The Joining Forces Alliance for Children, commits to protect Children in Kenya from all forms of violence.
By Amanda Wakesho
Nairobi, November 5th 2020: The joining Forces Alliance on Thursday launched a three-year child protection project funded by the European Union that focuses on protecting children during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
The event which took place in Nairobi was presided over by Deputy Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Kenya, Ambassador Katrin Hagemann
The six child-centered organizations also signed a memorandum to end violence against children.
The Joining Forces Alliance for Children in Kenya (JFA-Kenya) is a coalition of six child focused non-governmental organizations whose members are ChildFund Kenya, Plan International Kenya, Save the Children Kenya, SOS Children’s Villages Kenya, Terre des Hommes and World Vision Kenya.
“The project is designed to respond rapidly to the global Covid-19 pandemic emergency. Indirectly, 2.5 million children, from 0-17 years of age and 9.8 million adults will be impacted by the project. Said Ambassador Katrin Hagemann
The new project is part of a cumulative10 Million Euro Grant for the Joining Forces for Africa project being implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mali and Senegal
In Kenya, the project will spend 2.3 Million Euro (approximately KSh.291 Million) in implementing specific activities to reduce levels of violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect among children and adolescents in Nairobi, Bungoma and Busia Counties, as well as the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.
The project aims to undertake child-led initiatives and participation and a total of 78,210 children will be involved directly in project implementation. In addition, 13,125 parents and caregivers and 1,016 government officials will be involved directly in the project implementation.
Key focus areas of the project are to strengthen child protection and response systems, ensure improved protection in resilient families and increase capacity of children to prevent and respond to violence against them during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.
The project comes at a time when the Government of Kenya has begun implementation of its National Prevention and Response Plan to End Violence against Children.