A Safe House for Sexual Violence Victims is set for construction in Nairobi’s Karura Ward, Westlands Constituency, at Mji wa Huruma which also houses the elderly.
This is after the Nairobi City-County signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS), and the National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) for the implementation of the project.
The County and NMS have already contributed slightly over US$ 175K out of the required US$ 771K and provided around 4,800 square meters of land. As per the MoU, NMS would also fund external works of the project to the tune of US$ 158K while NGAAF Nairobi County would contribute US$ 438K towards the facilitation of the project.
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All the parties involved have agreed to complete the safe house’s construction, installation, and outfitting within an acceptable timeline before handing it over to Nairobi County, which will be responsible for operations and administration.
Nairobi county government to construct at least 1 Safe House for Sexual Violence Victims in Nairobi’s 17 sub-counties
During the signing ceremony, Nairobi County Governor Ann Kananu reaffirmed her administration’s commitment to accelerating efforts to combat and eliminate all kinds of GBV in Nairobi County and ensuring perpetrators are dealt with in line with the law. She also promised to create at least one safe house in each of Nairobi’s 17 sub-counties to ensure the protection of victims while their cases are being prosecuted.
Furthermore, the Governor stated that she would guarantee that budgetary allocations for the facilities and witness protection programs are made. Esther Passaris, the Nairobi County women representative, on the other hand, expressed pride in the implementation of plans to create the first-ever safe home in Nairobi, which would serve as a safe haven for GBV survivors.
Members of the public seeking sanctuary at the safe house will not be charged any fees by the County. Wanjiru Kariuki, a nominated MCA, sponsored the motion to establish the safe houses.
