Day of the African Child 2026

National Commemoration of the Day of the African Child 2026

On 18 June 2026, Kenya's State Department for Children Services (Mombasa County) hosted the national Day of the African Child commemoration at Tononoka Social Hall, under the theme "Ensuring Universal Access to Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Every Child in Africa." The event drew children, government officials, development partners, civil society, and faith-based groups.

Key points:

1. Opened with a public procession through Mombasa led by the Salvation Army Brass Band, followed by formal proceedings and an interactive exhibition on legal aid, psychosocial support, and hygiene demonstrations.
2. Government and partner speakers linked clean water/sanitation directly to child protection, with commitments to enforce the Children Act 2022 and scale up climate-resilient WASH infrastructure in schools and care centers.
3. Africlimate Centre for Adaptation (ACCA) framed climate change itself as an active child-protection risk — droughts and water scarcity exposing children to disease, dropout, and abuse — and called for climate-smart WASH investment.
4. Children delegates spoke directly, asking for safe schools, clean water, dignified sanitation (including for children with disabilities), and protection from violence and child marriage.
5. The event closed with four resolutions: targeted climate-resilient WASH investment, accelerating care reform toward family-based care, embedding climate adaptation into child protection planning, and formalizing child participation in policy and budgeting.