Child Sex Exploitation in Kenya
Problem
Vulnerable Kenyan children are sexually exploited.
Kenya is a source, transit, and destination for commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) despite continued efforts by the Kenyan government to eliminate it. The supply chain of sex trafficking in Kenya is interlinked, with inland trafficking responding to high demands created by the child sex tourism industry on the coast. Victims are trafficked by intermediaries such as recruitment agents and taxi drivers or by people known to them, including their own families.
Solution
Estimate the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of CSEC populations.
Terre des Hommes Netherlands partnered with Kesho Kenya on the Building a Future project (TdH-BAF). As part of their Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) study, The Global Fund to End Modern Slavery (GFEMS) contracted NORC to assess whether TdH-BAF’s package of community interventions is leading to measurable change in knowledge, attitudes, and practices vis-à-vis CSEC in coastal Kenya. GFEMS also commissioned NORC to perform a separate prevalence study to obtain pre- and post-intervention point estimates of the count of CSEC victims in the coastal Kenyan counties of Mombasa, Kilifi, and Kwale.
Result
Baseline analysis shows high levels of CSEC.
The KAP and prevalence surveys have conducted baseline analysis and will estimate the changes from interventions in 2022. The KAP survey found that while CESC is viewed as a common problem, there is significant victim blaming and limited awareness of the effects of CSEC on victims. The prevalence survey estimated that over 6,000 children are currently engaged in CSEC in Kilifi, Kwale, and Mombasa, which is around 1.5 percent of the total child population.
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Project Leads
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Kareem Kysia
Program Area DirectorProject Director & Principal Investigator -
Erika V. Keaveney
Senior Research ScientistSenior Staff