The Department of Education in Turkana together with UN Women, IRC Women Protection and Empowerment, and other stakeholders, have joined forces to operationalize a Child Rescue Centre in Kakuma to be launched in December 2023 as part of efforts to strengthen child protection services.
Speaking at Kakuma when he officially opened a three-day workshop for child protection practitioners, Chief Officer for Education and Social Protection Moses Etelej said the intervention by the county and partners was in line with the Governor’s agenda on child protection.
He explained that the three-day training was aimed at equipping social protection officers with the skills to deliver better services to vulnerable children.
The training also comes as a follow-up meeting after IRC paid a courtesy call last week to the chief officer in his office in Lodwar.
He said every child deserves to grow up free from any gender-based violence (GBV), noting that GBV occurs in every part of the country and across all economic and social spheres.
Etelej observed that GBV against children is perpetuated physically, sexually, psychologically, and/or economically and seeks to deny access to services that may help lift a victim out of the cycle of violence.
The Department of Social Protection, the Chief Officer said, is planning to request up to 50 staff members from the recently recruited 200 interns to serve in the child protection unit.
He pointed out that there is a need to redeem the image of the children by separating the small children from the adults, just like what happens in Lodwar Police Station after the county set up a child protection unit at the police station to care for children in conflict with the law.
Deputy Director for Social Protection, Hebrew Ignatius Idoka, stated that the stakeholders needed to harmonise all the child protection practices.
Idoka encouraged the partners to reintegrate the children to prevent them from staying in a structured environment, as that inhibits them from socialising.
The IRC Women Protection and Empowerment Programme Manager, Rose Muthee, reiterated their commitment through the support of UN Women to equip the rescue centre as required before the launch.
Present were Jakait Elijah (Children Officer), Beatrice Kotola (Principal Probation Officer), Phineas Muthoni (IRC), and Karen Taiwa (IRC). The staff at Social Protection were also in attendance.
By Peter Gitonga
