Prevention and response to gender-based violence during the Covid-19 period in the slums of Mathare

State : Completed | Number of beneficiaries : 300 children and women victims of violence in the slum

Project duration : 4 months

Location : Mathare slum, Kenya

Local partner

The Legacy Education Center (LEC) is a non-profit institution, created in 2010, designed to provide advocacy programs, empowerment of women and youth and educational opportunities to the most vulnerable children in the community of slum of Mathare. It is a community-based organization registered with the government of Kenya with the registration number KAS / CBO / 5/4/2012/495.

LEC has successfully developed several projects in the past including a sponsorship program, the Safisha Kijiji program (Keep your slum clean!), the return to school of all girls, the development of entrepreneurship skills and empowerment of children through sport.

Context

Mathare slum is Kenya’s largest slum, with many residents living below the poverty line. Most of these residents are unemployed and the few people who can access temporary jobs live hand to mouth. The inhabitants of this slum depend mainly on these temporary jobs: doing domestic work, mainly for women and working in factories and industries, mainly for men. Since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Kenya, most factories have been closed and in accordance with government guidelines on social distancing, many women have lost their domestic work.

With children at home and their parents unemployed, LEC has found very high rates of domestic violence within families. Many women suffer in silence as they are physically and emotionally abused in their homes. Children sometimes witness these acts of abuse without knowing what to do. This has led to the breakdown of marriages and the flight of women and their children from their homes. Children are usually also victims of domestic violence.

The mission

The overall objective is to prevent and respond to cases of domestic violence in the homes of the Mathare slum.

The specific objective is to sustainably reduce violence within households by strengthening knowledge about its negative effects and by providing access to psychosocial support and monitoring for families in the slum.

Activities

  • Raising awareness and strengthening knowledge on the effects of gender-based violence
  • Access for victims to psychosocial services such as counseling and therapeutic services (drawing, painting, reading, etc.)
  • Access for victims to medical aid and distribution of hygiene and food kits

Beneficiaries

Direct: 300 children and women victims of violence in the slum

Indirect: 1000 people, i.e. the entire community