Justice for Children and Youth

Results achieved as of end of the project (January 2017) include: (1) overall 1 304 justice and legal sector stakeholders (558 women) increased their understanding and strengthened their professional skills on issues related to child justice including in effective child representation child victim protection forensic child interviewing restorative justice and diversion and the rights of children and youth; (2) in total 8 708 children (more than 50% girls) in courts and schools directly benefited from project activities including through receiving pro bono legal aid and psychosocial support and participation in rights awareness programs; (3) indirectly the project reached approximately 8 000 children in courts communities and schools through the distribution of child-friendly rights education material; (4) 135 members from the three National Working Groups (NWGs) in Kenya Tanzania and Uganda participated in four regional forums (two in Kenya one each in Tanzania and Uganda) and two study missions (one to Canada the other to South Africa) that increased their knowledge and strengthened collaboration regarding child rights juvenile justice and the administration of justice; (5) through the technical assistance of 23 Canadian experts (15 women) 13 in-country missions contributed to strengthening institutional capacity and building the skills of justice system actors in areas related to legal aid administration of justice law reform and the rights of children and youth; and (6) the advocacy work of members of the three NWGs contributed to important legal reforms to the justice systems of the three beneficiary countries including the establishment of a new National Legal Aid Service in Kenya the tabling in parliament of a new Legal Aid Bill in Tanzania and an amendment to the Children Bill in Uganda.