HomeChildren on this side of the Sahara experience a lot of difficulty growing up. Due to the economic status of the country, poverty levels are quite high. According to Statista, 16% of Kenyans live below the international poverty line.
Despite being the largest and strongest economy in East and Central Africa, 16% of the Kenyan population lives under $1.90 (Ksh. 219.40) a day according to Statista. Out of this population, the most vulnerable to the negative effects of poverty are children.
Kenyan children face different vulnerabilities that they need protection from. The following are vulnerabilities that Kenyan children face nationwide:
Hunger, lack of good shelter, lack of good clothing, illiteracy, child labour, early marriages, domestic violence, recruitment into gangs, abandonment from parents, death of parents, refugee children, drug abuse, corporal punishment, teenage pregnancies, disability, lack of access to good healthcare among many other vulnerabilities.
In light of these challenges, there are organizations that are fully dedicated to combating child vulnerabilities and protecting Kenyan children.
They provide food, shelter, clothing and other basic needs to refugee children. Since 1950, they have been working with the government, local partners and communities in Kenya. Save the Children advocates for better investment by government and private partners in child protection.
Towards this end, they have programmes in health & nutrition, food security & livelihoods, child protection, child rights governance, adolescents & youth among others.
Save the Children Kenya is the Kenyan chapter of a global NGO.
Kenya Community Development Foundation (KCDF)
Formed in 1997, KCDF aims at uplifting orphaned and vulnerable children. They also adopt a comprehensive approach by supporting the livelihoods of the children’s guardians so that they get better care.
They support livelihoods by assessing the risks involved to these livelihoods, capacity building, value addition, access to credit, access to market for goods and many other key interventions.
It was founded by a Dutch priest called Father Andy Grol in 1973. They specialize in rehabilitating and protecting street children. Fr. Grol intended to give the street children of Nairobi a sense of comradeship and solidarity.
“Programme interventions are now both curative and preventive with particular emphasis being given to capacity building of marginalized people and communities to be able to unleash their potential and effectively participate in improving their livelihoods,” states their website.
