Projects
Our Project has 5 components that are inextricably linked, and upon your kind consideration and invitation for more deliberations, we shall be more than happy to provide a proposal centered on these components:
- Telephone technology – The telecommunications infrastructure provided by Telco Service providers for toll free line services will determine the feasibility of our expansion plan.
- Human Resources – The number of helpline counselors and staff as well as the extended hours of operations to 24/7.
- Training – Training hotline staff in relevant information and telephone counseling skills is crucial.
- Information Resources – We need to expand our referral list of relevant organizations and services, and an information resource that the general public counselors and case managers can access easily while taking a call.
- Data Management – The data collection tools provisions within the telecommunications infrastructure provided by Telco Service Providers will be a step towards documenting all the cases we come across digitally so that the data can be used to solve the problem.
In response to lack of legislation and information, ICMEC initiated a series of regional reports assessing the current mechanisms that exist for missing children around the world. MCK participated in the research:
- 2018 Global Missing Children’s Research Initiative- Kenya
- 2023 Multi Sectoral Response and Capacities Assessment (MRC) for the Development of an Inter Sectoral Response for the Prevention, Search & Location of Missing Children – Kenya.
The Directorate of Children’s Services (DCS) coordinates and supervises services aimed at promoting and protecting the wellbeing of children and their families in Kenya. Missing Child Kenya is a founding member of the TWG spearheaded by the DCS and has been working to develop a model framework on standard procedures for missing children.
In the years 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023, Missing Child Kenya has held commemorative events on May 25 honoring missing and abducted children while celebrating those who have been found and reunited with family. The forget-me-not flower is the symbol of International Missing Children’s Day. We have held campaigns where people are encouraged to share images of those who are still missing on all forms of media as well as celebrating stories of those who have been found. This has yielded several success stories of reunification in each of the years that we have marked the event.
- Three missing children were found and reunited with their families within 24 hours after their information was shared before the kick off of Mashemeji derby between AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia in May 2019. Each of the players who started the football match from both sides entered the pitch holding huge portraits of the missing children as a way of creating public awareness about missing children around the country. This was a collaborative campaign between Missing Child Kenya and the Kenya Premier League.
Missing Child Kenya is the 1st African charity to partner with Italian Soccer side AS Roma on the Missing Children social campaign in June 2019. With each player signing announcement the club made, a video was released that featured the faces and details of a number of children who were currently missing – with the goal of generating publicity that could result in someone, somewhere, offering valuable information about the whereabouts of the missing child. The campaign received very impressive response in terms of millions of views on the video links of missing children alongside the club’s new transfers with global media houses announcing the initiative. Two missing Kenyan children who featured in this social media campaign were found safe and reunited with their families.
In a bid to make our community outreach plans more sustainable, Missing Child Kenya has embarked on a project to install FIND A CHILD NOTICE BOARDS at high traffic public access areas (HUBS) to act as an information channel (SPOKES) for the surrounding areas. Our aim is to assist families that are seeking information on their lost children with a reference point for existing cases that have been already brought to the authorities within Kenya.
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West Chester University of Pennsylvania (WCU); a public research university in and around West Chester, Pennsylvania. The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and classified among “R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity”. Under Graduate Social Work Development Program, we have partnered in year 2022 and 2023 through their Study Abroad Programme which aims to give students an opportunity to complete a short term international field work engagement in a Kenyan Social Service Agency.
- Missing Child Kenya has embarked on a landmark
partnership with Italian Missing Children Institute that will provide support for forensic imaging, photographic manipulation techniques, facial reconstruction techniques, adult age progression and photo repair of their database of missing Kenyan children. The Italian Missing Children Institute is a service that puts the analysis methodologies of Forensic Anthropology at the disposal of missing children. The usefulness of applying this technique lies in being able to update the photos of the missing children every 2 years and, this way it is possible to circulate images consistent with the age of the missing and therefore make their search more effective.
BBC Africa Eye Documentary – Missing Child Kenya was part of a yearlong investigation by BBC Africa Eye which uncovered damning evidence of a thriving underground network in Kenya that snatches babies from their mothers and sells them for a profit. The documentary highlighted how the scourge of infertility in African culture has contributed to child trafficking. Following this expose, a team of officers and experts from the relevant Kenyan government agencies was constituted to exhaustively investigate and take the necessary action. Arrests and prosecutions from this expose were made and the Kenyan government continues to boost its efforts to fight child trafficking.
- Missing Child Kenya is the Convener of this collaborative venture uniting African member countries namely: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa, Ghana and Cameroon. AMCN brings together like-minded professionals working in the member countries with a goal of uniting the African community to find missing children through:
- Policy Reforms on Missing Children at Country and Regional Level
- Research – Evidence Generation
- Consultancy Support for Member Countries on set up of Missing Children Agencies.
- Capacity Building of Member Countries
- Collaborative Learning and Resource Centre
- Technology and Innovation
- Awareness creation on the issue of missing children
- Community of best practice through sharing of experiences and tools in the African context.
- Access to a network of specialists and international experts
Online child sexual abuse and online child sexual exploitation involve the use of information and communication technology as a means to sexually abuse and/or sexually exploit children. Grooming for sexual or criminal exploitation is a growing problem, particularly online, and is increasingly leading to child disappearances. From 2018, we have partnered with CA Kenya, Google and Meta (Facebook) on different events for online safety