Promoting Children’s Rights through Rights-awareness, Participation and Support

Overview

Kakuma is an arid and semi-arid area located in the Northwestern part of Kenya in Turkana County, Turkana West Sub County. It has a population of this area hosts Kakuma refugee camp which was established in 1991. It is home to refugees from Sudan, DRC, South Sudan, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. The Camp’s population as at stood at

The worsening refugee crisis in Africa has had a devastating effect on the rights of millions of children including their right to life, survival and development. Children are particularly vulnerable by reason of their status as children. Civil wars and displacement only exacerbate the situation. Different opinions suggest that African’s children in general and Refugee children in particular are living in the highest situation of Children’s rights violation perpetrated by different sects in the community. While various humanitarian actors are doing a great job in providing humanitarian assistance in its various forms, the protection of children still poses a challenge in Kakuma.

Due recognition is had to the effect of refugee camps to the host community both positive and negative. In matters protection, host community children need it as well in order to encourage uniform development and peaceful co-existence between the refugees and the surrounding community.

• Through direct experiences in the communities, on-going learning, reflection and engagement XXXXXXXXX has noted common themes contributing to violations of children’s rights among them: Lack or minimal rights awareness among children, retrogressive cultural norms, poverty, violence against children, limited education opportunities, disability, discrimination among other causes. There are efforts from different organizations, both local and international to promote children rights. XXXXXXXXX acknowledges those efforts and seeks to support and to fill the gaps. The organization acknowledges the vital role that rights awareness plays, participation of children in decision making as well as mainstreaming of child rights in humanitarian intervention. This is a rights-based approach combined with community-based approach. According to XXXXXXXXX, rights awareness will prepare Children to actively participate in the process of defending and promoting their rights. On 10^th December 2011, the United Nations General Assembly approved a third optional Protocol on a communication procedure which will allow individual children to submit complaints regarding specific violations of their rights under the Convention and the two Optional Protocols. This clearly indicates the recognition of the voice of children in their own protection. Policy makers and international organizations need to rethink the role of non-formal education through awareness so as to impact not only the knowledge and skills but also the social reintegration of victims of Children’s rights violation.

On this background XXXXXXXXX is seeking partnership with a variety of donors to implement a one-year child protection programme costed at USD XXX with scope for scalability and complementarity over time.

This is an innovative project that has never been implemented before. It targets the most at risk group being children between 10-18years. The approach by XXXXXXXXX is to empower children through child and human rights trainings generally and encourage them to empower themselves by running their own human rights clubs at schools. The project is participatory in nature as we intend to involve teachers, parents, and other stakeholders in separate trainings that will cement our child protection efforts. The existing partners have methods that target the older members of the society while leaving out the children who are the intended beneficiaries of child protection. Our program is designed in accordance with an adaptive management approach which facilitates flexibility to enhance or transition from approaches/areas in accordance with needs, gaps and opportunities presented by on-going monitoring and data collection.

Contextual Analysis

Children are the most at risk group in Kakuma, both in the camp and in the host community.  Some groups face serious vulnerability in addition to the usual risks facing ordinary children. These include the orphans, separated children, victims of SGBV and children living with disability. Concerted efforts have been made by NGOs as well as the government to protect children. However, gaps still exist. The following are some of the unique challenges that face different classes of children in addition to the common risks that face them all such as teenage pregnancies, lack of basic needs, survival sex.

Perpetrators of child rights violations range from family, teachers, the community at large. For instance, despite having a number of schools that host community children can attend, some of them can be found in the camp doing odd jobs and abusing drugs. The problem boils down to lack of mentorship, awareness of rights and responsibilities among others. XXXXXXXXX seeks to address the existing information gaps to enable children enjoy their rights better and be responsible children. Information is the first step towards achieving most if not all the well-intended child protection objectives.

Assumption and Programme Logic

The programme goal is to contribute to child protection efforts through rights awareness, participation and support.

• Based on experience, long term learning and personal knowledge of the targeted communities, this programme is based on the assumption that the targeted children will benefit from the trainings and will be capable of running their own human rights clubs with the help of XXXXXXXXX. However, it is anticipated that a lot of support will be needed to have the clubs run beneficially.
• It is assumed that the parents and guardians will support our efforts and encourage their children to participate in our activities.
• It is further assumed that we will be supported by the existing organizations and other stakeholders. XXXXXXXXX will work with other organizations such as UNHCR, RCK, NRC, DRC, WTK, LWF, RAS and others and support their work of capacity building and child rights protection.

Programme Approaches

• Based on the assumptions for intervention logic above, the programme has several key approaches;
  • a rights awareness approach;
  • An adaptability to allow for changes in programme direction in case of contextual shock;
  • Supporting communities to take the lead in planning and implementation of protection approaches at the local level;
  • Partnership with (support to and advocacy with) local government is key to programme sustainability
• Enabling Environment
  • Long-term success depends on external and internal factors that will support the project to achieve its objectives. External factors include:
  • Support from the existing organizations
  • Strong and effective referral and feedback mechanisms
  • Donor Support
• Logical Framework
  • The programme will focus on four key areas namely Rights awareness and enforcement, inclusivity and social inclusion in decision making. XXXXXXXXX will aim to achieve the following outcomes pertaining to these umbrella sectors namely:
    • Children are equipped with knowledge of their rights and how to enforce them
    • Children access necessary support through referrals to other implementing partners.
    • Refugees and host communities are better trained on children rights
    • XXXXXXXXX will work towards the outcomes described above through the implementation of a multi-sectoral programme.
  • The programme will include the following key outputs:
    • Providing awareness on Children’s rights and life skills in schools through Children’s rights clubs and quarterly bootcamps organized by XXXXXXXXX
    • Support other partners in encouraging child participation in projects intended for children.
  • Referral of children in need of support to the relevant agencies.

Activities

Activities will include the following:

• Activities Under output 1
  • Training will be a primary approach to facilitate a basic understanding of children’s rights as provided for under national, regional and in international laws and enforcement mechanisms. This will be done by constituting school clubs consisting of 25pupils/students in each between the age of 10-18. The clubs will be managed by trained teachers and club leaders selected by the students themselves. Club meetings will be held once a week after classes within the school. XXXXXXXXX will occasionally hold mentorship and training sessions in the selected schools and provide legal counseling and referrals to students that require such services.
  • XXXXXXXXX in partnership with other agencies and professionals will organize a 5days boot camp during school holidays in which all the program beneficiaries will encounter full package trainings on various subjects such as reproductive health education, life skills trainings, conflict management and dispute resolution.
• Activities under output 2
  • XXXXXXXXX in close collaboration with other implementing partners will advocate on participation of children in decision making
  • Emphasis will be placed on civic education regarding rights and responsibilities. Dialogue will be facilitated with local government structures, community leaders, parents and guardians
• Activities under Output 3
  • XXXXXXXXX will adopt the existing SGBV and child protection referral mechanism framework in its operations. We will link with partners with whom we intend to work closely with in order for our referrals to be acted upon formally. The referrals will be followed up to ensure that we have feedback for each of our referred cases.

Timeline

The programme will be concluded over a 1-year period ensuring scope for impact, learning and adaptation of programme approaches where required.

Target Group and Beneficiaries

The primary target group for the proposed response is children between the age of 10-18years within Kakuma. The project will kick start with a sample of 3primary schools in the refugee camp and 2 in the host community.

Coordination

XXXXXXXXX recognizes that there are several players in the child protection sector ranging from government institutions, local NGOs and IGOs. Coordination and collaboration with the key actors are central to every facet of the programme and its envisioned success. From the onset, the engagement of communities, schools, target beneficiaries, the government and other players is important because the coordinated efforts will bear fruit and act as the entry points to a multitude of value chains.

Scalability

The emphasis on learning and research will ensure the programme is informed by real-time data on changes to the context and the impact of intervention methodologies and approaches. In this regard, interventions that note particular success can be expanded and/or replicated.

Evaluation Design

The evaluation design will incorporate a Baseline, Mid-term and Impact/end Evaluation studies.

While the baseline survey will essentially seek to measure the baseline values of the key outcome and output indicators, the impact evaluation will seek to establish the extent to which the program objectives and outcomes have been achieved, and how this has impacted on the well-being of the target population.

Monitoring System

(Focusing mainly on routine and periodic data collection on outputs and outcomes)

Key data collection activities and data management systems at this level will be as follows

• Routine activity data – To be collected on an ongoing basis by programme implementation teams. This data will track activity implementation progress as well as beneficiaries reached through discreet activities such as trainings, awareness creation and sensitization, dialogue forums. It will basically seek to provide evidence of what has been accomplished at the activity level.
• Output and Outcome monitoring data – All the programme outputs seek to measure changes that have occurred/are occurring (“the so what questions”) as a result of the activities that have been implemented. The same applies to the outcomes, albeit at a higher level. Consequently, both qualitative and quantitative data would be collected at the output and outcome levels. DRC/DDG will establish output and outcome monitoring tools that will be developed or adapted for purpose of output and outcome monitoring for the programme. These includes action point tracking and recording tools; perception survey tools; skills application tools; and training pre and post-test tools. These tools will avail critical data on the basis of which the effectiveness of the programme strategies will be assessed and corrective actions taken if and when needed.

Internal Reflective Learning

Internal reflective learning will seek to ensure that the findings from routine and periodic data collection inform management decision making processes for purposes of improving implementation. This will mainly be undertaken through the following;

• • Quarterly Review meetings –the program manager will conduct a quarterly review meeting that will assess progress based on the achievements of activities and outputs as well as reflect on emerging lessons and issues from routine and periodic monitoring.
  • Biannual Reviews – Bi-annual reviews will also be scheduled, along with a review of the Theory of Change, to assess programme progress and lessons learned, and make adjustments where necessary to improve programme methodology and effectiveness.