Together with the Department of Children’s Services (DCS), Changing the Way We Care (CTWWC) has identified three counties in Kenya in which to pilot care reform efforts. These include Kisumu, Nyamira and Kiambu. The targeted counties were selected because of their different profiles, including rural versus urban, the number and types of CCI/SCIs, government buy-in and support, existence of other actors engaged in care reform, and ability to leverage other child protection initiatives, including orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) projects funded by the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
CTWWC, with the active engagement of and coordination with DCS and UNICEF will be implementing care reform in Kisumu, building upon the initial efforts of UNICEF and the Government of Kenya (DCS) through the Alternative Family Care Project. The targeted counties are also part of United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/PEPFAR OVC programming. These OVC programs, implemented by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and partners (MWENDO) in Kisumu and Nyamira and Christian Aid (CASE OVC) in Kiambu aim to provide holistic care and support to children affected by or living with HIV and AIDS and their families. A significant part of this is the strengthening of social service systems, including the workforce, case management approaches and referral mechanisms. As such, there is an invaluable opportunity for care reform efforts to link with and leverage this important work. An important part of the OVC project roll-out is support in piloting the child protection information management system (CPIMS), including within select children’s care institutions/statutory care institutions (CCI/SCIs) (this is what residential care facilities are referred to in Kenya).
This toolkit was developed to serve as a first step within the care reform process within the Changing the Way We Care initiative. However, the DCS views this toolkit as a resource that should be utilized by other county DCS offices and civil society partners working in the sector. Ideally, the same tools will be used so that eventually the information will be collated from each of the different counties to provide a national overview of CCI/SCI and children in their care.
This toolkit is developed for use by DCS and its partners engaged in care reform in Kenya. The tools herein are designed for a rapid situational analysis of CCI/SCI and the children living in them, and as a complement to any information already existing in the CPIMS or other government endorsed data. The information should be used by government, non-governmental organizations, community groups and advocates working to bring change within the care sector. The tools have been intentionally designed to be user-friendly and facilitate
Read the Situational Analysis Summary Report for five counties here.
