The 25-strong Kenyan coalition of youth-led organisations reports on the impact of its Justice For Every Child campaign in calling for a fair share for the most marginalised children during the pandemic.
A powerful youth-led coalition from Kenya has launched its impact report on the campaigning delivered so far to ensure the most marginalised children's rights are delivered and protected during COVID-19.
Justice for Every Child Kenya - #JusticeForEveryChildKe - launched on 14 July 2020 to advocate for the rights of the most vulnerable young people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to hold decision-makers accountable for the fulfillment of these rights. Committed to ensuring the most marginalised voices were amplified and heard during the pandemic, an inclusive and diverse coalition of youth organisations came together to lead the campaign, representing children, adolescents, young people living with disabilities, young feminists, the young LGBTQI community, young people living in informal settlements, and urban youth.
Together, they prioritised four critical issues to campaign on:
inequality in access to education
lack of transparency and accountability on the use of COVID-19 funds by the government
heightened cases of sexual and gender-based violence
police brutality during the enforcement of COVID-19 regulations in Kenya.
Since the July launch, #JusticeForEveryChildKe has held five events including:
two online concerts under the theme of accountability and police brutality
webinars under the themes of sexual and gender-based violence and education
a high-level webinar on child and youth rights between young leaders and an elected policy-makers
Conducted primarily online, the campaign has so far achieved a reach of almost a quarter of a million, and has seen decision-makers and youth activists working together with national leaders to ensure the campaign demands are implemented.
H.E Prof. Kivutha Kibwana and the H.E Deputy Governor, Adelina Mwau - Makueni County extended an invitation to the Justice for Every Child Kenya on a project that seeks to ensure children’s participation to get data on child violence - which has risen during the coronavirus pandemic.
Hon. Millie Odhiambo, MP committed to be a key champion at the high level to ensure the campaign demands are implemented.
Nobel Peace Laureate Kailash Satyarthi committed to continue his work in advocating for the rights of the most marginalised and vulnerable children and young people to freedom, safety and education, and demonstrated his solidarity with the Kenyan campaign by participating in their high-level webinar.
The coalition also held two consultative meetings, one to address the relevant stakeholders through the media to ensure their messages were made public, and the other to draft a detailed open letter to decision-makers through the office of the President and discuss the campaign’s next line of actions.
Not only has the Justice for Every Child Kenya campaign demonstrated the powerful impact that can be achieved through youth-led coalition working, it has also built a powerful network of connected organisations which will continue to work together to amplify the voices of the most marginalised and to hold decision-makers to account.