Nairobi County to Spend Sh40 Million to Rehabilitate Street Children

The Nairobi county government has set aside Sh40 million for a rehabilitation program for street children and other vulnerable groups in the city.

Under the program, the county government plans to rescue and place at least 300 street children in child care facilities starting July.

Nairobi County Education executive Janet Ouko says Sh5 million will be spent in the first phase of the project, which will involve rescue, rehabilitation, and reintegration.

A further Sh3 million will go towards family reunification and integration, Sh2 million on supervised child care centers, and Sh2 million on trauma and therapy sessions.

The funds will be used to run four children’s homes in the county, including Makadara, Kayole, Shauri Moyo, and Joseph Kang’ethe, as well as complete the Ruai rehabilitation center.

“The allocation is meant to promote the rights of children and provide protection, by rescuing them from difficult circumstances, and improve the state of childcare facilities,” said Ouko.

The program is part of the county government’s efforts to reduce the number of street children in the capital city.

In 2016, the Consortium of Street Children estimated that there were more than 60,000 street children in Nairobi alone.