About Us

Kitui town is the headquarters of Kitui County and has a population of approx. 1 million people, this includes the outskirts. 70% of the population live below the poverty line with the majority of the residents depending on Government and NGO Aid subsidies. Child labour remains one of the most serious socio-economic problems in the district.

 

Kitui district is inhabited by the Kamba tribe which culturally gives education prevalence to boy child as compared to the girl child in secondary education. Available data from the Ministry of Education (2008)shows that 16.3% boys compared to 21.3% girls drop out of school before proceeding to the next class and out of 21,092 enrolled in secondary school 1,260 dropped out , the majority being girls between the ages of 14 to 17 years. The majority of the girls who dropped out got married at a tender age , others were transported to the big cities as domestic workers while the boys went to other forms of labour. The worst forms of child labour are found in agriculture, livestock and domestic service where the underage boys work as shamba boys, livestock herders and in the towns as street hawkers, scrap metal and garbage collectors. The Desert Lilly Women Group was established in 2006 to promote and support girl child education, empower women socially, economically and advise women on political issues that affect them. It also addresses emerging issues which affect the girl child education e.g. hiv/aids, child pregnancy and marriage, children abandonment, neglect and child labour. This group was founded by Janet Syombua Mumo, Coordinator of KDC.

 

Child labour and poverty are inseparable and this is why KDC in association with ILO have set out a programme of Child Labour Eradication.

 

The programme strategy involves Institutional capacity building, community awareness and advocacy, direct support to children at risk of joining the worst forms of labour, promotion of Child Rights Clubs, economic empowerment of families affected or likely to be affected by child labour, the withdrawal and rehabilitation of working children and child labour monitoring.

 

Over the course of the next 18 months we will have prevented a total of 1020 children entering the labour market by assisting them to staying in school, 1000 will apply to primary school children. A total of 800 children between the ages of 15-17 will be withdrawn from child labour and readmitted to secondary school and vocational training. 16 and 17 years old will be provided with education on the hazards in the workplace. Capacity building of 220 families will take place and they will be introduced to savings and borrowing schemes and form links with micro financial institutions so that they may become self sufficient and economically viable.

 

In this way progress is being made on the eradication of child labour in the Kitui area. Our highly motivated and dedicated staff and volunteers are working tirelessly and endlessly on the project. Identification has taken place and now the implementation of the programme has begun. It is becoming more apparent daily that we have enormous challenges in front of us and one of the most pressing items on our agenda is the establishment of a Rescue Centre where we can collectively work with and for the children, their parents and guardians. Many of our 800 children present with psychological disturbances and difficulties in the transition back to school. This was something we had anticipated and it has been our dream to construct a Centre , a safe place for our children where they can be nurtured and develop their self-esteem, self-worth and their potential in life.