NAIROBI, Feb. 6 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has developed a comprehensive policy framework to strengthen protection of street families that have become an eyesore in major urban centers, officials said on Tuesday.
Cabinet secretary for devolution and planning, Eugene Wamalwa, said the national policy on street families' rehabilitation will ensure that homeless people are protected from vagaries of poverty, abuse and neglect.
"This policy will ensure that our marginalized and most vulnerable members of the society get access to basics of life," Wamalwa said during a workshop in Nairobi to educate key stakeholders on the draft street families policy.
An estimated 300,000 street children roam Kenya's major urban centers and rural towns in search of basic necessities like food.
Wamalwa noted that poverty, broken families and absence of social safety nets have made the situation worse.
"We expect the implementation of the policy will bring lasting solution to the challenge of street families through better funding to institutionalized rescue and rehabilitation of this neglected group," Wamalwa said.
The government will resuscitate street children rehabilitation programs that had earlier collapsed due to poor funding and weak institutional capacity, he said.
Kenya has borrowed international best practices to develop a national policy on street families' rehabilitation in order eradicate the social and environmental scourges linked to homelessness, Wamalwa said.
Also on Tuesday, Principal Secretary in charge of Special Programs Josephta Mukobe said a structured rescue and rehabilitation of street families is key to reducing crime and environmental pollution in cities.
"We need a policy framework to guide rehabilitation of street families and re-integrate them to our society. We can also harness social capital to find lasting solution to homelessness," Mukobe said,
A public-private partnership model is being explored to strengthen rehabilitation of street families, she said.
