Children provided with emergency care in Kigoma

Sophia Kamali, a married woman and a mother of two children aged 24 and 13, lives in a quiet area of Kasulu town, Kigoma Region. She works for a local NGO as a community health worker raising awareness on reproductive health. In her spare time, she works in her vegetable garden and volunteers as a facilitator in parent group meetings raising awareness on positive parenting skills.

Ms. Kamali is among 11 ‘Fit Persons’ in Kasulu Town Council’s child protection system, who have been supported by the local government through UNICEF. Fit Persons, and in some cases, Fit Families (in the cases of married couples), provide emergency family-based care to children who cannot live with their parents for reasons including abuse, inability to support, or abandonment. This short-term alternative care arrangement is part of the case management of the District Social Welfare Officer.

Ms. Kamali lost her mother when she was just a year old. She and her 7-month-old sister were left with her father who was not able to provide for them. The girls were taken care of by several extended family members in poor conditions with little or nothing to eat. “I understand what children go through in cases of abuse, or where parents are unable to provide care, or in cases of abandonment, as I have been through the same,” says Kamali. Over the past four years, she has accommodated 26 children in her home.

The Fit Families programme was incorporated into Kasulu Town Council’s child protection system prior to the implementation of the Kigoma Joint Programme (KJP) that it is now a part of under the outcome on Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC).

Since the onset of the Joint Programme for Kigoma in 2017, 56 Fit Families have hosted 117 children across the four districts (Kasulu Town Council, Kasulu District Council, Kibondo District and Kakonko District). Fit families are recruited and trained by District Social Welfare Officers using guidelines and training packs developed by the Department of Social Welfare (Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children). Financial support is provided to fit persons to support children in their care.