6
CHILD POVERTY Kenya Programme 2016-2018
CHILD POVERTY
Kenya Programme 2016-2018
About UsSave the Children has been operational in Kenya since the 1950s, providing support to children through developmental and humanitarian relief programmes delivered both directly and through local partners. Current Save the Children programming in Kenya focuses on Health, Nutrition and WASH, Child Protection, Child Rights Governance, Education and Child Poverty.
In 2012, as part of a global reorganization process, Save the Children combined the programmes of SC UK, SC Canada and SC Finland to create a single operation in Kenya. In February 2014, we completed a second transition, which saw us join forces with the British INGO, Merlin, and merge their health and nutrition programmes with our own. Save the Children has an operational presence in Bungoma, Busia, Garissa (Dadaab Refugee Camp), Mandera, Nairobi, Turkana and Wajir counties and works through partners in many other parts of the country.
Our Theory of Change
Our approach to programming is driven by our Theory of Change. Being the voice: We advocate and campaign for better practices and policies to fulfil children’s rights and ensure
that children’s voices are heard (particularly those of children most marginalized or living in poverty. Being the innovator: We develop and prove evidence– based, replicable breakthrough solutions to problems facing children.Achieving results at scale: We support effective implementation of best practices , policies and programmes for children, leveraging on our knowledge to ensure sustainable impact.Building partnerships: We collaborate with children, civil society organizations, communities, governments and the private sector to share knowledge, influence others and build capacity to ensure that children’s rights are met.
THEORY OF CHANGE:how we work to create impact for children
We will…
… build partnerships
… be the voice
… be the innovator
… achieve results at scale
Our Child Poverty work in Kenya
In Kenya, 46% of the population lives below the poverty line. Save the Children’s work in Kenya has a particular focus on the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) where children are most deprived due to recurrent drought and highest levels of poverty. We are working to build resilient livelihoods for vulnerable children and their care givers by supporting increase in livestock productivity, diversification of livelihoods and strengthening adaptive capacities of the local communities. By doing this, we aim to contribute to global breakthroughs of child survival, access to basic education and child protection.
Our approaches are guided by four sub-themes:•Child sensitive livelihoods •Adolescent skills for successful transition•Child sensitive social protection•Policy advocacy on child poverty
Our current strateg: 2016-2018
What is our global breakthrough?We want the world to put children and young people at the heart of its action to reduce poverty; to strengthen the low and insecure incomes that prevent children from surviving, learning and being safe; and thereby stop the transmission of poverty to future generations.
What do we want to achieve in Kenya by 2030?In Kenya, we will work with partners and like-minded organisations to ensure:• Care-givers have sufficient income to meet the essential needs of their children• Poor families become resillient to disasters and shocks and continue to invest in their children’s basic needs• Deprived adolescent girls and boys have the opportunity to build the skills they need to transition to decent
livelihoods.
What is our target for 2016-2018?In Kenya, we will work with strategic partners, National and County Governments to:• Initiate policy level dialogue and design action plans to reduce poverty and other inequealities affecting children
in the ASALs• Improve access to existing social protection programmes for 100,000 most deprived children and their care-
givers in Northern Kenya. • Build livelihoods resilient to environmental and economic shocks for approximately 50,000 households (with
about 200,000 deprived children) across Mandera, Wajir and Turkana Counties. • Empower 500 deprived adolescents with skills and networks that will enable them transition into decent livelihoods
Which children are we targeting?• Children living in poor rural households in the ASALs• Poor households whose basic incomes have collapsed and household assets devastated by climate related shocks,
pandemics, conflict, displacement/forced migration and other crises• Highly deprived adolescents and youth in harmful and exploitative situations• Orphaned and vulnerable children
Our cross thematic interventions
Strengthening early warning systems and improving disaster risk managementWe are working with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to provide training on drought prediction and contingency planning. We’re also working with drought-prone communities to build their awareness of the potential hazards they face, and support them to develop community risk reduction and adaptation plans.
By doing this, we are helping families to create buffers against future shocks before they become a life-threatening crisis. Save the Children is encouraging children to actively participate in the design and implementation of these initiatives. For example, we’re working with children in schools to create awareness and get their participation in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) initiatives.
Advocating for policy on child povertyWe will research, consolidate and document evidence on child poverty and specified deprivations at national and county level. We will work closely with strategic NGO partners to use such evidence to create awareness and sensitisation on levels of child deprivation thus influence child sensitive policies and programming for child poverty reduction. By doing this, we will contribute to breaking cycles of inter-generation poverty transmission.
Strategic partnerships for breaking intergenerational transmission of povertyWe are working in partnership with national and County Government ministries, departments, institutions, private sector and other none-state actors to deliver programmes that will help children break away from intergenerational poverty. We also strive to increase awareness on the importance of child sensitivity in social protection and livelihoods programmes.
Through economic strengthening initiatives, we are helping children and households in Turkana and Mandera Counties to break the cycle of poverty cycle.
With funding from GIZ, Save the Children is working with 40 women groups to improve household income and nutritional status of 1,800 children under 5 years in four sub Counties of Turkana.
Save the Children has also worked closely with the County Government of Turkana to facilitate formation of Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) for 1,200 women of child bearing age. By July 2016, the women achieved cumulative savings of KES 1,410,320 (approximately USD 13,900)enabling over 50% of the members to access loans. The loans were utilized in initiating and expanding various income generating activities, leading to increased household income and asset accumulation.
Sensitization on good nutrition practices are combined with the above livelihoods activities in order to encourage households to use the increased income on improving children’s nutrition status.
We are supporting vocational skills development for adolescent youth to enable them to access employmentIn Mandera County 60% of youth aged 15 – 34 years are uneducated and unemployed. Save the Children has been testing the design of a youth livelihoods programme using a markets based systems change approach. Through placement of unemployed vulnerable youth into private enterprises, Save the Children has supported development of their vocational skills (Enterprise-Based Technical Vocational Education Training – EBTVET) for 422 youth. Findings from the tracer follow up study indicate that 89% of the first group of 167 trained youth accessed employment – including self-employment - and increased their monthly income by nearly 4 fold (from Ksh.2,800 to Ksh 10,000 per month). To ensure quality skills development, the project is working closely with Mandera TVET department and has engaged National Industrial Training Institute (NITA) to assess and administer grade tests to the students in order to certify them and enable them access formal employment.
Our work in Kenya
We are helping nomadic families increase their income through improved livestock productivity. Nomadic communities rely heavily on the abundance of grazing land and water sites to rear their livestock, which in turn enables them feed their families and earn an income. Save the Children is working with nomadic communities to conserve grazing lands and improve management practices. We facilitated 13 nomadic communities in Mandera County to form Pastoral Field Schools (PFS). The schools bring together herders to discuss the challenges they face and jointly agree on actions to reduce arising risks such as drought.
We are influencing national and County food security and livelihoods policy to benefit all childrenSave the Children aims to deliver long-term transformative change for children living in some of the poorest areas of Kenya. Using the Household Economy Approach (HEA), we conduct studies and use the research findings to provide a critical analysis of current policies and programming approaches and stimulate debate to improve policy thinking, and design of more effective early warning and monitoring systems. We work within a wide range of national forums, such as the Food Security and Nutrition Steering Group (FSWG) and Kenya Food Security Meeting (KFSM). By having regular contact with relevant government officials and other key stakeholders, we are able to influence key policies such as the Ending Drought Emergencies (EDE) framework and support County Integrated Development Plans and annual planning processes, leading to child sensitive budgeting and planning.
Save the Children - Kenya Country ProgrammeMatundu Close, Off School Lane, Westlands
P.O BOX 27679—00506 Nairobi,Kenya Tel +254 20 4444006/1028/1032/1031 Email: [email protected] Website: kenya.savethechildren.net
Save the Children has distributed grass seeds to PFS to enable them increase fodder for livestock and re-seed denuded rangelands. We have also supported agro-vet shops to stock and supply veterinary drugs to the community. This improved herders’ access to essential veterinary drugs and advice.
In 2015, Save the Children with funding from UKAID supported Mandera County Department of Veterinary Services to vaccinate 300,000 heads of livestock to prevent outbreak of Rift Valley Fever, a disease associated with heavy rains and flooding.
