ABOUT US
OUR STORY
Olturoto Children’s Village (OCV) an initiative of Kickstart Kids International was registered as a Charitable Children’s Institution (CCI) in Isinya, Kajiado County. OCV was opened on 26th June 2014 as a transition centre for abused, abandoned and neglected children. The children would be referred by local administration e.g. chiefs, the Government of Kenya’s Sub-county Children’s Office or other CCI’s and would often stay in OCV for a maximum of up to three years, before being reunified with their families.
This was achieved through Rescue, Empowerment and Reintegration (RER) methodology. At the heart of our work was the belief that all children belong in a family and as such we avoided long term stay beyond a reasonable period that would allow us to resolve the issue/s that caused the children to be separated from their families. All empowerment efforts were aimed at ensuring that we would eventually be placed/reintegrated back into a safe, stable and sustainable home environment.
Transition to Family-Based Care
In 2017, OCV became aware of the emerging care reform agenda in Kenya and decided to transition to a model of family and community-based care by the end of 2019. OCV realised it could build off the work of its existing reintegration programme. Using child participation techniques, and a tagline that “home is best”, OCV helped the children understand and own the process of reintegration. Each child had an individual care plan which was followed closely and updated as necessary.
UNICEF Recognition: Case study
One of our key achievements in Care Reforms was to have a case study on our work towards reintegration of orphaned and vulnerable children featured in both the Government of Kenya Care Reform Strategy and in a UNICEF Case Study pg 26 where we were cited as a good example of transformation of a children’s home or orphanage that successfully transitioned from providing institutional residential care to providing family-based care after reuniting children with their families.
We continue to be super excited and proud that our work is making an impact in Kenya and globally as well! Below is also an extract of the comments from the case study as featured in the Government of Kenya strategy.
