NAIROBI, Kenya – On 13 August, the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) Africa and the African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) Regional Office concluded a landmark high-level meeting that forged a strategic alliance to reshape the continent’s approach to child protection and girls’ education. The gathering, held at the FAWE Regional Secretariat, represented a convergence of two organisations with complementary strengths and a shared determination to safeguard Africa’s most vulnerable children.
The meeting brought together delegations from both organisations for discussions that opened clear pathways for collaboration—from integrating child protection systems into schools to empowering girls as advocates for their own safety. The atmosphere was charged with a sense of shared purpose, reflecting the urgency of addressing the multiple threats facing African children, including abuse, neglect, exploitation, and gender-based violence.
The FAWE Africa delegation was led by Crispus Malenya, Safeguarding Officer, alongside Rose Athieno, Programme Officer; Zawadi Achieng, Student Intern; and Anastashia Irungu, Programme Assistant. The ANPPCAN delegation was represented by Bernard Morara, Country Director of the ANPPCAN Regional Office; Sophie Omutanyi, Programmes Manager; Natasha Akholi, Child Labour and Child Trafficking Programmes Coordinator; and Diana Naya, Program Officer.
This partnership brought together two organisations with deep roots in African child protection and education advocacy. ANPPCAN, a pan-African child rights organisation founded in 1986, had been instrumental in shaping child protection legislation across the continent, including advocacy that contributed to the formulation of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and Kenya’s Children Act . The organisation had supported thousands of children withdrawn from child labour, reintegrating them into education and providing vocational training opportunities .
FAWE Africa, meanwhile, had demonstrated remarkable success in creating safer learning environments through its Tuseme (“Let Us Speak Out”) approach, which used student-led clubs to empower learners to identify and address school-related gender-based violence . In recent projects across Malawi, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe, FAWE’s interventions led to dramatic reductions in violence incidents—from 15 cases per month to just 1 in some schools .
The discussions identified several key areas for joint action that would transform the landscape of child protection and education across Africa:
– Creating Safer Learning Environments: Both organisations committed to integrating comprehensive child protection systems into schools across the continent, ensuring that every child could learn without fear of violence, abuse, or exploitation.
– Advancing Safeguarding Practices: The partnership would strengthen safeguarding frameworks across both networks, building on FAWE’s existing safeguarding induction programmes led by Crispus Malenya and ANPPCAN’s extensive experience in child protection .
– Empowering Girls as Advocates: Recognising that girls must be at the centre of their own protection, the collaboration would build on FAWE’s proven approaches to student empowerment and leadership development.
– Protecting Children from Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation: The partnership would address the root causes of child vulnerability, including child labour, trafficking, and gender-based violence that kept millions of African children out of school.
ANPPCAN’s decades of experience in child protection—from establishing child rights clubs in schools to creating community-based organisations in urban slums—provided a strong foundation for this collaboration . The organisation had supported over 5,000 children with school levies, books, and uniforms in Kenya alone, while also building the capacity of local leaders, teachers, and parents to protect children’s rights .
FAWE’s expertise in creating safe, inclusive learning environments complemented ANPPCAN’s child protection focus. Through its work across 34 African countries, FAWE had demonstrated that when girls were empowered and schools were safe, educational outcomes improved dramatically . The Mother Groups initiative, which brought together community women to support girls’ education, successfully facilitated the re-admission of students who had dropped out .
This partnership marked an important step toward ensuring that every child, especially every girl, could learn and thrive free from harm. As the meeting concluded, both parties expressed strong commitment to translating their shared vision into concrete action.
The collaboration between FAWE Africa and ANPPCAN recognised that child protection and girls’ education were inextricably linked. Children could not learn if they were not safe, and girls could not thrive if their rights were not protected. By joining forces, these two organisations were building a stronger foundation for safeguarding Africa’s children.
The coming months would see the development of detailed joint action plans, drawing on the complementary strengths of both organisations to create lasting change for children across the continent. This partnership was not just about protecting children from harm—it was about building a future where every African child could realise their full potential.