Children with disabilities are at a higher risk of violence, abuse or exploitation due to the multiple barriers that prevent them from protecting themselves or reporting incidents of abuse.
We, therefore, work with all our partners to improve and support local safeguarding practices and ensure the protection of children in the areas where we work.
We have spent the last four years working with our partner ANDY in Kenya to build their capacity to safeguard younger children with disabilities. Prior to 2016, much of ANDY’s work in Kenya had focused on supporting young people. However, ANDY were increasingly looking for ways to work with younger children with disabilities, particularly as they were identifying large numbers of children who were out of school. ANDY sought Able Child Africa’s support to include children with disabilities in their five-year strategy, and together we developed new child protection and safeguarding policy for the organisation.
The full involvement of both ANDY and Able Child Africa in this process ensured that both national and international standards were considered. Crucially, we were able to apply our extensive experience and knowledge of the considerations needed for inclusive safeguarding, specifically for children with disabilities.
As with all our partners, Able Child Africa continues to provide annual training and support on inclusive child safeguarding to the ANDY team as part of our continued capacity-building support. Able Child Africa is proud of ANDY’s commitment to inclusive safeguarding for children with disabilities. They have gone above and beyond in ensuring that the needs of children with disabilities are fully considered in their work, something that sets them apart as an organisation that is ahead of a growing shift towards ‘inclusive’ safeguarding.
