Kenya on Wednesday launched a care reform strategy to boost the rights of children, a senior government official said. Margaret Kobia, Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizens Affairs, and Special Programmes said that the strategy was developed with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and provides a roadmap to prevent the separation of children from their parents through family strengthening programs.

The UK Home Office has been accused of attempting to deport unaccompanied 16-year-olds to Rwanda in the first wave of asylum seekers to be sent to east Africa later this month. Charities have identified what they describe as a “worrying pattern” of children being classed as adults by Home Office age assessments, raising fears they could be among those deported 4,500 miles to Rwanda.

Institutional childcare is associated with developmental delays and setbacks. Since alternative options are not always available, it is important to investigate youth in institutional settings to evaluate how to provide optimal care.

This is the monthly update of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Learning Platform published in June 2022. 

This report captures the learning at a two-day conference which brought together practitioners and specialists for a critical examination of the Theology and Practice of Child Protection in Africa in Nairobi on May 23 - 24, 2022.

This webinar presents the findings from the stage one analysis of the legal, policy and procedural frameworks of orphanage trafficking in Cambodia, Uganda, and Nepal. It also featured presentations on the situation of orphanage trafficking from in-country investigators and experts.

Orphanage trafficking involves the recruitment and/or transfer of children to residential care institutions for a purpose of exploitation and profit. It typically takes place in lower- and middle-income countries where child protection services systems are highly privatized, under-regulated, and primarily funded by overseas sources. Orphanage trafficking crimes are poorly understood, often go undetected and are rarely prosecuted- even in countries where its occurrence has been well documented.

This is the first monthly update of the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Learning Platform published in May 2022. 

Childrearing in sub-Saharan Africa is often viewed as collaborative, where children benefit from support from kin. For single mothers living in informal settlements, kin networks may be highly dispersed and offer little day-to-day childrearing support, but may provide opportunities for child fostering. This study conducted in Nairobi, Kenya, uses a linked lives approach, where single mothers’ connections with kin and romantic partners may influence whether – and what type of – kin are relied on to support child fostering.

The Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Learning Platform hosted a webinar on 11 May 2022 examining why it is important to align care systems in development and humanitarian contexts and provides practical examples from Kenya and Uganda.