Hope Beyond Bars

Project Proposal Summary

Project title:  Hope Beyond Bars (HBB): For children of incarcerated mothers, Mothers in prison and Juvenile offenders in Kenya.

Hope Beyond Bars is a three-pronged project that seeks to touch the lives of people in prisons (behind bars) in Kenya and initially focusing on (i) Children of incarcerated mothers, (ii) Mothers in prisons and (iii) Juvenile offenders. The project was conceived and spearheaded by Talent Search Foundation (and partners) in collaboration with the Kenya Prisons Service.

Talent Search Foundation is a non-governmental organization duly registered in Kenya and committed to bolstering hopes of self-actualization and a better tomorrow for many in our communities. This we do by purposing to Discover, Promote, Nurture and Support Talents, Creativity, Skills and other God-given gifts through Education, Creativity, Mentorship/ Empowerment, Sports, Extra-Curricular activities, Arts, Sciences and Advocacy among others.

Below is a synopsis of each of the 3 initial areas of focus;

(i) CHILDREN OF INCARCERATED MOTHERS

Children of incarcerated mothers in Kenya face numerous problems that can negatively impact their development and well-being. The incarceration of a mother can be a traumatic experience for a child, leading to emotional and psychological distress as well as financial and social difficulties. It’s important to note that under the existing laws of Kenya that govern the operations of the Kenya Prisons Services, children of mothers in prison aged 4 years and below are in the hands of the Kenya Prisons Services while those who have attained beyond 4 years are removed from prison compounds and re-united with biological or foster families while their mothers remain in prisons. As discussed with Kenya Prisons Services, the category that presents the most challenges is those who have been removed (or are to be removed) from prison compounds after attaining beyond 4 years of age. This is because as it stands, no law is in place to legislate about the wellbeing of these children. It’s also worth noting that the children  aged 4 years and below, notwithstanding the fact that they are legally are under the prisons’ authorities,  do also sometimes face unique challenges due to many factors including but not limited to social exclusion and hardships occasioned by inadequate government budgets. So basically regardless of the categories they fall into, all these children need a touch of humanity. From a general perspective, here are some of the most pressing problems faced by children of incarcerated mothers in Kenya:

Living within the walls of the prison: Children of incarcerated mothers below certain ages are forced to live within the walls of the prison, often characterized by tough prison rules and regulations thus making the child feel that he or she too is a prisoner. This can impact the child negatively. It’s important to make the child feel appreciated by the rest of the community and that he or she is indeed free. For the record, the child is not in the prison compound because of committing any crime, it’s simply because the mother is in prison.

• Stigmatization: Children of incarcerated mothers are often stigmatized and discriminated against due to the social stigma attached to having a parent in prison. This can lead to feelings of shame and isolation, making it difficult for them to form healthy relationships with peers and adults. Stigmatization may also lead to such children developing suicidal thoughts.

• Separation from their mothers: Children of incarcerated mothers are often separated from their mothers, sometimes for years, and are forced to live with other family members, guardians or in children’s homes. This can lead to feelings of abandonment, mistreatment, insecurity, anxiety, confusion and wayward thoughts which can negatively affect their mental health and well-being, including turning rebellious.

• Educational difficulties: Children of incarcerated mothers often face educational difficulties due to the disruption of their schooling caused by their mother’s incarceration. Many of them do not have proper access to education and the environment to grow up like a normal child including the ability to participate in various children games. They may also experience discrimination from teachers and other students, leading to poor academic performance and lower educational aspirations.

• Exposure to violence: Children of incarcerated mothers may be exposed to violence, child abuse, and neglect in their living environment. They may also experience trauma related to the arrest and incarceration of their mother, as well as violence and abuse in prison within or outside the prison.

• Mental health problems: Children of incarcerated mothers are at a higher risk of developing mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and behavioral problems. The trauma of separation and the stress of living in an unstable environment can have long-term effects on their mental health and well-being.

• Lack of financial support: Incarceration often leads to a loss of income, which can result in financial instability for the family. This can make it difficult to provide for the basic needs of the child, including food, clothing, and education. Children of incarcerated mothers are at a higher risk of poverty and are less likely to access essential services such as healthcare.

• Legal and social problems: Children of incarcerated mothers may face legal and social problems, including criminalization, social exclusion, and discrimination. This can affect their ability to access education, healthcare, and other essential services, as well as their future employment opportunities.

• Mistreatment/torture/neglect by biological or foster families: When the children of incarcerated mothers who attain the age of 4 and above are removed from prisons and united with biological or foster families, some of them go through gruelling traumatic experiences bordering on mistreatment and torture and this affects them even as they grow up. Some may even die I the hands of relatives and foster families. 

In conclusion, children of incarcerated mothers in Kenya face a range of problems that can negatively affect their development, well-being and their endeavour for self-actualization like any other child whose mother is not in prison. They too have valid dreams and it’s their mothers who are in jail-not the children! It is therefore important for communities and policymakers to recognize the unique challenges faced by this vulnerable population and develop appropriate interventions to support them. This may include providing moral/social support, promoting friendly and responsive family reunifications, providing counselling and mental health services, enabling them to access the full benefits of the education system, guaranteed healthcare, addressing stigma and discrimination of children of incarcerated mothers, financial support and advocacy of policies and laws to address the wellbeing of these children, including pushing for a special budget by both county and national governments to address their plight.

Objectives of HBB Project in relation to Children of Incarcerated Mothers:

1. To provide or ensure provision of a safe and nurturing environment for children of incarcerated mothers by offering a range of support services, including shelter, food, education, healthcare, counseling and emotional/moral support.

• To advocate for the rights of children of incarcerated mothers and raise awareness about the challenges they face, including stigma, discrimination, and social exclusion.

• To ensure that children of incarcerated mothers have opportunities to fully participate in the common children activities in the course of their growth such as access to games (physical and digital), social interactions especially with other children and adequate interaction with both digital and print media such as televisions and newspapers.

• To promote family reunification and strengthening by facilitating contact between incarcerated mothers and their children, and providing resources and support for parents and caregivers.

• To collaborate with other organizations and stakeholders working in the field of criminal justice, child welfare, and social services to develop and implement best practices and policies for supporting children of incarcerated mothers.

• To collaborate with national and county governments and other stakeholders to ensure that there is always a budget set aside to guarantee children of incarcerated mothers adequate access to the necessities of life like many of other children of mothers not in prison. This includes lobbying the government to include in the national budget a special budget dedicated to the needs of children of incarcerated mothers.

• To collaborate with religious, faith and spiritual leaders to ensure that the spiritual needs of children of incarcerated mothers are attended to.

Interventions:

Here are some of the ways that Hope Beyond Bars hopes to embrace to help children of incarcerated mothers:

1. Education: Ensuring that children of incarcerated mothers receive proper early childhood education, enrolling such children in the mainstream education system of Kenya once they are of age, providing the children with additional learning services such as tutoring, literacy classes, and vocational training to help them succeed academically and prepare for their future lives.
2. Counseling: Provide counseling services to support children of incarcerated mothers in dealing with the emotional and psychological challenges of having a parent in prison.
3. Healthcare: Ensure that children of incarcerated mothers have access to basic healthcare services, such as vaccinations, check-ups, and treatment for illnesses.
4. Access to games and children activities: Ensure that Children of incarcerated mothers have opportunities to take part in games and other common activities of children growing up.
5. Reunification: Facilitate visitation and contact between incarcerated mothers and their children, and offer resources and support to help families reunite after release.
6. Advocacy: Advocate for policy and legal changes that prioritize the well-being of children of incarcerated mothers and address the underlying issues that lead to incarceration.
7. Lobby the national and county governments to include in the national budget a special budget dedicated to the needs of children of incarcerated mothers and lobby to supplement this budget with other well-wishers sources.
8. Establishment of a Rescue Centre (in the form of a full-boarding school) for children who are released from prison compounds  but face a high risk of mistreatment, torture, neglect or lack of basic necessities. This is a long term intervention strategycalculated to allow such children access uninterrupted provision of all the basic necessities of life until their mothers complete their prison terms and accordingly take charge of the wellbeing of their children.

**Other interventions will be developed depending on other factors discovered or prevailing in the future.

**By offering these interventions, Hope Beyond Bars can make a significant positive impact on the lives of children of incarcerated mothers in Kenya, helping them to overcome the challenges of having a parent in prison and to achieve their full potential in life.

Action plan:

The action plan for children of imprisoned mothers has been divided into two categories. That is children aged 4 years and below and children aged above 4 years. The suggested action plans for each of the categories are as follows:

Children aged 4 years and below:

1. Develop a mechanism and working relationship with prison authorities to ensure every child is able to access all the basic necessities of a growing child such as nutritious food, clothing, healthcare, education, games, etc.
2. Arrange visitations at regular intervals to visit the children in the company of their mothers and prison authorities.
3. Arrange to procure and deliver supplies to the children during the visitation days. This must be done in collaboration with the prison authorities.
4. Explore the involvement of these children in as many children games as possible in the company of their mothers and prison authorities.

Children aged more than 4 years:

1. Develop a database of children aged above 4 years who have been released from prison and ensure that via the database we are able to track and monitor the wellbeing of each child, report any challenges and probable solutions.
2. Develop a mechanism to ensure every child is able to access all the basic necessities of a growing child such as food, clothing, education, healthcare, games, etc.
3. Update the mother who is still in prison at regular intervals about the wellbeing of the child, mainly during visitations unless in the event of an emergency.
4. Explore the possibility of arranging visitations at regular intervals for the mother and child to meet.
5. Explore the possibility of arranging phone conversations between mother and child.
6. Explore the involvement of these children in as many children games as possible.
7. Explore the already mooted plan to develop a rescue centre for these children released from prison in the form of a full boarding school which guarantees the child all the necessities of life until the mother completes prison terms.
8. Develop a counselling, guidance and mentorship program that reassures the child that all is well and will end well, including reassure the child that all is well with his/her mother and depending on the prison term the mother is serving reassure the child that soon he/she will reunite with mother.

Cost implications and financial/budget estimates:

The budget/financial estimates of funds needed to implement this intervention for children aged 4 years & below and children older than 4 years who have been released from prison usually vary from time to time depending on the prevailing circumstances such as the number of children in these categories.  We however estimate that annual demand for funds to support visitations and support these children would average 3.6 million Kenya shillings ( approximately 23, 920 US dollars) while establishment of the envisaged long-term rescue centre for these children would require around 52.2 million Kenya shillings (approximately 346,844 US dollars) usable for two and half years.

*The detailed breakdown of these budgets can be availed on demand. If interested please contact us via the contacts provided at the end of this project summary. NB:The budgets are simply estimates. They are subject to adjustments depending on prevailing circumstances.

(ii) MOTHERS IN PRISON

Mothers in prison face very unique challenges compared to non-mothers in prison and men in prison. This is because they are already parenting children most of who largely depend on them for their wellbeing. The challenges facing mothers in prison can be categorized in three (3) broad categories as briefly explained below:

(a) Challenges of mothers with children aged 4 years and below:

As per the existing laws of Kenya that govern the activities of Kenya Prison Services, children aged 4 years and below will live with their mothers in prison.

The major worries of mothers living with their babies in prison will obviously be whether they will get all baby-care supplies for proper upbringing of the children. Ideally these children are supposed to be taken care of by the State under the existing laws but quite often prison authorities will struggle to satisfy the needs amid very tight budgets while some of the children were not even budgeted for as they were born after budgeting or were brought prisons after budgets have been passed. It’s therefore obvious that the mothers will be very nervous, fearing for the worst for their children. Generally children in this category are likely to suffer many challenges including but not limited to hardships occasioned by inadequate government budgets and social exclusion.  The mothers in this category mainly require three kinds of support namely;

• Baby-care supplies
• Their own personal care supplies (For the mothers themselves).
• Emotional support

Action plan:

1. Arrange regular visitations for imprisoned mothers with children aged 4 years and below in all the 5 named prisons for which permission has been granted by the Kenya Prisons Headquarters.
2. Develop a plan that will ensure mothers are supported with their own personal care supplies subject to approvals by the prison authorities on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. These will be delivered during the visitation days.
3. Where possible, arrange to procure and deliver baby care supplies to the mothers during the visitation days. This must be done in collaboration with the prison authorities taking into account what is allowed and what is not allowed.
4. Develop a counselling, guidance and mentorship program to provide emotional support to the mothers.

(b) Challenges of mothers with children aged more than 4 years:

As per the existing laws of Kenya that govern the activities of Kenya Prison Services, children aged more than 4 years will be separated from their mothers and removed from prison to be united or re-united with biological or foster families while their mothers remain in prisons. As discussed with Kenya Prisons Services, this is the category that presents the most challenges. This is because as it stands, no law is in place to legislate about the wellbeing of these children. There is no specific law that stipulates how the wellbeing of these children will be guaranteed, let alone how they will deal with the emotional distress of child separated from the mother at a tender age!

How about the emotional distress of a mother whose 4 to 5 year old child has been taken away to relatives, friends or foster homes! Needless to emphasize the mothers of such children will be so anxious and fearful for their children!  It requires very little imagination to visualize what can happen to these tender children in the hands of relatives, friends, foster homes or children homes! Some of them go through grueling traumatic experiences bordering on neglect, mistreatment and torture and this affects their future potential even as they grow up. Some may even die in the hands of relatives, foster families or children homes.  

The mothers in this category mainly require the following kinds of support;

• Someone or some sort of mechanism that keeps her updated on the wellbeing of her child who was removed from prison. Subject to further discussions, HBB will need to develop a tracking and monitoring mechanism that provides a database which can be accessed anytime to find out where each child released from prison is, their current stage in life, any challenges encountered & probable solutions, possibility of visitations to the mother who still in jail, possibility of phone conversations with mother, etc.
• Ensuring that their children who were removed from prison are able to access all the basic necessities of life such as food, clothing, education, healthcare, games, etc.
• Their own personal care supplies (For the mothers themselves).
• Emotional support

Action plan:

1. Arrange regular visitations for the imprisoned mothers in all the 5 named prisons for which permission has been granted by the Kenya Prisons Headquarters.
2. Develop a plan that will ensure mothers are supported with their own personal care supplies subject to approvals by the prison authorities on what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. These will be delivered during the visitation days.
3. Develop a counselling, guidance and mentorship program to provide emotional support to the mothers.

NB: The Action plan of this category (Mothers whose children have been removed from prisons) can conveniently be combined with that of mothers living with children aged 4 years and below. 

(c) Challenges of mothers struggling to re-integrate with society after their prison terms:

When imprisoned mothers finally serve their jail terms they will be released and expected to re-integrate with society and find some income generating activity to undertake in order to provide for their children and themselves. Certainly this process of re-integration is riddled with difficulties. Some of these mothers are likely rejected or discriminated by their own families! There are some who will have to put up with stigma and tag of having been a prisoner! Others will find out to their utter shock that spouses re-married and moved on, so they are no longer welcome. They must chart their own paths. Some will most likely find out that they were disinherited of their share of family property while they were in jail. Many will begin life a fresh and from scratch yet they lack even the smallest capital to start an income generating activity.

Re-integrating with society for mothers who just came from prison is certainly a tall order given the mountain of challenges they have to deal with. These mothers need any help available, however small. They also need moral support to pick their lives again and pursue their dreams. An obvious objective will also be to prevent/discourage them from relapsing back to crime which will see them back to prison, a very unfavourable occurrence.

Action plan:

1. Develop a counselling, guidance and mentorship program to guide the released mothers through the reintegration process as well as provide moral support.
2. Where possible arrange for financial or material support (including small loans where possible) to enable the released mothers re-stablish their lives and thrive.
3. Where possible and necessary support the mothers to undergo some training to support their livelihoods.
4. Encourage the released mothers not to fall back to crime.
5. Encourage the released mothers to become anti-crime ambassadors.
6. Explore a possibility of an organized loans facility so that those desiring to venture in business and lack the capital can apply for small and medium amounts supported by a guarantor of their choice and this would go a long way into starting them off in their business/skills training endeavours.
7. Consider also developing a database of mothers who have been released from prison including their contacts or that of close persons to make it possible to contact them when necessary. Even calling such mothers to speak to them and encourage them can be a great boost to their morale.

Cost implications and financial/budget estimates:

The budget/financial estimates of funds needed to implement this intervention for mothers of children aged 4 years & below, and   mothers of children older than 4 years who have been released from prison are

The budget/financial estimates of funds needed to implement this intervention for mothers of children aged 4 years & below, and   mothers of children older than 4 years who have been released from prison will expectedly vary from time to time depending on the prevailing circumstances such as the number of mothers in these categories.  We however estimate that annual demand for funds to support visitations and support these mothers would average 3.2 million Kenya shillings ( approximately 21,262 US dollars) while envisaged long-term support these mothers especially for purposes of reintegration with society after release from prison are estimated at 45.4 million Kenya shillings (approximately 301,661 US dollars) usable for two and half years.

The detailed breakdown of these budgets can be availed on demand. If interested please contact us via the contacts provided at the end of this project summary.

NB: The budgets are simply estimates. They are subject to adjustments depending on prevailing circumstances.

(iii) JUVENILE OFFENDERS

Juvenile offenders are minors (not of adult age), usually in their teenage years, who commit unlawful acts and are found guilty of the offence by courts of law. The common practice all over the world is that these youngsters cannot be imprisoned in the same prisons with adults because what the law prescribes is behaviour correction and not punishment. The law treats juvenile offenders as having committed the offence without their full knowledge of what they were doing. In Kenya we have several juvenile prisons that for convenience purposes are referred to as correction centres.

At the correction centres they are managed by prison officers, many of whom undergo additional special training to understand the teenagers. Once they have completed their prison terms, they are released back to the society and are expected to exhibit good conduct henceforth. This is however not the reality. Many do tend to relapse back to committing unlawful acts and are rearrested and imprisoned again. Even for the many who don’t relapse back to breaking the law, they find themselves confused on what to do with their lives after prison.  Some of the common challenges faced by juvenile offenders at the point of being released include;

1. Possibility of neglect or rejection by family upon release.
2. In the case of orphaned juvenile offenders, they simply have nowhere to go! Many of these will end up in the streets of towns and go ahead to incubate street families.
3. Possibility of stigmatization and discrimination by society.
4. Possibility of relapsing back to crime and thus get rearrested and go back to prison.
5. Lack of a clear mind as to what they would want to do with their lives after prison. i.e. career focus.
6. Inability to raise money from their immediate families to support the released teenagers through some basic training in the area of their career interests.
7. Unemployment even after training for a certain course.
8. For those who want to venture into business, they may not afford the capital.
9. Drug addictions and substance abuse.
10. Peer influence.

Action plan:

1. To develop and administer a comprehensive counselling, mentorship and guidance program that addresses challenges 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, and 10 above among others. The program will mainly be targeted to juvenile offenders who are about to complete their terms in prison and as such it will be more or less preparing them for a new life after prison. Counselling sessions will be arranged in consultation with prison authorities.
2. Develop and administer career counselling sessions to enable the youngsters develop a clear career focus.
3. Explore a possibility of a plan that can ensure that the neediest and deserving youngsters coming out of prison can be supported to pursue training or career that propels them forward towards their dreams. Special attention must be made to ensure that the careers and or training they pursue does not eventually leave them at the mercy of employment! Instead the courses they pursue should be more practical than theory such that in the event of lack of a suitable employment they can become self-employed.
4. Explore a possibility of an organized loans facility so that those desiring to venture in business and lack the capital can apply for small and medium amounts supported by a guarantor of their choice and this would go a long way into starting them off in their business endeavours.
5. Develop and maintain a database of all beneficiaries of these programs for juvenile offenders including their personal data, support they have received, contact details and progress reports for future references.

Cost implications and financial/budget estimates:

The budget/financial estimates of funds needed to implement this intervention for juvenile offenders especially those at the verge of being released from prison will expectedly vary from time to time depending on the prevailing circumstances such as the number of juvenile offenders enrolled in the program.  We however estimate that annual demand for funds to support visitations and support these juvenile offenders would average 2.8 million Kenya shillings (approximately 18,605 US dollars) while envisaged long-term support for the juvenile offenders at the verge of release from prison and especially for purposes of training, Counseling, mentorship and reintegration with society after release from prison are estimated at 40.3 million Kenya shillings (approximately 267,774 US dollars) usable for two and half years.

*The detailed breakdown of these budgets can be availed on demand. If interested please contact us via the contacts provided at the end of this project summary.

NB: The budgets are simply estimates. They are subject to adjustments depending on prevailing circumstances.

Thank you for loving, caring and honoring fellow vulnerable humanity.

Read more below.

Additional information for all the above 3 programs above:

Phase 1: Baseline Survey

1. Baseline survey is necessary to establish the actual magnitude of the challenges we shall be dealing with and this will be captured using an integrated questionnaire as our data collection instrument.
2. The findings of this survey will put everyone involved at par with regard to the severity of the challenges we are dealing with.
3. The findings will also form the basis on which the implementing team(s) will interrogate and consider all possible interventions.
4. We shall organize a one day induction conference to share the findings of the baseline survey with stake holders.
5. This information/data will also be preserved for future references.

Phase 2: Building a support system

1. Because we seek to help, it’s important we also purpose to build strong support systems for all the three categories we are targeting without attempting any radical shifts in the short term.
2. During this period the team members will strike a working rapport with all stakeholders including but not limited to beneficiaries, prison authorities and administration authorities in terms of government other willing actors.
3. This phase will mainly entail visitations and supplies of necessities among others.
4. This phase is important as it will help the team to develop a close working relationship with other stakeholders even as the team evaluates all possible long term interventions.
5. The team/sub teams will also thoughtfully and thoroughly consider all potential long term interventions and by majority arrive at the priorities going forward.
6. Long term interventions may for instance include establishing rescue centers, lobbying to have enactment of laws and policies specifically to address the plight of children of imprisoned mothers and lobbying to have special budget included in the national budget to cater for these disadvantaged children.

Phase 3: Replication

At this stage, the project having achieved satisfactory success and many lessons learnt, consideration will be made to evaluate the prospects of replicating the same in all the counties of Kenya and acquire a national outlook. The nature and scope of expansion will at the right point in time be reviewed by the team and team shall make recommendations. The expansion of the program, depending on success achieved in the pilot project at the coast, is an open book with no geographical limitations, even outside of Kenya.

Potential sources of funding and resources

Potential envisaged sources of funding the Hope beyond Bars three-pronged project include among others;

1. Donations (financial or in kind) from well-wishers who care deeply about the plight of children of incarcerated mothers, mothers themselves and juvenile offenders.
2. Support from like-minded sympathetic organizations/corporates (local and international).
3. National governments and County governments.
4. Other sources of funding will be explored, agreed and accordingly implemented.

Summary of estimated budgets for the above three categories

The following are summaries of estimates of budgets required to address each of the above categories, namely Children of mothers in prison, Mothers in prison and juvenile offenders;

*The estimates have been shown in both Kenya Shillings and US Dollars.

#	Category	Budget estimates  in Kenya Shillings	Budget estimates  in US Dollars
1	Children of imprisoned mothers
	■Short-Term Budget (annual)	3.6 million Kshs	23, 920 US Dollars
	■Long-Term Budget (2.5  years)	52.2 million Kshs	346, 844 US Dollars
	Subtotal	55.8 million Kshs	370,764 US Dollars
2	Mothers in Prison
	■Short-Term Budget (annual)	3.2 million Kshs	21, 262 US Dollars
	■Long-Term Budget (2.5  years)	45.4 million Kshs	301, 661 US Dollars
	Subtotal	48.6 million Kshs	322, 924 US Dollars
3	Juvenile offenders
	■Short-Term Budget (annual)	2.8 million Kshs	18, 605 US Dollars
	■Long-Term Budget (2.5  years)	40.3million Kshs	267, 774 US Dollars
	Subtotal	43.1 million Kshs	286, 379 US Dollars
	Grand Totals	147.5 million Kshs	980, 066 US Dollars

*The detailed breakdown of these budgets can be availed on demand. If interested please contact us via the contacts provided at the end of this project summary.

NB: The budgets are simply estimates. They are subject to adjustments depending on prevailing circumstances.

Scope of the project:

The pilot project for Hope beyond Bars will cover five (five) women prisons in the coast region. These women prisons are Hindi GK prison (Lamu County), MLD GK prison (Kilifi County), Shimo La Tewa prison- which serves as the main annex,  Kwale GK prison ( Kwale County and Wundanyi prison (Taita Taveta County). Once the pilot project is declared a success story, Hope beyond Bars will be considered and reviewed for replication to other parts of Kenya and beyond. At this point, the project will acquire a national outlook. Future considerations may be put into place to expand the project to other member countries of the East African Community (EAC).

Timelines:

It’s estimated that the baseline survey addressed in Phase 1 of the project will take utmost 2 months to complete, including publication of the findings. The other components of the project will run concurrently depending on the calendar of events.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting of progress:

The process of Monitoring, Evaluating and Reporting the project progress will be continuous, right from the start of Phase 1 to the last Phase of the project. Monitoring and evaluation will allow the project team to assess how the interventions will evolve over time,  how effectively the project will be implemented and whether there shall be gaps between the planned and achieved results which might then lead to project adjustments. The M&E will ensure a continuous process of collecting and analyzing information about the interventions and will equally inform the decisions made in the project.

Conclusion

1. The matter of children of incarcerated mothers is rightfully an emotive issue as it touches on innocent children who have committed no crime to warrant the distresses they go through. Children are loved by all people, regardless of race, colour, tribe or citizenship.
2. The wellbeing of mothers in prison are equally very important because the wellbeing of the mother has a direct correlation with the wellbeing of the child. Mothers and children cannot be separated. Attending to a mother is by extension attending to a child.
3. Our juveniles (youngsters) are the future of our society. If we don’t shape them, then we fail to shape the future. This calling carries an even greater message when we consider the case of juvenile offenders. At that tender age they brushed with the law and their behaviour needed correction through juvenile correction centres and approved schools. That is great deal of work carried out by the Kenya Prisons Service in accordance with the country laws. It’s only fair that communities should come together to give a hand of help to the prison authorities especially in circumstances where the prison authorities encounter challenges. The mission of prison authorities is to correct behaviour and hand back to the community good reformed people. The society is better off with reformed good citizens.
4. In this same spirit of loving and caring for children, lets then join hands and passionately come to the rescue of the beloved children of imprisoned mothers, the mothers themselves and our future-the juveniles. Let us ensure that these children undergo normal growth devoid of stigmatization, discrimination, torture and sexual exploitation, let’s also ensure they have proper access to education, healthcare and games. Let’s ensure the imprisoned mothers access what it takes to be the good mother they are always supposed to be and finally lets stand with our youngsters (juveniles) whose behaviour needs to be corrected for the good of society.  So basically regardless of the categories they fall into, all these people need a touch of humanity. Let’s show them love.

***If this appeal has touched you individually or your organization or department of government or institution or private business, and you want to extend a hand of help financially, materially or even volunteer to participate and work with us, we invite you to contact us via the below contacts/Persons;

Hope Beyond Bars Project (implemented under Talent Search Foundation)

P.O. Box 2810-00200, Nairobi, Kenya

Name	Designation	Email	Telephone
Charles K. M’Ringine	CEO, Talent Search Foundation	charlesk@talentsearchfoundation.org ckimringine@gmail.com	+254 720 100 768 including on WhatsApp
Alex Mwanza	Project Director	alexm@talentsearchfoundation.org  mwanzaalex77@gmail.com	+254 745 036 227 including on WhatsApp
Victor Manhave	Project Coordinator	victorm@talentsearchfoundation.org  victor@manhave.nl	+254799 846 703 including on WhatsApp
Susanne Christine Van Lieshout	Project Partner / CEO Paula Foundation	svanlieshout@yahoo.com	+254711 611 247 including on WhatsApp
Dr. Lawson Mbugguss	Patron, Talent Search Foundation	lawson@talentsearchfoundation.org  justlawson5@gmail.com	+44 7832 96 19 59 including on WhatsApp
Office	Office/Secretary	hopebeyondbars@talentsearchfoundation.org	+254724220807 including on WhatsApp

Thank you for loving, caring and honoring fellow vulnerable humanity.