Kids Safe Project

After working with many grassroots organizations, we recognized that many of the caregivers did not have a clear understanding of child protection issues. ICRI saw a need to develop a program that would provide necessary tools and skills to people working with vulnerable children with the goal of helping community social movements to use a Rights Based Approach in addressing the needs of children in their communities. ICRI has trained more than 30 grassroots organizations since 2008.

There are many ambiguities and conflicting social and cultural norms and practices about how to raise children in Africa. Such sociocultural conflicts include Female Genital Cutting (FGC), use of corporal punishment in schools and in the households, early marriages, girl-child education, child labor, among other issues.

Our Kids Safe Project provides an opportunity for grassroots leaders to understand the rights of the child and to question taken for granted assumptions, attitudes and practices about children. Our training program breaks down the Rights Based Approach to simple “How To” steps that provide the communities with tools and information that can help them contextualize the issues of child abuse prevention and child protection in their communities.

The training addresses such issues as:

Types of child abuse,
Myths surrounding child abuse,
Development of child protection policies
How to prevent and report child abuse.

Results from our training show a better understanding of child rights and improved attitudes by the trainees on what their responsibilities as community leaders are in ensuring the rights of children in the community.