Preventing Gender-based Violence in South Sudan

IsraAID's team in Kenya currently runs two Child Resource Centers (CRCs) - one recently opened in Kalobeyei village II, and the other is in Kakuma IV, opened in 2016. Each center includes a safe space (outdoor and indoor area) and hosts an average of 150 children per day for 6 days a week, 8 hours per day – with a goal to double this number. They are run by 21 facilitators from both the refugee and host communities, who are trained by IsraAID and equipped with knowledge and tools to provide psychosocial support. The Centers provide a first response to children’s needs and an entry point for working with affected communities. The purpose is to support the resilience and wellbeing of children and young people through community-organized, structured activities conducted in a safe, child friendly, and stimulating environment. In Kalobeyei, IsraAID is the only organization providing integrated psycho-social support activities for children in village 2. 

Children in Kakuma and Kalobeyei face a myriad of challenges. The context of armed conflict, displacement, drought, and famine that they have come from and still face, exacerbates their protection needs. This is demonstrated in high levels of emotional distress/trauma in Children Resources Center (CRC), schools, and communities.

In November, a group of mothers from the Child Resource Center in Kalobeyei came together to clean up the outdoor space adjacent to the kids’ play space. They worked together for a couple of days, clearing the yard of stones and tree stumps. The IsraAID field team joined them in the project, ensuring that children attending the center are safe.

This community clean-up initiative followed another exciting moment for the Child Resource Center: a new hook-up directly to a water source! Before this renovation, staff members would carry jerrycans to and from the center each morning for use in cooking, cleaning, and in the bathroom. Now that the center has an active water tap, the parents are planning to plant a garden!

Between International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November) and Human Rights Day (10 December) IsraAID led Krav Maga (an Israeli form of self defence) classes for women and girls as part of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign. Irene, IsraAID Child Protection Officer, was the first to obtain basic Krav Maga training, and she then trained 5 female psychosocial support facilitators, and invited 32 teenage girls, 12 from Kakuma and 20 from Kalobeyei CRCs and trained them too.

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