Who We Are - scodarights.org

 HUMAN RIGHTS ADVOCACY PROGRAM

The Human Rights Advocacy and Governance program seeks to facilitate women's access to equality and justice through various means.

Key Components

• Legal Representation: Providing legal representation to women to ensure their rights are upheld.
• Self-Representation: Empowering women to represent themselves in legal matters.
• Strategic Impact Litigation (SIL): Engaging in strategic impact litigation to set new jurisprudence and create lasting legal precedents.
• Pro-Bono Lawyers' Scheme: Administering a scheme of pro-bono lawyers to provide free legal services to those in need.
• Alternative Dispute Resolution: Utilizing alternative dispute resolution mechanisms such as mediation and couple therapy to resolve conflicts amicably.
• Informal Justice System: Incorporating the informal justice system to ensure comprehensive access to justice

EDUCATION PROGRAM

Education gives children a chance to build a solid future. It is a crucial weapon in the battle against inequality and poverty, as well as extreme forms of exploitation such as child labor, human trafficking, and child prostitution.

SCODA's Education Program

Within the education program, SCODA ensures that children living in remote rural areas and children with special needs, such as children with disabilities, the girl-child, exploited, and orphaned children:

• Have access to early childhood education and development, primary and secondary education, and vocational training.

Strategies and Tools

This will be achieved through a number of processes and tools, including:

• Awareness Creation: Engaging in critical awareness creation to highlight problems facing our education sector and convince public opinion on the importance of education.
• Lobbying: Lobbying policymakers, development partners, and other educational institutions in various areas of education to deliver on Kenya’s promise to provide basic education for all.
• Campaigns and Advocacy: Conducting campaigns and advocacy for, and where possible facilitating access to education for special interest groups such as girls and women, children and people with disabilities, and youths in difficult circumstances, especially those from marginalized and disadvantaged communities.
• Enforcement of School Attendance Laws: Enforcing school attendance laws through legal awareness, advice, advocating for improvement of the general school or learning environment, as well as ensuring an adequate supply of teaching resources and facilities.

GENDER, CHILDREN AND SOCIAL INCLUSION PROGRAM

Child Labor, Child Prostitution, Child Trafficking, Child Neglect and Abandonment, and Child Sex Tourism

These are extreme forms of exploitation prevalent in Kenya and other East African countries. While primarily linked to poverty, social and cultural circumstances also play a significant role.

SCODA's Mission

SCODA aims to improve the quality of life for deprived children across the five counties and beyond, regardless of race, faith, or political orientation. We strive to ensure their rights, as laid down in The Children Act (Cap 586 Kenyan law), are protected and assured in conformance with UN conventions.

Our Objectives

• Increase Access to Services: We aim to increase access to and use of quality social and economic services for children in need within their communities.
• Prevent Violations: We work to prevent violations of children's rights and respond to emergency situations.
• Support Programs: SCODA supports all relevant programs and projects that create better opportunities and a supportive environment for children.

Combating Exploitation

With an integrated approach of prevention, shelter for victims, and prosecution of perpetrators, SCODA aims to end this serious violation of children's rights by:

• Rescuing and sheltering children from sexual abuse and exploitative child labor.
• Creating awareness on child rights and child abuse, particularly sexual abuse.
• Providing legal aid and medical support for abused children.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND ECONOMIC PROGRAM

This program aims to secure the natural assets of local and vulnerable communities in Siaya County by supporting and promoting due process rights. The increasing discoveries of minerals, oil, and gas present significant challenges for human rights, social justice, and sustainable development in Kenya.

Challenges

The increasing discoveries of minerals, oil, and gas pose great challenges for human rights, social justice, and sustainable development in Kenya. Violations of fundamental human rights, denial of access to environmental investments, failure to ensure equitable benefit sharing, denial of access to information, denial of opportunities for participation in decision-making, and denial of justice in environment-related matters are common challenges faced by local communities. These issues particularly affect the poor and marginalized, such as women, children, youth, the elderly, and minority ethnic groups, at the local, county, and national levels.

Commitment to Sustainability

We are committed to protecting our planet for future generations. From clean energy initiatives to sustainable agriculture, we are working to create a healthier, more sustainable world.

Economic Empowerment

There is a close alignment between the outcomes envisaged in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the outcomes of almost all community development efforts, whether they focus on issues of poverty, exclusion, inequality, lack of power, or discrimination. Community development is also recognized as a critical element in Kenya’s development path. The social pillar of Vision 2030, for instance, speaks to community development by seeking to create just, cohesive, and equitable social development.

SCODA's Focus

To realize the greatest development results for communities, SCODA focuses on stimulating, encouraging, aiding, and assisting local young women in improving their standards of living by promoting education, civic engagement, entrepreneurship, youth development, and information and communication technology (ICT).

Women Development Program Objectives

The objective of the Women Development Program is to enhance the standard of living of local young women in Kenya by promoting education, entrepreneurship, civic engagement, and information and communication technology (ICT).

HEALTH INTERVENTION

Under this strategic direction, SCODA will seek to improve access to health services and programs by using iMonitor ATM Kenya and the community systems strengthening approach. This approach aims to ensure community participation in the delivery of health services and programs.

Alignment with National, Regional, and Global Plans

SCODA will align its health programming with priorities set in national, regional, and global plans, including the Kenya AIDS Strategic Framework and the Kenya HIV Prevention Revolution Roadmap. This alignment ensures effective contribution to the national and regional response.

Key Result Areas

SCODA will focus on three key result areas to promote access to health programs:

1. Community Participation: Ensuring active community involvement in the delivery and management of health services.
2. Health Program Integration: Integrating health programs with existing national and regional health strategies to enhance effectiveness.
3. Monitoring and Evaluation: Implementing robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to track progress and impact.