Patrizio Paoletti Foundation for the children of Kenya

Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti is a partner and co-financier of a project to ensure protection and psychological well-being for children in Kenya, while also contributing to reducing educational poverty and enhancing skills. For a fairer and more sustainable future.

Global health at the center

Well-being, in its personal and social dimensions, is at the core of all Patrizio Paoletti Foundation programs. We promote it through an approach that addresses some social determinants of health, such as the socio-economic context, the environment, lifestyles, education, and access to school and health services. This is the heart of Global Health, which, according to our National Institute of Health, is based on “the right of every person (women, men, children, and the elderly) to be physically, psychologically, and socially well and to live in a world free from health, economic, social, political, cultural, and environmental inequalities,” aiming for a total state of well-being that goes “beyond physical well-being and beyond national borders.”

Global Health is a dynamic concept. It therefore does not only focus on external aspects but also embraces a path of awareness and care of one’s inner dimensions—affective, mental, and spiritual—essential elements for the balance and fulfillment of the individual.

This approach is fully aligned with the WHO framework on health determinants, highlighting how socio-economic, psychological, educational, and environmental factors directly influence the development and well-being of new generations. Today we know that the interconnection of all these factors (environmental and individual) not only affects the neurobiological development of the individual but can also activate specific epigenetic processes, and shapes the future of individual and collective health and well-being.

The situation of children in Kenya, between poverty and child labor

The project in Kenya takes place in Nairobi, one of the cities with the largest informal settlements in the world, where about 60% of the 5 million inhabitants live in extreme precariousness.

In the country, about 18% of the population survives on less than $1.90 per day, and the school dropout rate reaches 20.7%, often due to early marriages, teenage pregnancies, and child labor. It is estimated that around 300,000 children aged 5 to 14 work up to 12 hours a day for less than two dollars, while 60,000 live on the streets. Many of them end up trapped in crime and prostitution circuits in an attempt to survive. Another widespread issue is family abandonment or separation, often resulting from severe economic difficulties, parental substance abuse, neglect, conflicts, or situations of abuse.

 

 

New Life for Children and Patrizio Paoletti Foundation together in Kenya

New Life For Children is the lead organization of the project in Kenya, of which Patrizio Paoletti Foundation is a partner and co-financier. The project in Kenya involves 185 minors aged 3 to 18 who access the Shelter Children’s Home, 240 students of St. Stephen Preparatory School, 15 teachers, and 29 social workers.

The project, like the one in Brazil, aims to improve the quality of life and future of vulnerable minors through integrated interventions that promote protection, psychological well-being, and the reduction of educational poverty, providing them with a safe, stimulating, and supportive environment.

Socio-affective pathways and skills enhancement

Specifically, measures are adopted to strengthen child protection through the implementation of protection standards, educator training, and the adoption of socio-affective pathways aimed at promoting emotional safety and the development of interpersonal skills. At the same time, structured psychological support helps children and adolescents overcome trauma related to abandonment and build a more conscious identity, facilitating their reintegration into safe family contexts.

The project also works to combat educational poverty through strengthening teachers’ pedagogical skills via the Teachers Outreach program, supporting school completion and creating professional training opportunities.

Providing young people with the tools to access the labor market means improving their future, but also contributing to the construction of a fairer and more sustainable society. A society where every individual can fully develop their potential and contribute to collective well-being.

Specific project activities

Among the various project activities, we highlight:

• Development of a Child Protection Policy establishing safety standards and procedures at the Shelter Children’s Home
• Training for teachers at St. Stephen Preparatory School and Shelter Children’s Home staff on Child Protection
• Pedagogical training in Teachers Outreach for teachers and staff to enhance the educational role
• Socio-affective awareness activities for students of St. Stephen Preparatory School and minors at the Shelter Children’s Home
• Psychological support for minors at the Shelter Children’s Home to address trauma from family separation
• Creation of a Procedure for the safe reintegration of minors into their families of origin or alternative contexts
• Support for approximately 20 reintegrations following the new procedures
• Post-reintegration monitoring with social workers and professionals
• Scholarships for adolescents at the Shelter Children’s Home to complete their schooling
• Professional training for young people at the Shelter Children’s Home to enter the labor market
• Support for employment insertion through career guidance and internship opportunities.

J.H., project counselor providing psychological support to minors at the Shelter Children’s Home, testifies:

The children are willing to be helped in facing the problems that concern them. This indicates that they have begun to be aware of themselves, starting to share their problems, which is a good sign of personal growth.

Marco Benini, head of educational programs at Patrizio Paoletti Foundation, with particular focus on fragile and vulnerable contexts, in Italy and abroad, declares:

International cooperation is a vast field: we focus on projects of protection, support, and care for the youngest and most vulnerable, where global health and personal and collective well-being are at the center of our action. Through psychological support, professional training, and socio-affective pathways, we help girls and boys not remain prisoners of trauma, abandonment, or difficult environments. We try to grow together, rebuild bonds, recover meanings, and provide tools so that girls and boys can, in the future, contribute to a more just and supportive society, beyond the conflicts and suffering they have experienced.