In various dialogue sessions with children in Kakuma Refugee camp in Kenya, they all share cases of children who have dropped out of school and have been married off by their parents, especially through being sneaked back to their countries of origin. JOFA is responding to these by inviting them to take the lead against child marriage.
Child protection dialogues with children corroborate the findings of the Child Protection Need Assessment Report carried out in Kakuma Refugee camp in Kenya in 2021 which also highlights child marriage as a major child protection risk.
Some of the Children in Kakuma who have been part of the JOFA project activities attest that among the causes of Child Marriage is the belief by some parents and caregivers that marrying off their adolescent girls is a culture practice that they uphold and that even if they are refugees in Kenya, such a practice is going on in their communities, in their country of origin, and that they need to abide by such practices.
Some parents who got married when they were adolescents believe that their children should get married that early.
During one of the sessions with children that participate in JOFA project activities in Kakuma Refugee camp, one of the children observed that “most people in the camp have a culture and beliefs that affect us like arranged marriages for young girls. There is also fear in the families to report early pregnancy for the same reason: culture and beliefs”.
Child pregnancy is cited by children as one of the factors that contribute to child marriage because some parents opt to marry their early pregnant daughters, and in most cases, ensuring they leave the refugee camp and are taken back to their countries of origin.
This was corroborated by one of the child participants during the JOFA project children session who remarked that “school dropout due to pregnancies which latter lead to early marriages should be taken seriously by engaging young adolescents, both boys and girls, on trainings about the effects of school dropout and early marriages.” These trainings could be facilitated in schools, churches, mosques, and communities”
To ensure that children can prevent, detect, and respond to various forms of violence against them, the JOFA project activities that directly target children in Kakuma Refugee camp prioritize sessions where children are taken through different ways of preventing and responding to violence, based on their evolving capacities.
How life skills sessions work?
The life skills sessions are among such activities where children are prepared on how to identify various forms of violence, including suspected cases of violence and how to respond, how to report and who to report to.
During life skill sessions, children have an opportunity to identify specific child rights and child protection concerns. For each of the concerns they raise, the teachers and facilitators guide them on how to analyze the root causes of such concerns, and how to address them.
The life skills sessions are conducted both at school and in the community. In schools, some of the sessions are conducted for children of the same age group in the same classes, while sometimes, different age groups are brought together.
Some sessions are conducted exclusively for girls through specific topics. At the community level, most of the life skills sessions are complemented with peer network dialogue sessions.
The teachers and facilitators share real-life examples of how various forms of violence have been prevented and in situations where the violence occurred, they take the children through a process of letting them know how such were reported and logically addressed.
Various child protection coordination structures in Kakuma Camp have also been involved in ensuring that issues that emerge from children during the life skills sessions and peer network groups forums are analyzed further and addressed. For instance, the Child Protection Technical Working group in Kakuma ensures that reported cases of child marriage are followed up and suspected perpetrators are tracked, arrested, and prosecuted.
The Child Protection Technical Working group often refers child protection concerns that are cross border in nature to UNHCR and the Government of Kenya’s Refugee Affairs Secretariat. This is because, most of the child marriage cases include adolescent girls being taken away from Kakuma Camp and then married off in South Sudan.
The police have supported JOFA in investigations, arresting suspects who abuse children. Health facilities have also helped the police by providing with evidence of defilements and child pregnancy cases. In addition, health facilities have contributed with crucial data on adolescents visiting the facilities for antenatal care, child mothers or children who have been sexually abused, among others.
The voice of the experts, the voice of children
During the sessions with children, facilitators refer to such anonymized data to illustrate the awareness raising sessions. The Turkana West Sub-County Children’s Office also ensures that child protection cases, as raised by children, are followed up as guided by the case management and referral guidelines.
Among the participants of the life skills sessions is Nyawuor* who is a 14 year old refugee girl from South Sudan. During one of the children’s sessions, Nyawuor expressed her concerns: “Our community recognizes a 15-year-old girl as someone mature enough to get married. The bride price is money and 5 fat bulls that should be taken to the girl’s kin back in South Sudan.”
One of the community facilitators who interacts directly with children explains the case of Nyawuor who has lived in Kakuma for 5 years with her mother and five siblings. Nyawuor’s eldest sister was married at 16 and lives with her husband in South Sudan. Because of the knowledge that Nyawuor has gained through the life skills sessions and the fact that she is now more confident to freely express her feelings, she was empowered to raise her voice:
“I saw a man talking to my mother, who then ordered me to follow him to his house. I tried to question her but my mother locked me outside and told me that I didn’t belong to her any more. The man held my hand and asked me to accompany him to be his wife. He told me that his family had paid 15 cows to my uncles in South Sudan, and I had no right to refuse”.
Nyawuor explains that, immediately, she made a quick decision and ran away to one of the block leaders who is also a participant of the JOFA project. “I remembered” tells Nyawuor, “what we have been learning in the training, that I have a right to education and that a child has to be protected, and that is why I ran to the block leader to save me”.
The leader, upon receiving Nyawuor, reported the case to the police that took up the matter and in collaboration with UNHCR Child protection center, the Refugee Affairs Secretariat (RAS) and the safety and security team ensured that Nyawuor was rescued to a safe place where she is under the care of a foster parent who is also a beneficiary of psychosocial support training conducted by the JOFA project.
Nyawuor is currently in a safe home while the authorities are still investigating to ensure that justice is delivered. While at the safe home, Nyawuor still has an opportunity to participate in the JOFA project activities, especially through the life skill sessions in school.
Nyawuor repeatedly said: “If I go back with my mother, my uncles will punish me for going against our culture”. The Sub-County Children Officer has committed to ensure that Nyawuor’s case is followed up and fully addressed based on the evidence availed by the Police.
In addition to Nyawuor, other children who have been participating in the life skill sessions have also gained more courage to share their experiences on child pregnancy and child marriage related matters during feedback sessions.
Such experiences indicate that Child Marriage remains a high priority child protection concern that should be addressed in the Refugee camp.
One of the participant girls exemplifies how information leads to action:
“Since I started attending the sessions, my parents listen to my views. Recently a man came to our home to ask my hand in marriage, but I informed them that the idea was against the trainings I have received. I told them that child marriage is a violation of child rights.”
Another 17- year-old girl explains how she feels empowered: “I was able to rescue my close friend who was about to be married with an old man. I taught her what we were taught and even went further ahead to share the same information with her mother together with her and that’s how things changed, and the girl is now continuing with her studies”.
The JOFA project team in Kakuma Camp continues to regularly listen to children, getting feedback on what is working well for them and finding out what additional child protection focus areas the children would like to be addressed.
The issues raised by children are considered as part of the focus areas during the parenting group sessions and deliberated during the Child Protection Technical Working group meetings.
Child pregnancy and child marriage is among the critical child protection concerns that are being discussed during the parenting group sessions, with parents being informed of the experiences that children are sharing in their various children’s groups and peer network groups.
Nearly 4,000 people have directly benefited through the life skills and peer network activities.
Lessons learnt
Some of the emerging issues from the life skills and peer network activities, and further based on experiences shared by children include:
▪ Engagement with children should allow adequate time for children to express themselves and share their feelings.
▪ Facilitators should spent more time in guiding children through a process of generating solutions to their needs and challenges.
▪ Solutions to child protection needs should take into consideration what the children consider as the root causes and these can then be complemented with expert analysis of the root causes.
▪ All stories on child protection concerns shared by children during life skills and peer network sessions should be taken seriously and followed up.
▪ Child protection dialogue sessions and life skills activities should be based on the issues that children raise, since those could be the priority issues that they require to be addressed.
▪ Whereas there are existing curricula and training materials on life skills, it is critical that life skills teachers and facilitators contextualize such materials as much as possible.
▪ It is crucial to clearly identify the actor to address on child protection issues and that such actor is immediately communicated to take appropriate timely action.
▪ Issues that emerge from children during children activities should be presented to parents and caregivers during the parenting sessions.
▪ In the project implementation phase, child protection sessions should focus more on listening to what children are saying, getting feedback and be more specific to focus on emerging topics.
▪ Children who have demonstrated improved confidence and capacity to engage in finding solutions to their needs should be given more opportunities to facilitate sessions with their peers.
* Not her real name.
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