What we do
We welcome and appreciate partnership efforts in collaborations, kind, funding, donations, or any other form that will work towards uplifting families. Kindly email us or use our contacts as indicated on our contacts page:
What we do
Building families through Mediation, Counseling, and Economic Support: thus making families strong and resilient to address the socio-economic issues that they face.
Child Care within Communities: thus empowering families and communities with the tools to protect our children; who are our future. We also implement programs that enhance child protection and safety.
Combating Child Marriage, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and Child Labour: thus protecting children from harmful practices. As a result, children enjoy their childhood and develop holistically and healthily transit into adulthood.
Education Support and Youth Empowerment: reaching children and youth in need of support at different levels of education and with life skills. This enables them to gain useful competencies for their future and also boosts financial self-reliance.
Aid for the Elderly: it is our collective responsibility to care for the elderly in our community. We provide psycho-social support to the elderly through food aid and assisting their support groups.
Our Focus
Why focus on children?
In a country that has 53% of her population as children, one thing that is certain is that child protection must be championed for. It has been established that 9.1% of children are at risk of separation. Therefore, concerted efforts must be put in place to protect this vulnerable category of children and also shield those that are not affected; so that they do not fall into this category. Children are our future and they shape our tomorrow. Raising them well in secure family environments guarantees our future as a society thus Child Protection is one of our objectives at DUA-Kenya.
Why focus on the Elderly?
Transiting into the Elderly stage of life also brings about its own challenges including: diminishing physical strengths as well as income in some cases, medical and health challenges, and, in some cases, being deserted by one’s family. This particular group comprises of 6% of our population. They require support so that they can access resources that are needed for them to lead gainful life and live healthy. DUA-Kenya has therefore, established interventions that are aimed at empowering this category of people.
Why focus on families and communities?
The family is the basic unit of our society. The socio-economicchallenges that families face put the well-being of our future as a
society, at risk. It is therefore paramount to mitigate these
challenges. This forms the background to which DUA-Kenya was
formed; that is to alleviate family challenges.
DUA-Kenya envisions a society that is well able to address the
issues that may cause dysfunction in families. We do this by
supporting families and building their capacities. Our interventions
are aimed at supporting families as whole, children, youth, the
elderly and communities.
Why focus on the Youth?
After the children are grown, they become our Youth. The youthform 29% of our population. This is the bulk of our society and
they need our collective support to confront the challenges of
unemployment, increasing cost of living, single parenthood, the
need to grow and stabilize their families, need for social
acceptance, need for mentorship, and other life issues. This
group of people need support in order to maneuver their
situations and to build stronger communities. This also forms one
of our objectives at DUA-Kenya; that is to reach out, support and
empower our youth.
Simaloi’s wish
11-year-old Simaloi hails from Kajiado County. She is brought up in a family of nine and she is the fourth born. Her parents struggle to make a living bearing in mind their nomadic lifestyle and their huge family as they also look after several of their grandchildren born to Simaloi’s older siblings. Her elder sister, like many other young girls in Simaloi’s village was married off at the age of 17 years, to a man three times her age and she was also subjected to Female Genital Mutilation, as was the tradition. Simaloi’s sister was rescued by some well-wishers and taken back to school thus, her two children were left under the care of Simaloi’s parents.
Sometimes, Simaloi’s parents quarrel and have fights which she feels would be easily addressed should they come together and discuss. She also feels that should her family get support to meet some of their expenses at home including school fees, some of their problems would end.
Similarly, one of Simaloi’s elder siblings expressed, “getting a second chance to go back to school would be miraculous and I would use this chance well to advance my life and become a teacher in future’. Another sibling stated, ‘if only I could get some financial support to start a charcoal selling business! Surely, I could use the profit I get to support my children who are living with their grandparents’.
On the other hand, Simaloi’s parents, who are elderly but have not yet reached the required age to access the Government’s Cash Transfer to Elderly Persons’ program, wish for support to keep raising their younger children and grandchildren who are under their care. ‘If only someone could accord us
financial support to build an extra room for these boys who are almost becoming teenagers because, they need to have a separate room from the younger female children. If only someone could give us support to pay for their fees and probably buy us some goats also, which we could manage to generate income for the family’.
Simaloi believes that if the issues that her family faces were to be addressed, her environment would be better as she would enjoy school, stop worrying and be happier. This wish is common in many children across the county. The question to all of us is, what AM I going to do about it? What are YOU going to do about it? What are WE going to do about it?