Context
Child protection in Zambia remains a critical challenge characterized by high levels of violence against children, weak and fragmented protection systems, and limited access to essential services. National evidence shows that approximately 50% of Zambians experience violence during childhood, with 58% of child abuse occurring in the home and 52% of perpetrators being known to the child, indicating significant risks within family and community environments (Zambia Violence Against Children Study, 2018).
Despite the enactment of the Children’s Code Act, implementation remains inconsistent, and child protection systems continue to be weak and poorly coordinated, limiting effective prevention and response to violence. Structural vulnerabilities further undermine protection efforts: only 14% of children are officially registered at birth, leaving many without legal identity and at heightened risk of exploitation and exclusion from services (UNICEF, 2024).
These protection risks are exacerbated by widespread child poverty, with 65% of children living in monetary poverty and 70.6% experiencing multidimensional deprivation, alongside constrained public investment due to national debt pressures (UNICEF, 2024; Zambia Demographic and Health Survey, 2024). Collectively, this context underscores the urgency of strengthening functional child protection systems, prevention mechanisms, and accountability to ensure children in Zambia are protected from violence, abuse, and exploitation.
KEY INITIATIVES
- Up- scale caregiver support and parenting programs
- Partnering with traditional leaders and other gatekeepers as allies in challenging social norms and ending child marriages
- Hold duty bearers, including government to deliver on its commitments to address violence against children.
OUR PROJECTS
Chimau is 13 years old and lives in Western Province in Zambia with her mother, Inonge (38), her brother Lawrence (7) and her grandmother Mary (68). The region has been hit with the country’s worst drought in 20 years, leaving Chimau and her family – who rely on growing their own food to survive – in a desperate situation with very little to eat. The rainy season in Zambia normally stretches from October to March, but during the 2023/24 rainy season there have been intense dry spells and Inonge says when the rains started they planted their crops, but then the rains suddenly stopped. Her ground nut crops have failed, and her maize crops – which were due to be harvested in May – have already shrivelled up and died. Inonge also used to do small jobs on people’s farms weeding and cutting shrubs, but even these jobs are hard to find now as everyone has been impacted by the drought. The only occasional work she can find is washing clothes at the nearby school and mission. Chimau says they only eat one meal a day, and that hunger is impacting on her studies. She says she feels sick and gets a headache. In class, she can’t concentrate because she’s thinking about food and falls asleep. Seven out of 10 provinces in Zambia have been impacted by the intense drought and the government has declared a national emergency. More than 1 million children are facing severe food shortages and hunger as the El Niño induced dry spell kills crops and dries up water sources. Sacha Myers / Save the Children
CHILD SENSITIVE & SOCIAL PROTECTION
Rosemary* is a Nigerian girl who arrived in Italy when she was sixteen (now she is twenty) by the will of her original family, where she was abused on a regular basis and treated as a slave by her mother, who threatened to withdraw her from school if she hadn’t hard worked, as requested, at home or in the field. When she arrived in Italy she was immediately forced to be a prostitute. After almost one year being a prostitute in Italy, she was reported to the anti-trafficking body by an Italian man, a client, willing to help her, and in this way her path out of the exploitation system got started. The girl is now supported by Vie d’Uscita, a project by Save the Children, which has accompanied her along her path, through a recovery from trauma, learning Italian and self-independence orientation program. Sara Mignogna per Save the Children
JOINT-TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
Dickson and Clement benefit from Sponsorship programming in Zambia. Kelvin Mulenga/Save the Children
CHILDREN ON THE MOVE