Child Exclusion Among Internally Displaced Populations in Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces of Kenya

Globally, over 25 million people are displaced within their own countries by conflicts or human rights violations. In Kenya, thousands of families are increasingly being displaced by the effect of inter-ethnic violence, environmental disasters and forced government eviction from forest reserves. The majority of these displaced communities end up squatting in informal settlements in the nearby urban centres or at the fringes of the forest zone where they are exposed to extreme poverty and deprivation. Since almost all the displaced families originate from the rural areas, the act of displacement shatters the family-based rural economy when they seek refuge in towns. Internally displaced children face many risks due to the violence and uncertainty surrounding both their familys flight and their life in the place of refuge. This report discusses the findings of the Child Exclusion Survey conducted among the internally displaced in Rift Valley and Nyanza provinces between January 2007 and August 2007. The main objective of the study was to examine the extent of child exclusion among IDPs in Kenya in relation to attaining the ideals of the 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Millennium Development Goals.