By Sara Larios | Executive Director
The first half of 2026 has expanded UP Zambia's horizons as our team brings specilized legal services to children in Chongwe and Kafue District for the first time.
After a decade of providing services to the children of Lusaka district, the child justice system has transformed in many ways. Thanks to the dedication and constant presence of the UP Zambia team, to have a child appearing in court without their parents' presence or to go into trial representing themselves wihout a lawyer is unthinkable by justice stakeholders across all institutions. Yet going just 30 miles to the East or South, the situation is very different. For UP Zambia, it was like going back in a time machine to the days when UP Zambia was just starting to understand the challenges children encounter when facing a case alone.
Bringing child-focused legal services to children in Chongwe has had an immediate impact. In just the first 6 months of UP Zambia's work in the district, our legal team was able to assist 50 children detained at police stations and support 34 of them to have their cases sent for diversion instead of moving onward to court. The children and families that did end up going to court had the support of the UP Zambia legal and social support team to navigate the court process and to undergo assessments to identify the underlying factors which brought the child into the system and focus on strengthening family relationships supporting reintegration.
Across all of the districts where UP Zambia is providing legal services to children, our attorneys have been able to represent more than 100 children in court, who would have otherwise faced court alone. We have supported over 300 children in police stations, correctional faciltiies, and courts with legal information, advice, and advocacy. Our goal is to reach more than 400 children by the end of 2026.
To ensure UP Zambia is able to continue to provide these critical services to children and families across this expanded geographic area we need your continued support! Currently, thanks to supporters like you, UP Zambia is able to provide our serviece to children and families free of charge.
As we enter our last months of the year, we would appreciate your support to help us finish the year strong and see the child justice system Chongwe and Kafue districts continue to transform.
Please consider giving your end of year gift to UP Zambia now to help us reach as many children as possible this year.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
