Clean Start Kenya
Partners
Clean Start was founded by Teresa Njoroge, a banker who was falsely accused, later
fully exonerated, of a financial crime and, in 2011, imprisoned with her three-month-old
daughter. A year spent in Nairobis maximum-security womens prison gave Teresa an
insight into the desperate circumstances of many of the women she met there; many of
whom were victims of acute poverty and a broken system and cultural norms that tend
to favor men, most caught in a revolving door of survival crime. Teresa wanted to work
with these women and their children towards hope and the opportunity of a second
chance by better preparing them for the precarious journey of reintegration back into
society.
Clean Start’s objectives are to support the smooth and successful reintegration of
women children and girls back into society post-release. Clean Start is now working with
and for formerly imprisoned women and girls and changing the future for scores of
extremely disadvantaged women serving prisons sentences in Kenya.
In Kenya, the law allows for an incarcerated mother to stay with her child in prison until
they attain the age of 4 unless it is in the best interest of the child that they remain
separated. There are 34 women prisons in Kenya hosting close to 500 children who are
accompanying their mothers. These children range from 0 -4 years of age.
The legal framework protecting these children is vast and comes with provision for
sufficient diet, clothing, healthcare, education, play and facilities necessary for all the
developmental needs of the child. However, with very little budget allocation and no
specific guidelines and structures to ensure the implementation of these laws and
policies, these children are left dependent on well-wishers.
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With no clear guidelines on the handling of the children in the prisons, every prison does
the best it can in child care. Some prisons have daycare facilities, most of which are
built and equipped by charitable organizations and well-wishers. Other prisons use a
room as the daycare. The room may not be equipped with toys and learning materials
or even painted in child friendly colors. The Daycare centers are run by a prison officer
and one of the inmates, “Mama Watoto” who acts as the nanny. The inmate is not a
mother to any of the children. Most of the caregivers do not have training in early
childhood development and may not be equipped to nurture the children. Seeing the
crucial role that a caregiver plays in the life of a child in the early years it is then
paramount to support caregivers so that they are able to offer the enabling environment
that the child needs to reach optimal development.
Clean Start has partnered with Kidogo, a social enterprise that offers quality child care
in informal settings. Our program is aimed at enhancing caregiving practices in the
prisons by training the officers and the nanny, who are the caregivers in Responsive
Care. We also offer parenting lessons to the mothers of the children. The program
sensitizes the caregivers on the need to intervene in the first 1000 days of the child,
equips them in knowledge on early childhood development, emphasizes the role of play
in the development of the child and also teaches on child abuse and its prevention.
Our work around early childhood development entails;
1. Enhancing caregiving practices in prisons by offering training to caregivers in
responsive care.
2. Provision of essential care packages for the children including learning and
playing materials, childcare items that include diapers, tissue paper, petroleum
jelly, soap, baby clothes and medical support.
3. Journeying with the children exiting the prison at age 4 towards a successful
reintegration and enrolment into primary school.
4. Advocating for the protection of their rights by pushing for the implementation of
policies regarding them.
5. By understanding childhood trauma and its effect in later years, our programs
are geared towards intervening in the first 1000 days.
Win for the Caregivers who improve their knowledge on Responsive Caregiving and
have a better understanding on handling the children.
Win for the institution which stands out as a model institution with quality child care
practices.
Win for the child as the recipient of better care, stands a higher chance of achieving
holistic optimal developmental milestones.
Other Partners
