Dandora is in Embakasi Division of Nairobi.  It is the home to the City Council dump site where all the Nairobi garbage is deposited.  With no re-cycling systems by the city of Nairobi , private companies in Nairobi have taken up the responsibility of some of the waste dumped at the site.  The process of collecting and sorting the garbage for re-cycling has created labour demand at the dump site.  Though no census has been carried out, it is estimated that close to 10,000 people, majority of them children aged below 18 years, some as young as 10 years, eke out a living by working at the dump site.  About 2,500 people live in the dump site and its fringes either alone or with their families.  These are considered full time dump site workers.  Another 3, 500 people are part time workers who work at the dump site on weekends and during school holidays.  The ration of boys to girls working at the dump site is estimated to 70 – 30% respectively.

The process of gathering and sorting the garbage at the site is done manually.  It is unhygienic and hazardous form of work that exposes the dump site workers to injuries, skin infections, typhoid, cholera, respiratory illness, poisoning from toxic wastes, sexual and physical abuse and drug abuse among others. 

The involvement of children in the hazardous work prompted the International Labour Organization Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (ILO/IPEC) to partner with the African Network for the Prevention and Protection Against Child Abuse and Neglect (ANPPCAN) Kenya Chapter to initiate a programme to eliminate and withdraw 1,500 children from working at the dumpsite, street children and children engaged in or vulnerable to commercial sex.  About 400 of the targeted children will be full time workers at the dumpsite while another 500 children will be part time workers.  The programme is also being implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Labour and Human resource Development (MOLHRD) and receives financial support from the United States Department of Labour (USDOL).

Project Strategy

The project being implemented by ANPPCAN Kenya targets to withdraw 750 children from Worst Forms of Child Labour (WFCL) and prevent another 750 children.  The children will be facilitated to return to school and access vocational and skills training.  The project also targets to create awareness on WFCL among the community members.  ANPPCAN Kenya is collaborating with children homes, public, private and non-formal schools and skills training institutions to accommodate and train children withdrawn from work at the dump site.