Page 3 - April 2025 Newsletter

Coordinated Action for Safer Schools: Protecting

Learners from SGBV

Key stakeholders from the Ministry of Education, Teachers Service
Commission, Children’s Department, and subcounty officials from Makadara
and Embakasi South met at Nyayo House for a high-level breakfast
roundtable convened by Africa Youth Trust (AYT) in partnership with
ActionAid Kenya. The meeting, held under the Nairobi City County’s School
Health Programme, brought together education and health officials to
discuss how to integrate access to justice and protection mechanisms into
Nairobi’s public schools. The discussions focused on training teachers in
GBV prevention and response and creating safe spaces within schools
where learners can speak freely.
The meeting followed growing concern over the rise in sexual and gender-
based violence (SGBV), especially in informal settlements. Despite Kenya’s
existing laws and policies, many school-aged girls and boys remain
vulnerable. Homes and schools, once seen as safe, are now increasingly
linked to abuse, neglect and other protection concerns.
AYT’s Vision: Building Survivor-Led, School-Integrated Response
Systems
Nairobi County School Health Coordinator Mr. Mohammed Dayow during the roundtable,
which focused on school based protection.
Opening the meeting, Africa Youth Trust Executive Director Winifred Okumu
said the organisation is committed to a human rights-based approach to
justice and protection. She said AYT works across Kenya and the East
African region to empower youth and young women through advocacy,
policy engagement and system support. In Mukuru, AYT is running the
Access to Justice and Security Project in partnership with ActionAid Kenya.
At the centre of the initiative is the 21094 SMS platform, a free and
confidential service that allows survivors to report abuse and access
medical, legal and psychosocial support. Trained paralegals, case managers
and system operators based in the community respond and make
appropriate referrals for SGBV cases.
AYT’s Head of Programmes, Irma Maringo, shared findings from cases
reported through the 21094 SMS platform. According to the report, more
than 800 survivors are currently part of AYT’s support network, with a
growing number of cases involving children. Data collected between
December 2023 and March 2025 showed a rise in reports of child neglect
and physical abuse. “From our analysis, defilement remains one of the top
reported cases, with girls being the majority of survivors. We’ve also seen a
AYT Executive Director Winifred Okumu speaking during the roundtable, emphasizing the
worrying rise in child neglect cases in just the first quarter of 2025,” said
need for survivor-led, school-integrated response systems.
Maringo. The most affected groups were adolescent girls, young women
aged between 18 and 34, and children under 18. These trends informed
AYT’s decision to focus more on schools, where children spend most of their p a r t n e r s h i p s w i t h T V E T i n s t i t u t i o n s , t h e A f f i r m a t i v e A c t i o n F u n d , a n d t h e
time. W o m e n E n t e r p r i s e F u n d . T h e r e w a s a c l e a r c a l l t o g o b e y o n d t h e t r a i n i n g . “ I t ’ s
n o t e n o u g h t o t r a i n a t e e n m o t h e r o n h a i r d r e s s i n g . S h e n e e d s t o b e l i n k e d t o a
Integrating Protection into the School Environment s a l o n o r g i v e n e q u i p m e n t . T h a t i s r e a l e m p o w e r m e n t , ” a s t a k e h o l d e r s a i d .
To tackle these challenges, AYT proposed a school-centred model that
embeds GBV prevention and response into existing health and education T h e m o d e l r e f l e c t s A Y T ’ s w i d e r a p p r o a c h , c o n n e c t i n g p r o t e c t i o n , j u s t i c e a n d
systems. At the core of this approach is training teachers to lead separate r e c o v e r y , w h i l e e n s u r i n g s u r v i v o r s a r e s u p p o r t e d b e y o n d t h e r e p o r t i n g s t a g e .
safe spaces for boys and girls, addressing issues such as menstrual hygiene, S t a k e h o l d e r s a c k n o w l e d g e d t h e n e e d f o r s u c h l o n g - t e r m , p r a c t i c a l s o l u t i o n s ,
bullying and sexual abuse in age-appropriate, confidential forums. Rather e s p e c i a l l y f o r v u l n e r a b l e g i r l s t r y i n g t o r e b u i l d t h e i r l i v e s .
than working in isolation, AYT emphasized the importance of building on I n h e r c l o s i n g r e m a r k s , D r . C a r o l N g u n u , D i r e c t o r o f P r e v e n t i v e a n d P r o m o t i v e
what exists, working through school health clubs already present in Nairobi S e r v i c e s , w e l c o m e d t h e c o l l a b o r a t i v e e f f o r t s b y a l l s t a k e h o l d e r s a n d
schools. e n c o u r a g e d c o n t i n u e d e n g a g e m e n t t o s t r e n g t h e n s c h o o l - b a s e d p r o t e c t i o n a n d
Stakeholders agreed provided the initiative aligns with policy guidelines. “If e n s u r e t h e s a f e t y o f l e a r n e r s . W h a t m a t t e r s n o w i s t u r n i n g t h e s e c o m m i t m e n t s
the content fits into the training policy, we are ready to work with it,” one i n t o l a s t i n g c h a n g e .
official said. “Different schools have different dynamics but if it protects the
child and changes behaviour, we will welcome it.”

Aligning, Strengthening and Scaling Up
AYT also shared its economic empowerment model, which links survivors,
especially teen mothers, to training and business opportunities through
parnerships