Our Commitment
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Child Protection (CP) are core, interconnected components of KKCF’s programming. Our approach actively engages investees, stakeholders, and community members to address the root causes of both GBV and risks to children’s safety. We facilitate inclusive capital deployment to ensure equal and safe opportunities for all—men, women, children, and youth from refugee and Turkana communities—to shape a more equitable private sector ecosystem.
Since 2024, we have expanded our GBV and Child Protection work to go beyond mere compliance. We are actively integrating prevention, capacity building, and coordinated response into our engagement with businesses, schools, health institutions, and community structures throughout Turkana County and Kakuma Refugee Camp.
The Challenge We’re Tackling
Recent data paints a stark picture of the risks faced by women and children in the regions where we work, underscoring the urgency of our interventions.
- 📊 42% of women aged 15–49 in Turkana County have experienced physical violence in their lifetime, a figure that remains one of the highest in Kenya and significantly above the national average. (Source: Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) 2022-2023)
- 📊 Across Kenya, only 1 in 4 women who experience physical or sexual violence seek help from any source, highlighting a persistent gap in survivor support systems and access to justice. (Source: KDHS 2022-2023)
- 📊 Children constitute approximately 58% of the nearly 300,000 refugees and asylum-seekers in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, forming a vast population exposed to heightened risks of abuse, neglect, and exploitation. (Source: UNHCR Population Data, Q1 2025)
Underlying causes such as deep-seated poverty, gender inequality, barriers to legal redress, and a lack of robust safeguarding structures make GBV and CP persistent threats. Women and children involved in business supply chains, informal labor, and education and healthcare settings remain particularly vulnerable.
Understanding the Issues
Gender-Based Violence (GBV) is an umbrella term for any harmful act perpetrated against a person’s will and based on socially ascribed gender differences. While women and girls are disproportionately affected, its devastating impact extends to entire families. It includes acts that inflict physical, sexual, or mental harm, threats, coercion, and other deprivations of liberty.
Closely linked to GBV, Child Protection (CP) involves preventing and responding to abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence against children. In the contexts where we work, this includes specific risks like child labor, trafficking, early marriage, defilement, and the physical and emotional harm that results from witnessing domestic violence. Our work recognizes that a threat to a woman’s safety is often a direct threat to her child’s safety and well-being.
Our Strategic Approach.
We work across five key pillars to address GBV and strengthen Child Protection:
- Mainstreaming GBV and CP in Investments
- Conducting detailed GBV and Child Protection risk assessments for all KKCF investees.
- Supporting our partners to develop robust safeguarding policies, confidential reporting procedures, and effective grievance mechanisms.
- Providing tailored support based on sector-specific risks, whether in waste management, education, agribusiness, or other industries.
- Capacity Building & Training
- Facilitating targeted GBV and CP Awareness Trainings, such as our December 2024 session for teachers, health workers, and businesses in Kakuma.
- Working with partners to develop actionable plans that operationalize this learning within their day-to-day business operations and service delivery.
- Strengthening Multisectoral Coordination
- Convening critical platforms like the Kakuma Multisectoral GBV and CP Forum in December 2024, which brought together the judiciary, UNHCR, local administrators, civil society organizations, and law enforcement for the first time in this manner.
- Initiating cross-sector collaboration to strengthen referral pathways and rescue support for survivors.
- Planning the expansion of this crucial dialogue to a Turkana-wide CP &GBV multisectoral forum in July 2025.
- Recognition & Advocacy
- Launching the Turkana Angels Recognition Awards to spotlight businesses and individuals making outstanding contributions to youth and child protection.
- Actively participating in global and local campaigns, including the 16 Days of Activism, to amplify community voices and drive systemic change.
- Monitoring, Learning & Impact
- Holding regular reflection sessions with our partners to track progress, identify challenges, and adapt our approach.
- Intentionally linking our safeguarding work to wider Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) frameworks within KKCF programming.
Voices from the Ground
“This training helped us see our role as not just teachers, but protectors of children in our care.”— Board of Management Member, Host Community School
“The Forum gave us a chance to sit with police, judiciary, and the county team. This has never happened before. It builds trust and makes the system work for survivors.”— Community-Based Organization Leader, Kakuma
GBV and Child Protection Concerns in Turkana and Kakuma
While implementing KKCF’s work across businesses, schools, and community spaces in Turkana County and Kakuma, we remain alert to potential Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Child Protection (CP) concerns that may be present — even if not always visible or formally reported.
These issues often exist beneath the surface — normalized, hidden by stigma, or misunderstood. Our work with investees includes creating safe spaces for disclosure, raising awareness, and building trust and capacity to respond effectively.
Below are some of the key risks and concerns that may arise during implementation:
1.Physical Abuse
There may be cases — particularly affecting women in informal employment like waste picking or domestic work — where individuals experience physical harm (e.g., beatings, slaps, or injuries). These incidents may go unreported due to fear, social pressure, or lack of access to support.
2. Sexual Harassment or Exploitation
Workplaces with unequal power dynamics — such as between employers and junior staff or landlords and tenants — may create conditions where sexual harassment, coercion, or abuse can occur. These incidents are often difficult to detect and may remain hidden due to shame or fear of retaliation.
3. Psychological and Emotional Abuse
Some workers — especially women and youth — may face:
- Verbal threats and intimidation
- Public shaming or bullying by peers or supervisors
- Emotional manipulation, coercion, or blackmail
Such forms of abuse can significantly impact mental health, job performance, and self-esteem, yet often go unnoticed without appropriate safeguards in place.
4. Economic Abuse
Concerns have also emerged around economic control or exploitation, including:
- Withholding or unfair deductions of wages
- Denying individuals (especially women) control over their own income
- Financial threats used to discourage reporting or leaving abusive situations
Women running small businesses may also be at risk of financial manipulation or control by partners or others in positions of influence.
Child Protection Risks
Child protection concerns may appear in business operations, schools, and household enterprises. These include:
Child Labour
- Children helping in family-run waste, retail, or livestock businesses during school hours
- Adolescent girls performing domestic tasks in unsafe or exploitative environments
- Children engaged in informal work without supervision or protections
Neglect and Emotional Harm
- Lack of child-safe spaces in workplaces
- Use of corporal punishment in schools or homes
- Emotional neglect, particularly among displaced children lacking consistent caregivers
Sexual Exploitation
In some instances, vulnerable children and adolescents may be at risk of grooming, exploitation, or transactional sex, especially in settings where poverty, displacement, and weak protective systems intersect.
Kakuma and Kalobeyei are unique, complex environments — shaped by displacement, poverty, cultural diversity, and limited systems of protection. Through our engagement with businesses, schools, and community actors, KKCF has identified several key drivers of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Child Protection (CP) concerns that continue to affect women, children, and other vulnerable groups. Here’s what we see on the ground:
Gender Inequality and Power Gaps
Many harmful practices are rooted in deep-seated beliefs about gender roles. In some cases:
- Women and girls are expected to stay silent or endure abuse
- Boys are taught to lead, dominate, or suppress emotions
- Girls may be denied education or pushed into early marriage
Poverty and Financial Dependence
When families lack income, the risks increase:
- Women may stay in abusive situations to protect their livelihood
- Children are sent to work instead of school
- Some girls and young women are exploited in exchange for basic needs like food or rent
Weak Protection Systems
In Kakuma, even when abuse is reported, survivors often face challenges:
- Fear of stigma or not being believed
- Limited access to police, courts, or rescue services
- Community pressure to “solve issues quietly” instead of seeking justice
Trauma from Conflict and Displacement
Many refugee families have experienced war, violence, or loss:
- This trauma can lead to unhealthy coping mechanisms, including aggression
- Children separated from family may be more vulnerable to abuse
- Refugee youth often lack trusted adults or support networks
Harmful Social Norms and Low Awareness
Sometimes, violence is normalized and not even recognized as abuse:
- Beating children is often seen as “discipline”
- Verbal abuse at home or work goes unnoticed
- Sexual harassment is underreported due to shame or fear
Unsafe Work and Business Environments
In the businesses we work with, we’ve seen:
- Child labour, especially in family-owned or informal businesses
- No safe spaces for young children, nursing mothers, or survivors
- A lack of clear policies or reporting procedures when harm occurs
Gaps in Support and Referrals
Even when people speak up, they don’t always know where to turn:
- Survivors need safe shelters, counselling, and medical help
- Children in danger need emergency response and case management
- Many communities lack coordinated services or don’t trust the system
At KKCF, we provide practical, context-specific technical assistance to businesses, schools, and key stakeholders to address Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Child Protection (CP) risks in Kakuma and Turkana County. Our approach is grounded in accountability, learning, and partnerships — ensuring every intervention drives lasting impact.
Tailored Technical Assistance
No two businesses are the same — that’s why our support is customized to fit each investee’s structure, size, and risk profile:
- Customized Technical Assistance for high-risk or high-potential businesses
- Wholesale Technical Assistance to cooperatives and groups of investees in similar sectors
- Support in developing and updating Safeguarding Policies, Reporting Mechanisms, and Code of Conducts
Capacity Building & Safeguarding Trainings
We strengthen awareness and institutional capacity through:
- Safeguarding & GBV/CP Awareness Trainings for businesses, educators, and healthcare providers
- Codes of Conduct and safeguarding protocols for organizations and staff
- Development and dissemination of SGBV Awareness Briefs and user-friendly toolkits
- Peer learning sessions and onboarding resources to normalize safeguarding across sectors
Risk Assessments & Safeguarding Support
We identify and mitigate risks in real-time with:
- Gender and Child Protection Risk Assessments across investees
- Co-creation of Gender Action Plans and Safeguarding Improvement Plans
- Gender Audits and safeguarding maturity reviews
- Integration of protection actions into operational frameworks
Stakeholder Engagement & Coordination
We collaborate across sectors to enhance protection systems:
- Active engagement with county governments, UNHCR, CSOs, judiciary, and local police
- Participating in Monthly GBV and Child Protection working groups organized
- Facilitation of multisectoral forums to strengthen response coordination (e.g. Kakuma GBV/CP Forum, Turkana Forum July 2025)
- Support to Boards of Management (BOMs) in KKCF-supported schools
- Community-level dialogues to localize GBV/CP prevention efforts
Tools, Resources & Technical Assistance
We equip businesses with the tools they need to take action:
- Gender & Safeguarding Toolkits, sector-specific and simplified for uptake
- Customized Technical Assistance tailored to individual investee needs
- Wholesale Technical Support to business groups and cooperatives
- Access to Gender Policy Briefs, compliance guides, and safeguarding templates
Monitoring, Metrics & Accountability
We help investees move from intention to measurable impact:
- Tracking of Safeguarding & Gender Metrics aligned with performance goals
- Integration of gender and CP indicators into routine business monitoring
- Ongoing Monitoring & Performance Reviews with clear benchmarks
- Profiling of investees to document successes and spotlight champions
- Evidence-backed insights shared to inform policy, learning, and donor reporting
Leadership, Learning & Recognition
We nurture a culture of protection through recognition and shared learning:
- Support for thoughtful leadership on GBV/CP across all levels
- Documentation of good practices and field-based lessons
- Recognition through the Turkana Angels Awards for businesses prioritizing protection
- Participation in campaigns and knowledge events such as 16 Days of Activism
Agency | CONTACTS/TOLL NUMBER |
Local Institutions in Turkana West
Members of the Gender-Sector Working Group | |
National GBV hotline | 1195 |
Counselling hotline | 1190 |
UNHCR toll-free number | 1517 |
Danish Refugee Council | 0800720309 |
Tele counselling AMANI counselling Center | 00800-720600 |
Childline | 1196 |
LVCT toll-free number | 0800720121 |