How your support helped us to influence the authorities to stop child labour and focus resources on vulnerable families

Sadly, child labour is still endemic in many impoverished regions of Kenya, mainly because the family (typically a widowed mum or grandma) simply can not afford to feed their children. This means that in order to help provide food for the family, often children have to work meaning they miss out on an education and are exploited as cheap sources of labour. 

However, Kids Alive Kenya has recently been invited to sit on a “baraza” in the Karundas quarry region of Kenya where the children are forced to work. A baraza is similar to a local council where tribal leaders and local authorities meet to discuss community issues and to communicate any government directives. It may not seem much, but this is a real feather in the cap for our team in Kenya as it means they can influence policy and attitudes.

Thanks to your support, we are able to influence the authorities to focus resources on these vulnerable families and strengthen them, in the same way that we do with many of our projects, which in turn prevents the child having to work. In fact, just making them aware of the needs of vulnerable and orphaned children can have a tremendous impact.