakeholders the G
Page 52 and 53: In the last decade, issues addresse
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Page 56 and 57: REFERENCES1. African Charter on the
Page 58 and 59: i) The Street Families Rehabilitati
Page 60 and 61: Annex 2:Key Non State Actors and Pr
Page 62 and 63: Annexe 3:Profile of authorsREV. AMB

Promoting child rights in Kenya - Pelastakaa Lapset ry

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