Child sexual abuse has been a growing concern to many of the callers to the National Child Helpline 116. Other data sources such as the Gender Violence Recovery Centre’s annual report confirm this trend. However, systematic research on child sexual abuse in Kenya is scarce and the true scope and scale of the issue is unknown. At Childline Kenya, we believe that our services need to be driven by facts and evidence. We have therefore invested in enhancing our research capacity and, between November 2011 and March 2011, carried out a...

L., an 8-year-old girl, was rescued by the Child Helpline team in September 2011. She had been forced by her father to work as a house help and had not been allowed to go to school. A visit to her parents’ home revealed that the family of 9 lived in a tiny ramshackle dwelling made with dried shrubs and scrap iron sheets for roofing. The parents had no regular income, and the children often had to go hungry. Childline Kenya, in partnership with Barclays Bank Kenya's social responsibility department, has set...

Last year, during the December holidays, Childline Kenya held a creative Art and Essay competition that saw children from 32 regions in Kenya participate. The competition had five themes that children could choose from: · The effects of drug abuse among children and how this can be managed, · How children can cope with stress · Safety rules on the internet, · child participation in nation building, · How to prevent and report all forms of child abuse. 190 children representing the 8 regions in Kenya were in attendance for...

Between December 2011 and March 2012 Childline Kenya carried out research on child sexual abuse in Kenya. The core of the research project was a telephone survey with 625 callers to the National Child Helpline 116, in which we asked them if they had experienced sexual abuse during their childhood. Highlights of the findings were presented at the Second International Conference in Africa on Child Sexual Abuse, which was held in Accra, Ghana, on 12 – 14 March 2012. The conference was attended by approximately 250 delegates and offered a platform...

The 3rd Child Safety Conference was held from 4th to 7th December 2011 in Mombasa County. The theme was "Restoring dignity, trust and hope to children" with the following sub-themes: · The effects of drug abuse among children and how this can be managed, · Stress management for children, · Safety rules on the internet,  · child participation in nation building, · Preventing and reporting all forms of child abuse. 190 children representing the 8 regions in Kenya were in attendance for the 3rd child safety conference. The children held discussions around the sub-themes and gave resolutions on...

Childline Kenya was among 30 charities that participated in the Global Giving.co.uk Gateway Fundraising Challenge 2011. Global Giving is a UK based charity that gives donors a transparent and efficient way of giving to a worthy cause by offering an online donation platform to unique grass roots charity projects around the world. The donor gets to choose from a selected number of special projects one that they are most passionate about and to make a donation towards its implementation Global Giving UK then ensures that the organization and project get...

Technology will be used to help rid schools of teachers who are having sex with learners.This comes as data released by the Teachers Service Commission showed that Nyanza and Western top the list of provinces with the highest number of sex pests. Though the number of cases appears to be small at 164 this year, it is an increase of 43 over the previous year. The 164 cases reported in 2010/2011 were an increase from 121 cases reported in 2009/2010. A new IT-based system launched yesterday will help TSC to identify and punish...