Rapid Child Protection Assessment Wajir August 11th and 12th 2011
Save the Children
Purpose of Assessment: To gather a snap shot of the situation for child protection in Wajir East;
to collect data on the situation for child protection; and to meet the community to understand their
attitudes and perceptions on child protection and the need for a programme.
Assessment Team: Child Protection Advisor Kenya; Community Mobilizers for the Health and
Nutrition Programme. Data from Habaswein was gathered by Emergency Response Officer.
Desk Review: UNICEF Child Protection Rapid Assessment Garissa County, July 2011; Child
Welfare Consortium of Kenya Rapid Child Protection Assessment Report October 2009; Save the
Children (SC) Child Protection Rapid Assessment Mandera and Wajir Districts, December 2006
Locations Assessed
Makaror:
o Population: 3,000 households / 10,000 people (2010 census relayed by chief) – more are
said to have joined the community since the drought.
o Schools: Three primary schools – Makaror, Hodhula and Bahati, all with Early Childhood
Development classes and combined enrolment of 805 girls and 1297 boys.
o 10 kilometres from Wajir town
Lafaley:
o Population: 1,500 households / 5,000 people (relayed by men’s FGD)
o Schools: One primary with ECD class, enrolment 171 girls and 134 boys.
o 30 kilometres from Wajir town
People Interviewed
o Government Officials:
o Non-Governmental Organisations:
o Community Leaders:
o Community members: Two fourteen year old girls in Lafaley.
Focus Group Discussions Held
7 women in Makaror: All parents; aged between 18 – 60 years
13 girls in Makaror: Aged 10 – 14 years; all school-going
10 boys in Makaror: Aged 12 – 16 years; one non school-going
8 women in Lafaley: All parents; aged between 18 – 60 years
10 men in Lafaley: 2 community health workers, 2 youth leaders, 1 businessman, 1 duksi teacher
and 4 parents; aged between 18 – 60 years
6 boys in Lafaley; Aged 12 – 16; all school-going
Overview of Findings
The community are tired of assessments and request for action. They say people have been asking
questions about food security and other matters since 1999 and they now need to act on the
answers that have been given.
The drought has caused an increase in urban migration for pastoralist families, particularly women
and children. These children are not always yet accessing school and are somewhat discriminated
against due to their poverty and illiteracy levels. Significant harmful and exploitative child labour
was noted.
Family separation was not raised as an issue as much as orphaned children, but this could be due
to existing programmes targeting people caring for orphans and therefore the perception that this
was what the assessment team wanted to hear about. It could also be due to lack of rigorous
training of the translators on separated children terminology.
The community has conservative values and issues of gender-based violence came out most
strongly as affecting children; whether in the way that girls interacted with the assessment team or
in the attitudes of children and the community towards early marriage and questions about rape.
The answers of children and statistics from the police and Children’s Department on such questions
widely differed from those of adults.
The vast majority of children felt that physical abuse, as a means of punishment was a good thing.
However, the chief described such severe forms of corporal punishment that a young boy in his
community had lost his eye.
There are functioning child protection mechanisms in Wajir, including a court, gender desk at the
police and active children’s department as well as some empowered leaders: The Makaror Chief
was thankful for the assessment, saying that many of the issues the assessment was concerned with
were ones he is keen to do more about.
Child Protection Issues Explored and Key Findings
 Child Care and Separation
Women in Makaror said there were many orphans in their community, with the majority of people
in the community caring for an orphan. Three out of the seven women interviewed in Makaror and
three out of the eight women interviewed in Lafaley were caring for orphans. Two of these women
were between 50 and 60 years old. One of the women could not even hear the discussion.
Children said that orphans are the most vulnerable group of children in the community.
The community were clear that orphans were children both of whose parents had died. They said
that the high number of orphans is a result of inter-clan fighting where adults get killed, as well as
poor healthcare in the area, and lack of awareness on the importance of medical care amongst
pastoralists. One orphaned child in the focus groups had a scar on his neck; a mark that traditional
medicine had been used when he was unwell previously.
It was reported that orphaned children are staying with their aunts or grandmothers because they
are next of kin and this is the cultural thing to do. However, the community had expectations that
external support should come for orphans and highlighted that there is no residential centre for
orphans and orphans lack school uniforms.
There were no reported cases of children being left with non-relatives or alone when parents had
migrated or being placed into institutions. While this kinship care is a positive intervention from the
community to care for orphaned children the age of some of the women providing this care is of
concern. Whether these women can provide appropriate care for these children and the impact
that their death could have on the children needs to be looked into. However, it is important that
any intervention does not undermine the kinship care that is in existence in the community.
It is possible that the challenges faced by orphans were raised more than those of separated
children because of the high number of interventions in place for orphans in the region. There is the
cash transfers programme of UNICEF and the government, which targets families with orphans and
vulnerable children, as well as programmes targeting HIV orphans and in Wajir North and West
Islamic Relief runs an orphan sponsorship programme. However, the community reported that they
do not benefit from these programme and that they do not have anything to give the children.
The women in Makaror reported that some women are left very vulnerable when their husbands
go to collect firewood etc in the bush. They go for between two and three weeks at a time. In the
meantime, the women are left trying to provide for the family. One woman was reported to be
unwell and needing to go to hospital but struggling as she cannot leave her small children alone.
Women said that they are borrowing money from friends and businessmen to support their family.
The community reported that teachers and duksi teachers are requested by the community to give
special support to orphans by waiving their fees and purchasing uniform for them. However, one
orphaned 12-year-old boy participating in the discussions had recently migrated to the town to
live with his grandmother but had not yet started at school. Other boys in the discussion
discriminated against him saying he could not answer the questions, as he had not been to school.
 Child Labour
Around 80% of people in Makaror work in Wajir town and among these are many older children.
Activities children get involved in at the local level are: Fetching water, fetching firewood and
helping with the household chores. The work that children are engaged in within Wajir town
includes: Casual masonry, building, and mechanics, loading and unloading of rocks collected in the
bush to be used in building work as well as collecting water for hotels. Children of fourteen years
and above are engaged in this work but they rarely do it for long as it pays very poorly. Other
children are engaged in herding and pushing donkey carts. Adults agreed that this work is not
good as it is heavy work that is poorly paid.
Girls are mostly working as domestic helpers. Adults in Wajir town interviewed said that their
employer often physically abuses these girls and that they are over worked. Some girls are even
migrating to Wajir town for work from other parts of Kenya as the town is thriving. Some girls also
reported being sent to the market alone and coming back after dark, as well as having to fetch
water into the evening when it gets dark. Children mentioned that some children do not go to
school because they don’t have a school uniform but instead have to work as house helps.
The community in Makaror did not report children having left the community further than Wajir
Town to look for work. The community in Lafaley reported that some children go as far as Garissa
but not further. However, the Makaror chief said that some children had gone to Nairobi and
Garissa but he did not know of any who had gone to Somalia and did not think this was likely.
Some people said this could be happening in the border areas.
 Gender-Based Violence
Rape and Sexual Assault: All adult community members in the discussions said rape is not an issue
in their community. The community reported no risks of rape facing girls, not even when out
collecting firewood and not even from attack by wild animals while collecting wood. However, the
police had received reports of rapes against girls while herding having come in every month for
the past six months. The assessment team were not able to travel to rural pastoralist communities
for the assessment but it will be important to do so in any further assessment.
In Makaror the community reported that rapes used to occur when girls were herding livestock but
few animals are left and so almost all children are now engaged in school instead resulting in
fewer cases of abuse. In contradiction to this, the Chief said that most of these girls are instead
engaged in working as domestic helpers. It seems that there is a weak referral system for GBV
cases, as the police had many more cases than the Children’s Department.
Early Marriage: Girls consistently reported early marriage as a problem. However, boys and
adults said that it was not. Girls said that other girls get married when they are in class four. This is
around age 12 – 13. Among the thirteen girls participating in the discussions they were aware of
10 girls who were married at this age. These are mostly those girls who never went to school.
Men in the community said that marriage was a good thing at any age so not a concern to them.
However, women said girls get married at around 16 yrs nowadays. The Chief said that two men
from his community had been arrested in 2009 and 2010 respectively for marrying 12-year-old
girls. It is clear that mixed information is being given about early marriage due to pressure being
put on the community to increase the age at which girls get married. This shows that this cultural
practice is still one closely guarded by the community.
Early Pregnancy: One girl said that few girls are married in the community but many have babies
and this happens when a man harasses the girl to be his girlfriend.
Female Genital Mutilation: Women said that FGM still practiced, with some people using the
traditional method while others taking the religious method (described as Sunna). The Chief said
that his religion says that just a small cut / prick should be done but not removal of any flesh
(Sunna). He said that anybody found to be doing more than this would be investigated and
prevented. The Chief and Save the Children’s health staff confirmed that FGM in the area does
lead to complications during child birth and otherwise. It is important to note that literature
published by child protection specialists from the Wajir region highlights the need to de-link FGM
from Islam in order to stop all forms of FGM, as all forms practiced are in fact harmful.
 Physical Abuse
In both focus group discussions with children in Makaror, participants said that physical punishment
by adults when children misbehave is a good thing. In Lafaley the boys participating said that it
was not a good thing. Another girl said that teachers hit children when they misbehave but not too
hard. Parents said that physical abuse was not a problem in the community. One girl reported
threats of physical violence during bullying in school. The Chief of Makaror said that he had held a
number of meetings with the Parent Teacher Association regarding alternative forms of punishment
after a child lost his eye after caning. He said that more such sensitisation is needed to prevent
such an issue happening again. One of the women’s groups said that children often fight when
fetching water due to the scarce resources meaning they fight to be first in line.
 Psychosocial
The girls agreed that it was bad to call other children names but the boys said it was ok.
Discrimination was noted against an orphaned boy and a girl who was said to be mentally
deficient, but who was actually assessed by the team to be very bright but just a little different
from the other girls. This girl said she had reported to her mother and to her teacher who had
done a lot to reduce the bullying. Children unanimously welcomed the idea of more activities such
as children’s clubs to engage them. One girl requested a volley ball net to be provided for girls to
use as currently space is only allocated for football and so girls cannot use the space.
 Missing Children
To ascertain whether trafficking or recruitment was going on all groups were asked if any children
are missing from the area. Only the Children’s Office reported missing children in their case load
data and this was explained as a relative who have abducted a three year old child and taken
him/her to Ethiopia. He is soon to be brought back after significant mediation and follow-up.
 Likes and Dislikes of Girls and Boys
Girls Like: Parents, school, the environment and animals, camels, friends, home, family, aunties and
uncles
Girls Dislike: Fetching water and firewood, especially after dark
Boys Like: School, parents, learning the Koran, reading, football, self-improvement and looking
after animals
Boys Dislike: The effects of drought which impacts on all aspects of life, hyenas killing animals and
donkeys, the lack of learning materials and facilities, the cost of secondary school fees, snake bites
and the market being far away, fetching water for long periods.
 Education Issues
The drought was described by the District Commissioner as a blessing for education as many more
children are enrolling in school due to lack of animals to herd. However, it seems that dropouts are
still higher than enrollments.
In Lafaley the boys reported between 6 and 10 new children having enrolled in each class.
However, this is putting pressure on existing facilities. Makaror town neighbours the main town of
Wajir and, as a result, high numbers of people from the rural areas migrating there since the
drought.
The pressure is being put on schools that are already under-resourced. The school in Lafaley was
built but the community and lacks teachers/teachers went unpaid, classrooms and furniture, has a
broken borehole but a functioning well, and some dilapidated classrooms, which constitutes a
safety hazard. The lack of water results in the school feeding programme not functioning.
The children would really like for the school to be equipped with power so that they can do their
homework at the school in the evenings. They also requested a secondary boarding school, as
parents cannot afford transport to the schools in Wajir town.
As well as increased enrolment, there are also increased dropouts: Boys in Makaror said that
between 20 and 50 children have dropped out due to drought. These children are now engaged
in child labour. A girl in Lafaley said that around 20 boys and one girl had left the community to
be engaged full time in herding and fetching wood and water.
The Makaror Chief said that he had been working through the Girl Guide Union to identify 105
girls who could benefit from scholastic materials and therefore increase enrolment and/or prevent
dropout. Other people we spoke to said that Paralegal did a similar programme. All the
programmes target only girls.
The Chief said that people in the community often make efforts to take children engaged in child
labour in the town to the District Commissioner’s Office to see if he can help with secondary school
fees. The Chief said that he and other elders are trying to build a secondary school through the
Wajir Peace Committee, which is linked with government.
 Non Child Protection Issues Raised
The community raised the need for food programmes including the general food distribution or
blanket supplementary feeding. The District Commissioner’s Office has been giving food but it only
goes to the 20 most vulnerable families, who the community feel have been appropriately
targeted and are the worst off. The community also raised the need for more consistent drug
supply at the hospitals and for medicines to be free. In Lafaley the men raised issues of hunger,
malnutrition, lack of water and women raised health concerns.
July 2010 – June 2011
Category
Boys
Neglect
218
Cruelty
7
Girls
187
5
TOTAL
405
12
Custody
Rape
Pregnancy
Early marriage
Foster care
Orphans and
vulnerable children
Abduction
Inaccessible
Child missing
Runaways
Education
Health problems
Accident
Truancy
Delinquency
Indiscipline
In conflict with law
Drug abuse
TOTAL
70
0
0
0
1
12
73
2
1
1
7
0
143
2
1
1
2
19
1
3
1
5
25
1
2
2
2
1
15
1
1
0
3
3
0
1
3
5
3
6
40
2
Girls
50
4
13
Total
64
14
20
2
6
0
1
0
Annual Case Load Summary and Disposal
Case Category
Boys
Neglect
14
Truant
10`
Custody
7
Case
Neglect
No.
56
Truant
Custody
12
19
2
9
3
1
1
660
Disposal
Maintenance taken by the
fathers and enforced
Guidance & Counseling
Mother took custody
Child Protection Interventions in Place
 District Children’s Office
The Children’s Office in Wajir town previously covered both Wajir East and South (Habaswein),
but there is now an officer in Habaswein covering Wajir South.
The greatest challenges raised as obstacles to child protection were: The local customary practices,
which promotes the use of Maslaha (traditional dispute resolution) to settle criminal cases including
rape; neglect which occurs when men leave their families and do not pay maintenance; custody
disputes between divorced parents as customary law says that the man should have custody when
the child is seven but the Kenyan law says that custody is discretionary for children aged between
seven and ten with favour given to the mother until 10 years.
The Children’s Office requires support with a filing cabinet, furniture and a computer and printer
to operationalise a second interview room, a photocopier and a shredder. The compound that the
Children’s Office is in does not have a latrine which is a challenge as most people reporting come
with small children. There are also no play facilities to keep children occupied while their parents
report, which is important to prevent secondary trauma for children overhearing reports being
made.
The District Children’s Officers (DCOs) believe that many cases go unreported and said that most
cases are reported from areas closer to the town. In Wajir East the Children’s Officers said they
are only able to sensitise in locations where a case has been reported and then they go there to
conduct follow-up. In Wajir South they said they sensitize through the Area Advisory Councils and
the Volunteer Children Officers. They reported, as did the community, that people only use the
formal system of the Children’s Department when traditional and religious dispute mechanisms
(Maslaha) fail. This applies even to criminal cases and is not limited to children’s issues. The
community even said that they would report to the chief and then the police if Masalaha failed,
not even mentioning the Children’s Department.
 Police Services
The police reported cases of truancy, which are reported by parents, drug abuse (snuff), between
three and five rape cases per month, children running away due to disputes with their parents.
There is a community police force in place that is linked with the police and the Chiefs in each
location. While the District Children’s Office do not regularly work with these people the police
and Chief interviewed said that they do. In Makaror there are two men and one woman who
make up this force and they have been trained on the law. The police say that as with everyone
they are able to make a citizen’s arrest but they are more empowered to do so. They are
therefore important functions for the regular police to work with and should be targeted as Child
Protection focal points if committees are established.
 Gender Desk
There is a Gender Desk at the Wajir town police post that is manned by a female police officer
who is referred all gender-based violence cases for interview. There is a separate cell that can be
used for children. However, this does not meet the set regulations as it is right next to the main cell
and so does not provide adequate protection for children who are detained there. There is no
remand home for child offenders in North Eastern Province and therefore no Somali-speaking
facility for child offenders in the country.
 Referral Systems for GBV Cases
PEP is available in the health facilities for rape cases, but there is no psychosocial support
available for children or parents. The police said that between 3 and 5 cases are reported to
them each month in the past three months compared with the 2 cases handled by the Children’s
Department in the past year showing a lack of inter-referral.
 Court
There is a functioning court in Wajir town. There is no child friendly court facility as such but the
DCO said that the decision making process is generally child friendly. The Khadi court is also
functional and the Khadi is sensitive to custody issues when ruling over divorces.
 Foster Care
The Children’s Department has placed two children under foster care in the past year. These were
abandoned children. However, there is no programme to support these foster parents. This would
be particularly important as one child who recently died of malnutrition was under this foster care.
 Awareness-Raising and Outreach for Prevention of Abuse and Reporting
The current child protection mechanisms lack an outreach function. This means that more cases are
reported from locations closer to Wajir town due to awareness on the services available.
Prevention activities are also therefore limited to where abuses have occurred and the Children’s
Department therefore go to conduct follow-ups and provide sensitisation at the same time. In
December the Children’s Department always conducts a school enrolment drive which SC was
encouraged to support. There is a need for more IEC materials in the Somali language that are
contextualised.
 Reporting Child Abuse
Everyone interviewed said that they would first mediate a case of child abuse in the community
before referring it on. However, women in Makaror said that for cases of rape they would report
straight to the Chief. Girls said that they would report to their mother first, and then their teacher
and then if still nothing was done to the government. They would not tell an older child. Boys said
a variety of things. In Makaror one said he would be patient and hope the issue was resolved, one
said he would not tell anyone, another said parents, another said teacher, another agreed he
could tell an older brother or sister while one said he would tell the NGO Paralegal. In Lafaley all
children said they would report to the Sheikh.
 Area Advisory Council – There is a functioning ‘Area Advisory Council’ that has been
supported by agencies.
 Habaswein Locational OVC group – There is a support group in place for caregivers of
OVCs.
 Aphia Plus – This programme is present in some areas and supports children affected by
HIV/AIDS with cash transfers, ARVs and unimix (OVC programming)
 Kenya National Human Rights Commission – Helps with settling civil and domestic disputes
including cases of domestic violence between men and women
 Paralegal – A CBO funded by ALDEF and LWF to carry out girl’s education programmes
(provision of school materials and community sensitisation and mediation) and legal
representation / aid
 Girl Guide Union – Also conducting a girl’s education programme along the same lines as
Paralegal
 School Feeding Programme – This is in place over the school holidays through the government
and Kenya Red Cross.
 School Support – A lot of house to house visiting to encourage children to go to school with the
incentive of being provided with a uniform.
 Children’s Homes – There are five registered children’s homes in Wajir East with one more
being prepared for registration.
 Regional Children’s Assemblies – The children taking part in these forums require more
empowerment. However, the governance structures have been established.
 Children’s Clubs – There is a need for these programmes in schools; an issue raised by all
children and the Children’s Department.
Recommendations
1. The established child protection mechanisms in Wajir need to be strengthened and supported to
reach down to the rural communities in the district, which is large and has a poor road network. It is
likely that many cases go unreported for this reason and the Children’s Department are keen to be
supported to conduct outreach and sensitisation. Sensitisation could take through the many existing
committees in villages, e.g. peace committees or health committees, as well as religious councils.
2. An awareness-raising campaign in the community to increase knowledge on child protection and
to change harmful knowledge and attitudes, such as early marriage and FGM, should respect
hierarchies and the community, clan and religious leadership to have impact. Experience with the
Kenyan-Somali population shows that the community are wary of ‘foreign concepts’, such as rights
and child participation. Any such interventions should therefore begin with significant sensitisation
of the leaders on the aims of them, as well as involvement of leaders and parents in the activities
so that they can listen to and observe. Children said that their favourite part of life is family; boys
added learning the Koran. Building on this the involvement and support of parents for any
activities conducted with children would be important.
3. There is a need to get children who have migrated to towns into school to maximise on this
migration pattern and to prevent them from falling into exploitation. There is also a need to assess
the situation of family separation and to help prevent and manage it in such a way that does not
undermine traditional practices of kinship care.
4. Child labour could be prevented through school and livelihoods support for families and
sensitisation of the community about the dangers of child labour, as well as in urban centres to
prevent people employing children.
5. There is need for training to health workers and police regarding the need for inter-referrals
and the 72-hour rules for life saving health care and forensic evidence.
6. Psychosocial support for survivors is also needed as well as support to parents to care for their
children to aid psychosocial well-being.
7. Children should be made aware of reproductive health and life skills to prevent them agreeing
to sexual relationships without understanding the consequences. Engaging them in regular activities
to empower them as well as life skills training could also bring children together to prevent
discrimination and get non-school going children enrolled.
8. Programmes targeting orphans should be broadened out to target other poor or vulnerable
families to prevent stigmatisation and false cases.