How Lumos Positive Parenting Education is Changing Family Environments in Kenya

17.07.2026

In Kenya, many children experience violence in their family as a result of limited parenting skills*. Domestic violence, along with neglect and family stress, have been identified as key drivers of family separation and children being placed in institutions. 

As part of our commitment to ensure every child grows up in a safe and loving family, we’re supporting the Kenyan government to implement the National Positive Parenting Programme in Embu County.  The programme equips parents and caregivers with the knowledge, understanding and skills to raise children in safe, nurturing environments, free from violence and full of love.

“When people get trained on positive parenting…. They realise their mistakes.” – Shujaa Peter Ngoci (pictured), Child Protection volunteer, Embu County.

Lumos works alongside the Directorate of Children’s Services (DCS) to ensure the programme is well implemented, supporting the DCS officers to train facilitators to create a cascading effect, reinforcing the long-term sustainability of our model.

Embu County was selected as a benchmark for the sustainable implementation of the programme. The trained facilitators conduct parenting sessions across all sub-counties, working in pairs to train groups of 18 to 24 parents per session.

During 2025, Lumos supported the training of 183 positive parenting facilitators from different localities in Embu County. These facilitators then trained over 500 parents in their local communities, with an expected positive impact on over 1,500 children.  Crispin, father of five, is one parent to benefit from the training.

“I heard about positive parenting training in my church. What stood out for me in the training was the way I was handling my children. I learned the importance of family gatherings and everyone expressing themselves.” – Crispin (pictured), parent and participant of the Positive Parenting Programme.

To enhance accessibility, the government and Lumos have established seven Positive Parenting Training Centres in Embu County. These centres provide safe, welcoming spaces where parents and caregivers can receive training and support.

During 2026, Lumos will support the government with the expansion of the Positive Parenting Programme in the Rift Valley to enable more parents to undertake the training.

This introduction of this programme reinforces Kenya’s commitment to ending violence against children and to improve parental capacity to care for their children, contributing to ending family separation. In addition, incorporating Positive Parenting into existing child protection services ensure long-term impact and continuity.

Find out more about our work in Kenya.

*A 2019 Kenyan government survey revealed that nearly half of girls and more than half of boys experience some form of violence, often from parents or caregivers.