Solidarity with girls in distress” is a programme of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa initiated by Br. Frank Ten Hoopen with the support of Dr. Sr. Lea Ackermann to empower children from families of commercial sex workers in Mombasa County of coast region. The programme started in April 2002.
The main goal of SOLGIDI is to provide opportunity to education and lead a normal accepted life to children of Commercial Sex workers (CSWs). The beneficiaries are mostly female children of CSWs up to the age of 18 years, while guardians and siblings become secondary beneficiaries. SOLGIDI contributes towards the improvement of the lifestyles of children by providing basic education and life skills.
The programme has a strategy that usually follow four different steps:
Provision of basic education
Identification of the beneficiaries
Provision of school fees and other requirements (books, uniforms, personal effects, etc)
Monitoring of the child in school
Report writing
Provision of support and care
Home Visits
Psychosocial support
Formation for primary and secondary beneficiaries through Life skills training
Provision of food supplements
Support groups for the guardians
Monitoring of the beneficiaries out of school
Organizational capacity and sustainability
Resource mobilization
Organizational capacity building
Review and update of Programme
Report writing
Networking and collaboration to increase service efficiency and effectiveness
Establish collaboration with other organization working children and CWS
Establish referral system for the client
Exchange and share resources
Participate in advocacy events for children