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A GENERATION OUT OF PLACE The Chronic Urban Emergency in Rift Valley Kenya

BRIEFING PAPER by Save the Children UK: Rift Valley Profiling Study of Children Connected to the Streets, October 2012

Study Purpose: The Rift Valley was a hot spot of the 2007/2008 Post Election Violence (PEV), causing an increase in child protection concerns related to violence, displacement, and family separation. Government departments and other organisations working with children in the province requested this study to confirm and better understand the perceived increase in children joining the streets that they witnessed following these events. Unicef supported with funds and Save the Children conducted the study.

Methods: Save the Children developed surveys and other research tools (e.g. interviews, case studies, referrals, and focus group discussions) to collect data in five Rift Valley towns (Eldoret, Molo, Naivasha, Nakuru, and Kitale). Following a pilot study in Eldoret in June 2011, methodology and tools were revised, and then the study was rolled out. Over two weeks in October/ November 2011, data was collected simultaneously from children, their parents, duty bearers and other stakeholders in Molo, Naivasha, Nakuru, and Kitale.

Sample: The sample included 2,696 children connected to the streets in Eldoret, Molo, Naivasha, Nakuru, and Kitale. 76% of the interviewees were boys, and 24% were girls. The average age was 12 years. The majority of children connected to the streets interviewed (75%) originated from Rift Valley Province.

Results: Food insecurity was the predominant push factor for children joining the streets (59%), affecting even those who were not impacted directly by the PEV or drought. Other major reasons for joining the streets are domestic abuse (23%) and the inability to go to school due to the high cost of education (21%).

Furthermore, IDP children made up 37% of the total population of children connected to the streets, rising to as high as 61% in Naivasha. IDP children identified a number of factors related to the Post Election Violence that led them to join the streets, including: displacement and family separation; death or injury of a family member; humanitarian withdrawal; loss of livelihoods; and particularly food insecurity.

The study shows a strong link between emergencies in the region and children joining the streets. Almost half of the children interviewed had been affected in some way by an emergency (PEV, tribal clashes, drought or flooding). The study also highlights the need for long-term planning in the provision of humanitarian responses, with children still being impacted by the emergency long after humanitarian efforts have dried up. This is evidenced by the fact that a significant number of those children connected to the street who were displaced by PEV (22%) did not join the streets until 2011.

The majority of children connected to the streets are denied education with under half (44%) of all children interviewed being currently in formal education. Of all previously school-going children interviewed, a staggering 97% dropped out before finishing primary school. While primary education is nominally free, related costs (e.g. uniforms, books, lunch, etc.) and especially the fees levied by the schools are beyond the reach of many parents and are inadequately regulated.

Each district study had unique realities for children connected to the streets. In Nakuru, over half of children spend all their time on the streets (compared to 25% in other districts). 83% of children connected to the streets 2 in Kitale spend all their time on the streets, with most of them (82%) coming from Turkana. Eldoret is the main receiving route for children from Kitale. Naivasha had the highest number of IDPs (61% of children connected to the streets) and drought-affected children. Molo, where tribal tensions remain high, is the main IDP sending district to other towns and has the most children who are living on the streets mainly on the weekends.

Across districts, children connected to the streets are exposed to abuse and sexual exploitation at an early age. 23% of children reported abuse at home as a push factor for coming to the streets. Girls connected to the streets are especially vulnerable to abuse and frequently engage in transactional sex or prostitution, both as protection and livelihood strategies. They have little access to health care, family planning, or contraception.

Other protection concerns for both boys and girls connected to the streets include: • Economic exploitation • Violent police round-ups • Drug abuse • Criminalization • Lack of identity documents • Limited access to services • Physical violence by the general public or other children and adults connected to the streets, sometimes leading to death.

Responses and services to children connected to the streets need significant improvement. Children currently protect themselves in the absence of comprehensive services or a clear government department taking responsibility. While limited family tracing services are available for separated children, support is rarely available for families during and after reunification, causing repeated cycles of separation. (1 in 5 children connected to the streets have been reunified with their families at least once only to return to the streets later.) Children’s biggest needs – education and food security – remain unmet.

Recommendations and Next Steps: The study has collected valuable information in terms of planning for humanitarian and longer-term responses in Kenya. Initial feedback shows the study has garnered wide support from a broad range of stakeholders - including government ministries, children, and non-governmental actors following a series of briefings to share initial findings.

A number of recommendations were developed from these briefings, the most important of which is the urgent need for a Rift Valley-wide multi-sectoral strategy for children connected to the streets, which addresses the root causes which lead children to connect with the streets, rather than the symptoms, which most interventions are currently targeted towards. Any such strategy should include an immediate scale up of emergency support to children and families connected to the streets, including through family tracing and reintegration and psychosocial and especially livelihoods support.

Other recommendations include: placing Children’s Services at the head of an integrated multi-sectoral response, enforcing free and compulsory education, ensuring humanitarian responses that consider children’s specific needs, and engaging children and youth in the development and management of programs.

For further information about the study, or to get a copy of the full report, please email: Samuel Mwangi, Child Protection Manager, Rift Valley, at [email protected]