Kenya Country Case Study: Child Rights

The Kenya country case study examines 12 project interventions as part of a broader evaluation of Norwegian and Swedish aid interventions in support of child rights.  The report finds an improving legal and policy framework with regard to child rights in Kenya and highlights the role of Kenyan CSOs in achieving this. Notable progress is also found in service provision for children with the introduction of free primary education in 2003, the cash transfer programme as from 2004. The authors also find that a functioning child protection system is under construction but needs further development to be sustainable.

Thr report goes in to discuss the relative merits of different approaches to donor support for child rights. It examines:

1. State level versus civil society support 
The authors find that a functioning and sustainable child protection system can only
be state-based. However, state-to-state cooperation tends to move slowly. Therefore a combination of state-to-state cooperation and intervention through CSOs is recommnded

2. Mainstreaming versus targetted interventions in favour of children
The comparatively merits of targeted interventions are quick results while the main weaknesses are
limited coverage, short duration and low sustainability. By contrast, mainstreaming is slower in producing
results and more resource-demanding, though with better prospects of long-term sustainability.
Again it is recommended, therefore, to combine the two approaches.