Child protection and women’s Right – Children are faced with lots of challenges ranging from rape, child prostitution, overwhelming domestic chores, sexual, HIV infectionand drug abuse, denial of leisure time and harmful traditional practices.

Lack of child rights awareness in the community. The girls drop out of school due to negative traditional culture, early marriages, early pregnancies, and discrimination. There is poor attitude by parents and guardians towards girl child education.

On tobacco farms, children work long hours in extreme heat, exposed to nicotine and toxic pesticides that can make them sick. In Migori, child laborers in artisanal and small-scale gold mines work underground in pits that easily collapse and use toxic mercury to process the gold, risking brain damage and other serious health conditions.

Discrimination against women is common. Women perform all the domestic work and are denied opportunities to address their plights, they are denied opportunity to assets (land). • Women in this region suffer in the hands of their husbands and girls in the hands of young men and old men alike. The women and the girls are therefore not given the opportunity to participate in development or any decision making process.

Challenges faced by adolescents and young women ranging from cultural myths/taboos surrounding SRH/HIV and inadequate knowledge on SRH/HIV and low up take of SRH and HIV services due to stigma and discrimination in communities, absence of services, of peer networks and safe spaces, early marriages and sexual violence. The barriers related to stigma and discrimination, absences of friendly services and safe spaces prevent adolescents and girls from seeking HIV testing, sexual reproductive health services and affects HIV positive adolescents’ adherence to HIV treatment. Our Approach Children deserve to live in a safe environment, with people who care about them and treat them well. Today, KAWODEP find herself in a unique moment for women’s rights where we can challenge the systems that oppress the girls/women – whether that is the laws that discriminate against them, the culture of shame around women who are raped, or the barriers that exist for women in leadership.

1. Conduct awareness raising meetings on child abuse targeting different community groups.
2. Train community members on child protection issuesto end the worst forms of child labor and to ensure that all children are protected from jobs that interfere with their health, safety, and education
3. Train children age10-17on child rights issues
4. Conducting awareness creation on gender equity and the value of the girl child and women in the society.
5. The girls are facilitated to participate in children’s parliament sessions to provide them with a forum for their voice to be heard on various issues.
6. Participate in Area Advisory Council AAC.
7. Strengthen capacity of households and institutions to nurture and protect children from abuse, child labour and discrimination.
8. Support children to participate in the activities of the Day of African Child (DAC), Orphans Day and World AIDS Day.
9. Support children to participate in the activities of the Children Voices Conference (CVC).
10. Educate women and men on negative cultural practices that are risk factors for HIV transmission, especially widow inheritance.
11. Advocacy initiatives aimed at influencing systems and structures at community and government levels. l) Advancing Health and Sexual & Reproductive Rights and providing health Information to realize their sexual and reproductive health and rights.