Child Protection

Child Protection Program

Pendekezo Letu’s Child Protection Program is designed to safeguard the rights, dignity, and wellbeing of children and youth in vulnerable situations, particularly those living and working on the streets.

The program ensures that children access protection, care, justice, and opportunities for holistic development, while working to break the cycle of poverty, vulnerability, and exclusion that drives children into unsafe environments.

Program Goal

The overall goal of Pendekezo Letu’s Child Protection Program is to safeguard the rights, dignity, and wellbeing of children and youth in vulnerable situations by ensuring access to protection, care, justice and opportunities for holistic development.

Prevent children from entering or remaining in street situations
Protect children from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation
Strengthen family and community systems to provide safe, nurturing environments
Promote access to education and essential social services
Support rehabilitation and sustainable reintegration of children into families and society

Summary of the Program

Pendekezo Letu’s Child Protection Program is a holistic, rights-based and community-driven intervention that addresses interconnected vulnerabilities affecting children, especially those in informal settlements and street situations across Kenya.

Holistic and Systems-Based Approach

The program recognizes that child protection cannot be addressed in isolation. It integrates prevention, protection, rehabilitation, and reintegration through:

Prevention through family strengthening and poverty reduction
Protection through rescue and safeguarding
Rehabilitation through psychosocial care, education, and life skills development
Reintegration through return to family and community systems

This systems-based approach involves collaboration with families, community members, schools, government agencies (including the State Department for Children Services), and civil society partners.

Focus on Children in Street Situations

A central focus of the program is children in street situations—one of the most invisible and underserved populations, who often lack access to formal protection systems.

Children living on the streets
Children who work on the streets but return home
Youth and young adults linked to street “bases”
Vulnerable families living in informal settlements

Rights-Based and Advocacy-Oriented

The program is grounded in a child rights framework, emphasizing children’s entitlements to:

Protection from harm
Education and healthcare
Participation and access to justice

Pendekezo Letu also engages in policy advocacy at national and global levels, including participation in the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), to strengthen accountability and child protection systems.

Community Empowerment and Capacity Building

Training organizations and stakeholders on safeguarding
Enhancing coordination between communities and formal child protection systems

Through these efforts, Pendekezo Letu contributes to stronger, more responsive child protection systems rooted in local ownership.

Gender and Vulnerability Focus

Girls in street situations, including teenage mothers
Children exposed to sexual violence and exploitation
Children in conflict with the law

Key Interventions

Street Outreach and Child Rescue

Regular outreach to street bases, identification of children in street situations, immediate support, referrals, and trust-building to facilitate exit from street life.

Education and Skills Development

Reintegration of children into formal education systems and provision of life skills support to build resilience and independence.

Community Child Protection Systems

Capacity building for schools, community leaders, and government departments, and strengthening coordination across formal and informal protection systems.

Safeguarding and Capacity Building

Development of safeguarding policies, training on child protection standards, and promotion of safe reintegration and care practices.

Psychosocial Support and Safe Spaces

Counseling, mental health support, child rights clubs, and safe spaces that promote healing, dialogue, positive behaviors, and peer support.