Digni employees Hanna Sofie Johansen and Lilliann Våje are currently visiting projects and partners in Kenya. On Friday the 6th, they participated in the final day of a four-day workshop by the Norwegian Pentecostal Mission (NPM), one of Digni’s member organisations, and their partner organisations in Mozambique, Kenya, Eswatini, and Uganda. Hanna, head of the programme- and grants management team, gave a presentation of the ongoing processes towards a new grant application to Norad towards the end of this year.
The nearly 30 participants from NPM’s partners included both leaders and staff working with human resources management, finance, MERL (monitoring, evaluation, research, and learning), and programme activities like renewable energy, environment and climate, peace and reconciliation work, women’s, youth and children’s rights, and gender-based violence. Among the topics discussed during the week were member and partner assessments, networking and collaboration with other actors, advocacy work, sustainability in projects, procurement regulations, conflict of interest, and other issues related to financial management.
The following day, the Digni staff attended the inception meeting for a Joint Learning Project on Child Protection in Kenya and the border areas with Uganda. NPM’s partner organisation, the Free Pentecostal Fellowship of Kenya (FPFK) are the lead in this initiative, working together with Blue Cross Kenya, The Salvation Army Kenya, Bible Society Kenya, Pentacostal Churches of Uganda and Scripture Mission East Africa. In addition to the Digni-affiliated project partners, the project is connected to the Department of Psychology at the University of Nairobi and Department for International Relations at the United States International University in Kenya. Represented by Dr. Luke Odiemo, associate professor in Community Psychology and Dr. Mercy Kaburu, assistant professor in International Relations, these two research institutions will contribute to the projects with their expertise in developing programmes in the fields of community psychology and children’s protection in the cross-border area.
In the words of Joshua Kelele, Head of Programmes for Social Ministry in FPFK), the intention of the programme is to bring stakeholders and their approaches and strategies together and extend networks and partnerships for sustainability within the field of protecting children. The organisations all bring valuable experience and knowledge to the table.
Based on her experience as a social worker in the child protection field in Norway, Hanna was invited to introduce key approaches and considerations in child protection work. She focused on identifying risks and how enhancing protective factors not only at the individual level, but also within families and communities are necessary to reduce harm and increase resilience.