Safaricom, UNICEF Launch Campaign to End Violence Against Children in Kenya

By Lynnet Okumu / Published November 1, 2021 | 4:15 pm

KEY POINTS

The program calls for immediate reporting of cases involving violence against children to the relevant authorities through toll-free numbers such as 116, 999, 112, or child protection offices if you know one.

Happy children using a tablet.

Safaricom, UNICEF, and the Directorate of Children Services have launched a campaign to aid in creating and spreading awareness about all forms of violence against children.

The campaign dubbed ‘Spot It, Stop It’ is meant to create awareness on how to keep children safe from both the online and offline world by spotting out the underlying solutions and seeking their possible solutions.

UNICEF has distributed a child-friendly booklet on violence against children to help in informing the children on how to identify and report online abuse with the Directorate of Children Service

These prevention and response are based on the 2019 Kenya Violence Against Children Survey report and the National Prevention and Response Plan on Violence against Children 2019-2023. The two showed that the prevalence of childhood violence remains high, affecting nearly half of females and more than half of males.

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Based on these survey findings, the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection developed the 2019-2023 National Prevention and Response Plan on Violence against Children.

To put the plan into course, UNICEF Kenya and Safaricom announced a partnership in November 2020 to help Kenyan children in a range of areas including education, child protection, and emergencies.

Through the partnership, they pledged to work together to help children, especially the poorest and the most marginalized. The plan is to enable them access the Internet at school, protect them from violence and abuse, and receive life-saving information during droughts, floods, and disease outbreaks.

The campaign piloted in Nairobi County on 25th October with sensitization forums for various stakeholders including Children, the Area Advisory committee for children services, the National Government Administrative organ, among others.