Summary of Parent-Support Activities and Achievements in Kenya and Uganda

Summary of Parent-Support Activities and Achievements in Kenya and Uganda

In Uganda and Kenya, as in all other countries in the world, the COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges in preventing violence against children. Within the context of this humanitarian crisis, support from the Government of Japan sought to prevent the soaring prevalence of different forms of violence against children by scaling evidence-based parenting programmes – as cost effective interventions to protect children.

With support from the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and UNICEF Country Offices in Kenya and Uganda, financial support from the Government of Japan galvanized the abilities of the governments in Kenya and Uganda to capitalize on existing in-country parent-support strategies. In less than 2 years, each country was able to build or reinforce coordinating systems and assemble the technical bodies to facilitate consultation with a wide variety of stakeholders in order to then establish guidelines and content for national parenting programmes.

Parenting programmes and associated training materials were then piloted in different areas of each country in order to ensure effectiveness and cultural acceptability. Both countries are now positioned to deliver parent-support programmes at a national scale, extending what remains much-needed protection for children and their families.

Both Kenya and Uganda were able to circumnavigate several challenges in this process, most notably by building coordination mechanisms that are able to support a diversity of agendas in order to build culturally acceptable, evidence-informed parenting tools through consultation, consensus-building, and pre-testing in culturally and linguistically diverse regions. While their achievements are unique to their particular infrastructures and contexts, the approaches in Kenya and Uganda both reflect a meaningful engagement with current evidence that underlines the importance of standardized manuals and training in order to ensure programme fidelity and high-quality implementation.

Going forward, additional financial and technical support are required to enable the governments in Kenya and Uganda to sustain the implementation of parenting programme and thus of their national violence against children prevention strategies. The positive outcomes stand to reach beyond families and communities in Kenya and Uganda: The lessons learned have stimulated cross-country discussions, and also stand to inform other countries about to begin the process of identifying and scaling-up national parenting support programmes.