Published: no date
Author: Petit-Perrot, C. and Daniels, L. for Children’s Radio Foundation, South Africa, Cape Town.
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

A toolkit for using WhatsApp’s Radio Integration Platform, which allows radio content to reach people through WhatsApp on their devices. Written in South Africa, it’s designed to support radio initiatives across the African continent but could in theory be used anywhere where WhatsApp is available. The emphasis of this toolkit is about listeners interacting through conversations, and communities owning the content and shows.

Published: no date
Author: video4change.org
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

This online resource gives comprehensive instructions as to how to plan and make films with communities. It is a resource which seeks to hand power and control over to communities and as such is a very useful practical guide for anyone wanting to use video to strengthen community engagement and ownership.

Published: No date
Author: Bill Forbes, Alexander Krueger, Nicole Behnam, Philip Cook, Mike Wessells and John Williamson
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Resources

This paper examines the most recent large-scale development in child protection work—the shift from individual child protection projects towards strengthening national child protection systems.

Published: No date
Author: Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s Reference Group on MHPSS in Emergency Settings
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources, Training materials and tools

Putting communities at the centre of humanitarian MHPSS response enables self-efficacy, reducing the impact of what is “delivered” and enhancing the significance of what is “built” together.

Published: No date
Author: Riva B. Kantowitz for Care and Protection of Children (CPC) Learning Network Columbia University
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

This paper seeks to articulate the main trends and challenges in the field of children affected by armed conflict. Its objective is to summarize lessons learned over the last decade, provoke reflection, generate questions and suggest potential strategies to improve the lives of more than one billion children affected by violence and deprivation.

Published: no date
Author: War Child Colombia
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Resources

Una historia de resistencia y protección Guardia Indígena. Acciones para la protección comunitaria, defensa de los derechos humanos y construcción de memoria histórica en comunidades indigenas en los departamentos de Choco y Antioquia, Colombia.

Published: no date
Author: Medardo Rafael Barros B. & War Child Holland, Colombia
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Resources, Training materials and tools

Consultoría en derecho propio de la etnia Wounaan del Chocó, Colombia.

Published: May, 2020
Author: Beatrice M Halpaap † Joseph D Tucker † Don Mathanga, Noel Juban, Phyllis Awor, Nancy G Saravia, et al. for The Lancet Global Health
Resource Type: Research, Resources

“Health innovation is often developed in response to local challenges, fueled from frontline health workers by unique needs and opportunities. Yet the power to scale up innovation is often vested in high-level authorities that have limited understanding of local contexts.

How can innovation in global health be sparked? A growing social innovation in health movement shows that innovation is more effective when it emerges bottom-up from low-income and middle-income countries.

Social innovation in health is a community engaged process that links social change and health improvement, drawing on the diverse strengths of local individuals and institutions. Social innovation argues that having local beneficiaries drive the development of a health programme results in more sustainable and accountable services. This commentary considers social innovation in health, including its history, tools for identifying social innovation, examples of social innovation, unanswered questions, and the next steps.”

The Lancet Global Health is an open source journal which can be read for free by registering on their site.

Published: May, 2020
Author: The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources, Webinars and learning events

Maybe you joined the webinar launch of Working with communities to keep children safe (annex to the Inter-agency Technical Note on the Protection of Children during the Coronavirus Pandemic)? Even if you missed it, you can now access the webinar recording as well as the presentation slides.

Read the PDF presentation: You can download a pdf of the presentation with notes here. Slides 15-16 are not fully functional as they are audio and video slides.

The link to slide 15 is “CELLPHILMS: A HOW TO” by Casey Burkholder – A 60 second cellphilm on how to make a cellphilm

The link to slide 16 is 18 year old Luzuko’s experience during COVID-19 pandemic, supported by RX Radio SA (Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town South Africa).

Watch the webinar: You can now watch the webinar on Facebook here. Please note that the presentation contains video and audio which can only be accessed by watching the recording of the webinar.

Read the guidance: Read Working with communities to keep children safe (annex to the Inter-agency Technical Note on the Protection of Children during the Coronavirus Pandemic).

Find practical tools: If you are looking for ideas and materials which can support this guidance, follow the links in the guidance and also visit the Exchange’s updated list of practical tools and materials here.

Published: May 2022
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Kenya, Resources, Training materials and tools

The sixth video worksheet in the Exchange’s 2022 video series and WhatsApp learning group.

Published: May 2022
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Kenya, Resources, Training materials and tools

The seventh and final video worksheet in the Exchange’s 2022 video series and WhatsApp learning group.

Published: March 2022
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Kenya, Resources, Training materials and tools

This video series offers an introduction to community-led child protection approaches and shares lessons from Ken and Joathem, two experienced facilitators who work in Marafa, Kenya. Follow along with the weekly video series to learn about key principles and skills for community-led child protection approaches, and use the weekly worksheets to reflect on how you could use these approaches in your own child protection work.

Join the WhatsApp learning group and receive the content straight to your phone. Just send a message to +27 787 458 832

Watch Viva Marafa! for a snapshot of a community protecting its children.

Read the background and introduction to the action research in Marafa, Kenya.

What to expect

Every week you will receive a short video and worksheet on your phone.

Each week focuses on a key consideration or skill required for a community-led child protection approach.

Each video comes with a worksheet that you can use for self-reflection or you might decide to form your own reflection group in your office, or your own WhatsApp group. You can invite colleagues to join this group even after the start date.

If you have questions, comments or other things you’d like to share, you are welcome to send them to Lucy. She will answer as many questions as possible and share her answers, your comments and other resources with the group (anonymously). This will include inviting you all to provide input on other participants questions from time to time to learn from diverse perspectives.

Rules of engagement

This group is a broadcast list so you will not see other people’s contact details or who is on the group. You can message Lucy directly of you’d like to share something with the whole group.

You can share any of the content you receive (videos, worksheets and stories) with your colleagues or other people who may be interested.

This group is a safe space. We are all here to learn so feel free to share opinions and ask questions. All questions are good questions!

This learning group is time-bound and will finish the week of 22 May 2022.

You can leave the group at any time for any reason simply by clicking on the Exchange WhatsApp profile then ‘edit’ then ‘delete contact’. Alternatively, ask Lucy to remove you.

We will never share your contact details with anyone for any purpose. We will keep your contact details for future announcements after this group has finished. If you’d like us to delete your details please let Lucy know.

[email protected]

Videos

1. Introduction to community-led child protection approaches (release date: 28 March 2022)

2. Being a facilitator (release date: 4 April 2022)

3. Being humble and respectful (release date: 11 April 2022)

4. Enabling inclusive dialogue (release date: 18 April 2022)

5. Deep listening (release date: 25 April 2022)

6. Managing non-violent conflict (release date: 2 May 2022)

7. Building community consensus (release date: 9 May 2022)

Worksheets

1. Video Worksheet: Introduction to community-led child protection approaches (release date: 28 March 2022)

2. Video Worksheet: Being a facilitator (release date: 4 April 2022)

3. Video Worksheet: Being humble and respectful (release date: 11 April 2022)

4. Video Worksheet: Enabling inclusive dialogue (release date: 18 April 2022)

5. Video Worksheet: Deep listening (release date: 25 April 2022)

6. Video Worksheet: Managing non-violent conflict (release date: 2 May 2022)

7. Video Worksheet: Building community consensus (release date: 9 May 2022)

Published: March 2022
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources, Training materials and tools

This summary was developed as a background resource for the Exchange’s WhatsApp 2022 learning group. To read more about this group link here.

Published: March 2022
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Kenya, Resources, Training materials and tools

The first video worksheet in the Exchange’s 2022 video series and WhatsApp learning group.

Published: March 2020
Author: Communy Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources

Our first 2020 newsletter focuses entirely on the current COVID-19 outbreak and unprecedented global efforts to try and contain this pandemic. As child protection practitioners, we’ve been asking ourselves how COVID-19 impacts children and communities, how we can continue to provide services and support, and how can prevention strategies be adapted to our contexts? Many practitioners might also be wondering how it will affect them professionally and personally.

We’ve collected together some key resources here which can help support strong community responses to the outbreak and help keep children, and the people they rely on, safe (and that includes practitioners!). It’s worth noting that we are all still learning about this new virus and promising community strategies. So far, there’s very little documentation of community level responses to COVID-19 that we can find. In the meantime, global agencies have been very quick to produce useful guidance and other materials, and we can also draw on previous learning from other infectious disease outbreaks, such as Ebola.

Read more here.

Published: June 2020
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources, Uncategorised

A LOT of guidance has been drafted on coronavirus and its impact on children since early March, including a range of “technical notes”. Here, we shine a spotlight on the technical notes which are relevant to children’s wellbeing, and how they might help guide our community-led child protection work during this time.

But firstly, what is a technical note? In the COVID-19 and children’s wellbeing context a technical note is a brief which lays out the main considerations as well as our understandings so far on how and why children are or could be impacted by the pandemic. The notes might also suggest how to address these issues programmatically and sometimes through advocacy and policy. Mostly, they are developed collaboratively between different agencies, and are designed to align with each other and other global guidance and tools, including the 2019 edition of the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action.

Technical notes are very useful in helping us understand key issues affecting children during COVID-19, as well as focusing our thinking. However, as they are written for a global audience, we also need to ensure we read them from the perspective of the contexts where we are working.

Read more here.

Published: April 2022
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Kenya, Resources, Training materials and tools

The third video worksheet in the Exchange’s 2022 video series and WhatsApp learning group.

Published: April 2022
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Kenya, Resources, Training materials and tools

The fourth video worksheet in the Exchange’s 2022 video series and WhatsApp learning group.

Published: April 2022
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Kenya, Resources, Training materials and tools

The fifth video worksheet in the Exchange’s 2022 video series and WhatsApp learning group.

Published: April 2020
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources

We had a great response to our first COVID-19 newsletter, and it’s clear that many of us are urgently looking for practical guidance and tools to help us carry out our work whilst dealing with all the challenges of COVID-19.

In the last few weeks A LOT of technical guidance and materials on COVID-19 have been developed. We are aiming to share all this information with you in an ongoing manner and in the most digestible way possible.

This edition of the newsletter focuses on practical ideas, resources and information hubs which can help you continue to operate your child protection programmes from a distance. You may be confined to your office or your house, yet there are still ways to provide a level of support and to keep in touch with communities. Use these resources to inspire you and adapt to your context.

Read more here.

Published: April 2020
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Kenya, Resources, Training materials and tools

The second video worksheet in the Exchange’s 2022 video series and WhatsApp learning group.

Published: April 20, 2020
Author: Lucy Hillier for the Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources, Training materials and tools

This list of practical resources and tools supports the guidance developed in April 2020 by the Community-level Child Protection Task Force (Task Force) of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (Alliance) for child protection actors who are working in or with communities to keep children safe during COVID-19. In turn, the Task Force’s guidance builds on the Alliance’s technical note: Protection of Children during the Coronavirus Pandemic.

As of 20 April, 2020, both of these documents above were in the final stages of completion and will be linked and available here in the coming days. For those who would like to be alerted by mail, please join our mailing list by mailing [email protected].

Published: 2023
Author: Michael Wessells, PhD. & Raksha Sule
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Resources

This is the Report of a Consultancy conducted on behalf of the IASC Thematic Working Group on MHPSS & Peacebuilding within the IASC MHPSS Reference Group. The report was shared and discussed widely in four global consultations conducted July-September, 2022 with young people, grassroots practitioners, and policy and thought leaders.

Published: 2023
Author: Michael G. Wessells
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Resources

In developing the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, attention to social process was key for success. A reflection on this process by one of the authors, Michael G. Wessells.

Published: 2021
Author: The Inter-Agency Core Group CINI, Chetna Vikas, Child Resilience Alliance, Plan India, & Praxis
Resource Type: India, Research, Resources

Action research for community-led child protection in Jharkhand State, India.

Published: 2021
Author: The Inter-Agency Core Group CINI, Chetna Vikas, Child Resilience Alliance, Plan India, & Praxis
Resource Type: India, Information Briefs, Research, Resources

A short, illustrated story of a community-led initiative to end child marriages in Dhanbad, Jhakahand, India.

Published: 2021
Author: The Inter-Agency Core Group CINI, Chetna Vikas, Child Resilience Alliance, Plan India, & Praxis
Resource Type: Case Studies, India, Information Briefs, Research, Resources

A short, illustrated story of a community-led initiative against school absenteeism in Khunti, Jharkhand, India.

Published: 2021
Author: Firelight Foundation
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Resources

The power of grassroots-led change for long-term impact, and how funders can nurture it.

Published: 2021
Author: Glynis Clacherty
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources

Artbooks, which are a combined form of picture and story book created using mixed media, can be a simple yet powerful way of supporting children affected by war and displacement to tell their stories. They allow children to work through the creative arts, which protects them from being overwhelmed by difficult memories.

Published: 2021
Author: The Inter-Agency Core Group (CINI, Chetna Vikas, Child Resilience Alliance, PLAN India, & Praxis)
Resource Type: India, Research, Resources

Endline report of action research undertaken in Jharkhand state, India of community-led action to address child marriage and school dropout.

Published: 2021
Author: Firelight Foundation
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Resources, Tanzania

This report summarises achievements and learnings from an independent evaluation conducted by the AfriChild Centre of Excellence for the Study of the African Child, CBO grantee-partners’ reports, reports from community dialogues conducted by grantee-partners with their communities, consultant reports, and observations and reflections by Firelight staff.

Published: 2020
Author: Africa centres for disease control and prevention (AFRICA CDC)
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources

In Africa, the number of COVID-19 cases and impacted countries has been increasing steadily. As of 12 March 2020, 129 cases have been diagnosed in 12 countries, with one death recorded. The experience in countries outside Africa is that, after initial cases are diagnosed, community transmission occurs rapidly. Member States need to immediately implement individual social distancing and plan to implement community social distancing.

Published: 2020
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Resources

This list of practical resources and tools supports the guidance developed in April 2020 by the Community-level Child Protection Task Force (Task Force) of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (Alliance) for child protection actors who are working in or with communities to keep children safe during the COVID-19 context.

In turn, the Task Force’s guidance builds on the Alliance’s technical note: Protection of Children during the COVID-19 pandemic (v.2). The aim of this 21-page updated brief is to support child protection practitioners and policy makers to put children’s safety and wellbeing at the centre of their COVID-19 pandemic response.

There is also an annex to this technical note: Working with communities to keep children safe (v. 1.1) This 12-page annex is designed as a practical brief for community level child protection actors, with lots of helpful links. The annex is further supported by the regularly updated list of practical resources and tools below, which aligns directly with this annex. This is the main global child protection and COVID-19 brief for those working at the community level.

Contents

1. Understanding how communities organise themselves to protect children in times of COVID-19
2. Working with communities to implement safe and effective ways to protect children in times of COVID-19
   • Overall considerations
   • Safe, child-friendly and effective awareness raising in light of COVID-19
   • Strengthen the family and caregiving environment to promote children’s healthy development and keep them safe
   • Monitoring and referral of highly vulnerable children and families
3. Ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of community focal points
4. Accurate information and online and messaging safety
5. Key global guidance on COVID-19 and child protection
6. Key global guidance on community-led child protection

1. Understanding how communities organise themselves to protect children in times of COVID-19

A guide for risk communication and community engagement from UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. It aims to help practitioners run focus group discussions with communities to find out perceptions and questions surrounding COVID-19. The guide was last updated in March 2020. NB the guide is not designed specifically for social distancing or lock down contexts so would have to be adapted using safe meeting methods. 9 pages. Link here.

UNICEF, IFRC, WHO, 2020. COVID-19: Key tips and discussion points for community workers, volunteers and community networks. 7-page guidance on how to engage, what questions to ask and what to say. Link here.

How to do a poll on social media/messaging apps: This 1-page guide gives short advice for using WhatsApp Business, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for pools when it is not possible to collect information face-to-face. Link here.

IFRC, UNICEF, WHO. How your community can prevent the spread of COVID-19. 5 pages of useful tips for communities to mobilise together around COVID-19. Link here.

WHO guidance on working with faith-based organisations. Faith-based organisations and leaders can play a major role in saving lives and reducing illness related to COVID-19. They are a primary source of support and comfort for their members.  Often trusted more than governments or health-agencies, faith leaders can share health information to protect their communities that will be more likely to be accepted than from other sources. Link here.

Idea: Create WhatsApp groups to self-organise when community dialogues and other face-to-face actions are not possible. Members should explore smart phone ownership for community focal points or other key people, who can receive messages and information and then forward to their own groups, either through WhatsApp or SMS. In this way, people with non-smart phones can also be part of this information network. This system can work downwards and upwards. Challenges are often access to data and airtime, so consider how key actors could receive support for this. See also: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2020. Tips for using social media: risk communication and community engagement for coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

Example: In Somaliland, a WhatsApp group called Daryeel, “Caring”, is directly connecting “donors” with affected relatives and their communities. Launched by a few individuals, the initiative weds the centuries-old Somali clan structure, rooted in community support, with the one of the most popular messaging apps in the 21st century so far. So far this has resulted in 600 water trucks sent out, monthly food packages for 864 families across 39 villages, and a total of US$ 255,000 donated by Somali diasporas from around the world. For the creators of Daryeel, WhatsApp made it possible for help to arrive directly, in real time. Now, other sub-clans in Somalia are also using it as a model.

Example: In Uganda, more than 100 active social behaviour change professionals, including agencies and Ministry of Health staff, discussed social behaviour change problem-solving in the context of COVID-19. The group developed an entire COIVD-19 campaign in several local languages on their WhatsApp group. This was possible because people already knew and trusted each other and collaborate freely.

2. Working with communities to implement safe and effective ways to protect children in times of COVID-19

2.1 Overall considerations

BBC Media Action on behalf of Shongjog, the national platform for Communication with Communities in Bangladesh (no date). Community engagement from a distance. A very practical guide designed to support development and humanitarian agencies to think through how risk communication and community engagement activity related to COVID-19 can be carried out without face-to-face interaction with communities. Remote methods include phone, online and loudspeakers. 8 pages. Link here.

UNICEF, IFRC, WHO, 2020. Risk Communication and community engagement action plan guidance: COVID-19 preparedness and response. This tool is designed to support risk communication, community engagement staff and responders working with national health authorities, and other partners to develop, implement and monitor an effective action plan for communicating effectively with the public, engaging with communities, local partners and other stakeholders to help prepare and protect individuals, families and the public’s health during early response to COVID-19. 26 pages. Link here.

There are many resources available on the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s communityengagementhub.org , including guidance and tools for working with communities. “Use our guides and tools to support your work with local communities. You can use these tools in any context and change them to suit your project’s needs”. There is a very big collection of resources to support COVID-19 responses.

Working with religious structures: Islamic Relief Worldwide has published comprehensive Guidance on Safe Religious Practices during COVID-19 (2020). Also look at COVID-19: Guidance for Faith Communities & Places of Worship, 2020, by World Vision International. The WHO has published a 6-page guidance note on Practical considerations and recommendations for religious leaders and faith-based communities in the context of COVID-19.

Messages on child protection risks (including GBV) in times of COVID-19 from various contexts can be accessed here on the Child Protection Area of Responsibility Dropbox folder.

NEW! 10 June 2020. Teaching on WhatsApp: Leadership and Storytelling for Grassroots Community Organizers: A “how to” guide for designing and delivering an interactive training course through online messaging (February 2020 / Katlego Mohlabane, Alisa Zomer). This tool was designed by South African organisation Grassroots for use in remote resource poor community contexts and is particularly useful during times of COVID-19. Use this guide to help you develop and implement your own training, learning or support networks. 19 pages.

2.2 Safe, child-friendly and effective awareness raising in light of COVID-19

Child Protection Cluster, 2020. Awareness Raising for Children, Parents and Community Members During Disease Outbreak: Modalities for Delivering. 3-page guidance for different scenarios in Iraq. Link here.

The IFRC published a 14-page child-friendly explanation book about the coronavirus with fun games and quizzes for children and carers to play. Link here.

Video explanations for children. “Meet Fatima from Zvandiri in Zimbabwe. She is here to talk to children and young people about COVID-19 and how to look after themselves and each other. Zvandiri and Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Health and Child Care produced this video as we know that young people are worried about COVID-19 and need messages that are clear and positive”. Watch here.

International AIDS Society (no date). The Young HIV Advocate’s Cookbook: Recipes for taking action online. Social media is a powerful tool. In this example, a youth-friendly manual has been developed with youth advocates to support advocacy around HIV globally using social media. Despite the HIV advocacy focus, there is much to be learned from using this book to help young people write posts, blogs and develop websites and post other content, such as photos and videos, around any number of issues and concerns. The book also contains some handy tips on netiquette and cyberbulling. Link here.

The Children’s Radio Foundation has developed an excellent safety sheet, fact sheet and radio production guide for reporting on COVID-19 through radio. Link here.

Petit-Perrot, C. and Daniels, L. (no date) Using Whatsapp for radio – a toolkit by the Children’s Radio Foundation. CRF South Africa. Cape Town. Link here. A 23-page toolkit in English on using WhatsApp’s Radio Integration Platform, which allows radio content to reach people through WhatsApp on their devices. This toolkit is probably most useful for those already running radio stations who are seeking to take advantage of recent communications technologies and platforms to reach more people – easily and cheaply and enable communities who would not normally be able to access radio broadcasting equipment the possibility of setting up their own radio station.

Richman, J. (no date) The teen reporter handbook – how to make your own radio diary. Radio Diaries Inc.: A 22-page handbook on how teenagers can develop interesting content for radio. The guide was developed in the USA for work with marginalised American and immigrant teenagers. A very good resource to help teenagers learn how to use a tool on their own or in their family, to document their lives and record what they want. Includes interview techniques and how to be a good reporter. In other words, how to tell a good story on radio. It’s worth noting that the technology and equipment mentioned in this guide are now somewhat outdated, although the content development advice is still very relevant. Link here.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2020. Tips for using social media: risk communication and community engagement for coronavirus disease (COVID-19). 7 pages of easy to read tips. Includes some short but useful guidance for creating and using WhatsApp groups. Link here.

ICRC, IFRC and RCS, OCHA, 2017. How to use social media to better engage people affected by crises – a brief guide for those using social media in humanitarian organizations. A very practical 30-page guide for anyone using social media to support their work. No matter how you are planning to use social media you can find some good tips and ideas in this guidance. Link here.

New! 06 July 2020: E-learning course – YouCreate, youth-led, arts based participatory action research for well being and social change. YouCreate is an initiative of Terre des hommes, and was designed and carried out in partnership with the International Institute for Child Rights and Development. YouCreate is a Participatory Action Research project aimed to train youth leaders, with the support of Adult Allies and the ‘Art-kit’ (training manual), to lead their peers in implementing participatory, arts-based research projects and ‘Art Actions’ — arts-based activities designed to address issues of significance to youth in their community.

2.3 Strengthen the family and caregiving environment to promote children’s healthy development and keep them safe

Activities to do at home: Child Protection Area of Responsibility Help Desk is managing a Dropbox folder with collected global, regional, and country-level resources for COVID-19. This resource menu will be a living document which is updated regularly. There is a whole section on games and other activities which children can do at home. Link to the folder here.

New! Added 04 June 2020: Videos and live discussions by Play Africa Connects (Facebook page) to support parents, caregivers and community workers to spport children living in lock down. Includes Parenting in the inner city during lock down and Highlights of “Supporting Your Child’s Emotional Well-Being” on Play Africa Connects (on Facebook).

Tips for parents and caregivers during COVID-19 School closures: Supporting children’s wellbeing and learning. This resource has been developed by the MHPSS Collaborative for Children and Families and Save the Children. It consists of messages and tips focusing on supporting parents and caregivers in order to improve both wellbeing and learning outcomes for children. They are designed to complement government-developed distance learning materials, where available.

NEW! 06 July 2020: Stress Busters by Save the Children is designed for adults to try with children who are feeling the impact of COVID-19 on their lives, Fun drama-based stress relieving exercises to do at home or in other settings.

World Bank Group, 2015. Expanding Access to Early Childhood Development using interactive audio instruction – a toolkit and guidelines for program design and implementation. Interactive Audio Instruction is a distance learning technology that benefits children who can be hard to reach through conventional programs or in unstable and conflict-affected regions. Explore this resource for ideas and support during COVID-19 contexts. 60 pages. Link here.

WHO and partners, 2020. Parenting in the time of COVID-19. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: Healthy parenting. Six fun, 1-pagers with tips for parents for planning one-on-one time, staying positive, creating a daily routine, avoiding bad behaviour, managing stress, and talking about COVID-19. In many languages. Link here.

COVID-19 Advice for families of children with disabilities: A web page of advice from the UK organisation Contact.

My Hero is You, Storybook for Children on COVID-19 was developed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings.

Relaxation activities to do at home with kids: A Save the Children webpage with lots of simple activities for children to try out.

Inter-Agency Standing Committee reference group for mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings, 2020. Briefing Note on Addressing Mental Health and Psychosocial Aspects of COVID-19 Outbreak. 20 pages. Link here.

WHO, 2020. Helping children cope with stress during the 2019-nCoV outbreak – A 1-page brief. Link here.

WHO, 2020. Coping with stress during the 2019-nCoV outbreak – A 1-page brief. Link here.

IFRC, 2020. Remote Psychological First Aid during the COVID-19 outbreak –  Interim guidance. 12 pages. Link here.

Psychological First Aid Training Manual for Child Practitioners by Save the Children. The Psychological First Aid Training Manual for Child Practitioners, developed in 2013, aims to develop skills and competences of Save the Children staff, partners, and professionals in reducing the initial distress of children who have recently been exposed to a traumatic event. See Sessions 7-8 on communication with children and Session 9 on communication with caregivers.

IFRC, WHO, UNICEF, 2020. Social Stigma associated with COVID-19: A guide to preventing and addressing social stigma. 5 pages. Link here.

NEW! Added 04 June 2020: Basic Psychosocial Skills – A Guide for COVID-19 Responders. This illustrated guide, developed by the IASC Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Reference Group (MHPSS RG), aims at building basic psychosocial skills among all essential workers responding to COVID-19 in all sectors (26-pages).

Webinars: An ongoing series of webinars around COVID-19 are being run by The Lancet Psychiatry, Mental Health Innovation Network, MHPSS.net and United for Global Mental Health, with guest speakers. Webinars will take place weekly on Tuesdays at 09:00 EST; 14:00 BST; 15:00 CET; 15:00 SAST; 18:30 IST. Each session will last 45 minutes. Of note: May 12: Mental Health & COVID-19 Beyond Face to Face: Digital and Other Ways to Provide Mental Health Service Delivery and Support. Speakers will include Ken Carswell of WHO, experts on the latest in digital mental health service delivery and those working in low resource environments using TV, radio and community networks. Sign up to the seminar series via this link. For more information: [email protected]

Idea: TikTok is an app which allows anyone with a smart phone to make and share their own short videos. For children and young people who have access to TikTok, this is potentially a way for them to record their lives and experiences during COVID-19 and share with others.

Idea: Make a “no editing required” 2-minute “cellphilm” on a phone. Learn more about cellphilms here and watch some examples. Watch entries to the international cellphilm festival or watch a 60-second cellphilm on how to make a 60-second cellphilm.

Example: Virtual Care Groups – Community care groups who previously use to work face-to-face can work virtually through on-line moderated chat groups to organise and plan outreach to virtual ‘care-groups’ represented by clusters of households. Clear information for families is shared through a cascade model on WhatsApp or SMS to support individual families to practice physical distancing, regular handwashing, and care during COVID-19. See “Remote communications and keeping in touch” below for more information.

Example: During the 2014 Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone, more than 12,000 people signed up for WhatsApp groups organised by BBC Media Action which allowed them to send comments, questions and programming requests. An evaluation of the project found that people were keen to share their experiences publicly to express themselves. Research by BBC Media Action also found that during the Ebola crisis, people appreciated using messaging apps to hear “people like them” voice their concerns, as well as to access accurate information and ask questions about their situation. Read more here.

2.4 Monitoring and referral of highly vulnerable children and families

Regional Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Working Group on COVID-19 Preparedness and Response in Asia and the Pacific. COVID-19: How to include marginalized and vulnerable people in risk communication and community engagement. An easy to read 12-page guide with considerations for children, persons with disabilities, women and girls, pregnant women, people living with HIV, gender-based violence survivors, refugees and migrants, elderly, people living in existing humanitarian emergencies, people with pre-existing medical conditions, sexual and gender minorities, and ethnic minorities. Link here.

Gender-based violence prevention and response Global Protection Cluster and Inter-Agency Standing Committee, 2020. Identifying & Mitigating Gender-based Violence Risks within the COVID-19 Response.This document is intended to support non-GBV specialist humanitarian actors to identify COVID-19, GBV-specific risks in their sectors, and take actions to mitigate those risks. 16 pages. Link here.

A 2-page information sheet on 10 things you should know about COVID-19 and Persons with Disabilities by Save the Children, 2020. Save the Children Disability Inclusion Working Group. Link here.

5 pages of guidance (2020):Toward a Disability-Inclusive COVID19 Response: 10 recommendations from the International Disability Alliance. Link here.

Hong Kong Red Cross, 2020. Psychological coping during disease outbreak: elderly people and people with chronic conditions. 11-page, colourful, reader-friendly information brochure. Link here.

Child Protection Case Management Task Force, Lebanon. March 2020. Guidance for Child Protection case workers to share with caregivers on COVID-19 Child Protection Case Management Guidance for Remote Phone Follow-up. DRAFT version. Provides guidance on: 1) how case workers can provide remote support to children within their existing case load assessed to be at medium or high risk and 2) the specific considerations case workers need to make when conducting interviews/assessments of new cases and how to handle this remotely, primarily through phone calls. 9 pages. Link here.

Changing the Way We Care, 2020. Guidelines for Virtual Monitoring of Children, their Families and Residential Care Facilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Guidance on adapting and/or developing services and programming to continue to best serve children and families throughout the rapidly changing times of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on conducting virtual monitoring of children, families, alternative care placements and residential care facilities. 1 page. Link here.

Changing the Way We Care, 2020. Program guidance: preventive and responsive support to children, families and alternative care providers during COVID-19. A framework to help children’s care programs adapt, reorganise and prioritise prevention and response activities in relation to COVID-19. Link here.

Better Care Network, The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, and UNICEF and Inter-agency Task Force, 09 Apr 2020 Technical Note on the Protection of Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Children and Alternative Care. Link here. Better Care Network have a page with many other resources dedicated to children’s alternative care and COVID-19. Link here.

GBV responders’ network: Caring for Child Survivors Training Materials. Modules 6-9 are on communication with children and Module 17 is on psychosocial interventions (which can be adapted for the phone).

Guidance on COVID-19 and Child Protection Case Management is forthcoming from the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. Sign up to the Exchange mailing list for an alert by mailing: [email protected].

3. Ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of community focal points

WHO guidance on using face masks: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: when and how to use masks. Link here.

IFRC and RCS, 2020. Interim Guidance: Supportive Supervision for volunteers providing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support during COVID-19. Link here.

IFRC and RCS. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support for Staff, Volunteers and Communities in an Outbreak of Novel Coronavirus. A 14-page Word document with basic background and suggested activities and guidance, including for those in isolation. Link here.

Accurate information and online and messaging safety

The WHO launched a dedicated messaging service on COVID-19 in Arabic, English, French and Spanish with partners WhatsApp and Facebook. The service, however, requires users to be literate and have a smartphone to use different multimedia features.

Arabic Send “مرحبا”  to +41 22 501 70 23 on WhatsApp wa.me/41225017023?text=مرحبا

English Send “hi” to +41 79 893 18 92 on WhatsApp wa.me/41798931892?text=hi

French Send “salut” to +41 22 501 72 98 on WhatsApp wa.me/41225017298?text=salut

Italian Send “ciao” to +41 22 501 78 34 on WhatsApp https://wa.me/41225017834?text=ciao

Spanish Send “hola” to +41 22 501 76 90 on WhatsApp wa.me/41225017690?text=hola

The WHO also has an interactive chatbot on the social messaging app Viber which you can use to get accurate information about COVID-19 in multiple languages. Follow “WHO coronavirus info” on Viber. Link here. Viber requires a smartphone and data to operate.

The WHO has a page which specifically addresses misinformation about COVID-19. There are useful graphics to download and use. Link here.

Viamo 3-2-1 is a free information phone hotline available in 18 countries so far. Callers using any phone can access pre-recorded COVID-19 audio messages in their local language, free of charge. This allows those with low or no literacy to access the information. COVID-19 messages are currently available on the 3-2-1 service in: Afghanistan, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Dem. Rep. Congo, Ghana, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Nigeria, Niger, Pakistan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. While the national number is usually 321, it does vary depending on the country. To listen to the Uganda messages call (USA) +1-650-866-1481. To access country numbers and links: Link here. More information here.

NEW! 10 June 2020. Example: In Haiti, the hotline platform, Viamo, is using traditional Krik Krak story telling to convey messages about coronavirus. Krik Krak is an integral part of the culture of Haiti, a type of call and response storytelling that creates a shared dialogue of cause and effect. The Krik Krak messages available on the hotline are voiced by two major public personalities in Haiti, Kako and Bibi Net Al Kole. These messages address the issues of violence towards marginalized groups, such as women or those with disabilities, and dispel false rumours about the pandemic. By providing these important messages in an educational and entertaining way, and having them voiced by celebrity spokespeople, a larger portion of the population can connect to the messages in a form true to Haitian culture.

Video apps: In partnership with TikTok, WHO has been posting educational videos, live information sessions and a #SafeHands challenge that encourages people to wash their hands “Washing your hands is key, and all it takes is 40 seconds! We’re teaming up with the WHO to make sure that everyone knows how to keep their hands safe. So take 40 seconds, turn on the faucet, and show us what you’re thinking while washing and making sure you have #SafeHands”. Watch some videos here. In another TikTok collaboration, between Amitabh Bachchan and UNICEF, the actor talks about all the preventive measures that can be taken to stop the further spread of the virus including washing hands and wearing masks.

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s Hotline in a Box – a set of tools, case studies, and tip cards, developed by that will help you assess, set up, and manage different types of channels to communicate with communities during humanitarian crises. The full 64-page toolkit provides comprehensive guidance and worksheets. Read the case studies for examples of how it’s been used, plus 19 pages of tip cards.

Hotline related materials that are adapted for COVID-19 – Since setting up hotlines is labour and resource intensive, first check whether a well-functioning, accessible child helpline is already established in your context

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (2020). The New Coronavirus Radio Show Guide and Running Order: Risk communication and community engagement for new coronavirus. 10 pages of clear information and tips. Ideally this would be done through an existing radio station and with their producer. An interactive radio programme is a radio chat show, usually around one hour long, comprising an interview with an expert guest(s) and an opportunity for listeners to call or SMS with questions and comments to be answered by the expert. The show can also include pre-recorded interviews with community members (vox pops), music, or spots or jingles on the new coronavirus. Link here.

Example: In South Sudan, Radio Miraya, the station of the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), has for weeks been dedicating time and resources to provide the population on the pandemic. Based in the capital Juba, Miraya has the largest reach of any broadcaster in South Sudan and due to an effective relay system can be heard throughout most of the country. Radio Miraya reports the latest news about the global epidemic and the impact it may have on South Sudan. It also runs public service announcements including recently written songs by popular artists on the best practices to prevent any eventual outbreak for starting or spreading, such as handwashing and social distancing. Read an article about this here.

The UK’s NetAware initiative provides clear and easy to read information for adults and children on most of the common online networks and apps. A lot of the learning has been sourced from caregivers’ and children’s own experiences of various online platforms.

South Africa’s Media Monitoring Africa have developed online initiatives “HashPlay” and “Web Rangers”, both of which are designed to teach children and young people how to stay safe online.

For those who would like to explore in more detail the opportunities and potential risks associated with using messaging apps in a humanitarian setting consider reading Humanitarian futures for messaging apps: Understanding the opportunities and risks for humanitarian action (2017) published by ICRC with Engine Room and Block Party. Nearly 100 pages long, it provides in depth and comprehensive information and analysis about the use of messaging apps in humanitarian contexts across the world.

COVID-19 and its implications for protecting children online was published in April 2020 by a consortium of children’s agencies. 7 pages.

Key global guidance on COVID-19 and child protection

CP AoR and the Alliance Forum on Child Protection during COVID-19.

Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2019. Minimum standards for child protection in humanitarian action (CPMS).

Standard 17 of the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action is: “Community-level approaches: Children live in communities that promote their well-being and prevent abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence against children before, during and after humanitarian crises”.

Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2018. Guidance Note: Protection of children during infectious disease outbreaks.

Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020. Technical Note: Protection of children during the coronavirus pandemic.

Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020. Annex to the Inter-Agency Technical Note on the protection of children during the COVID-19 pandemic: Working with communities to keep children safe (forthcoming April 2020).

Key global guidance on community-led child protection

Wessells, M. G., 2018. A guide and toolkit for supporting a community-led approach to child protection. New York. Child Resilience Alliance. www.communityledcp.org.

Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, 2020. A reflective field guide: Community-level approaches to child protection in humanitarian action (forthcoming April 2020).

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Published: 2020
Author: Kathleen Kostelny, Ken Ondoro, & Mike Wessells
Resource Type: Kenya, Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

An endline study (Oct-Nov 2019) of action research undertaken in Marafa and Bamba, Kenya. The research aimed to develop and test systematically the effectiveness of more community owned processes of child protection that link with formal, government aspects of child protection, and to use the learning from the research to strengthen practice.

Published: 2020
Author: Kathleen Kostelny, Michael Wessells, and Ken Ondoro
Resource Type: Research, Resources

Chapter 18 from N. Balvin, D. J. Christie (eds.), Children and Peace, Peace Psychology Book. Series, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22176-8_18

Published: 2020
Author: Nikola Balvin & Daniel J. Christie, Editors
Resource Type: Research, Resources

Full publication from the Peace Psychology Book Series

Published: 2020
Author: MIRE–Mecanismo Intersectorial de Respuesta a Emergencias
Resource Type: Case Studies, Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Resources

Ficha de situación – Chocó: Quibdó. Comunidades de Villa nueva, Wounaan Phoboor y Wounaan la Paz.

Published: 2019
Author: Columbia University
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

This online course examines how children’s social environments at different levels, such as the family, community and societal levels, influence children’s adversity, development and resilience. Course participants will engage in critical thought about current international child protection practice and how to strengthen it. The course will invite participants to identify opportunities for using the learning from science and practice, to enrich current child protection approaches in humanitarian settings. Learn more and enroll here.

Published: 2019
Author: 6th Barefoot Guide Writers' Collective
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

“This book is the fruit of eighteen months of intense, lively collaboration by twenty-three people from seven countries on five continents! It is not about heroic leadership but, quite the opposite, about leadership that works generatively with life.”

This is a big (27MB) download so we’ve linked to the Barefoot Collective’s download page here.

Published: 2019
Author: The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Resources

The updated 2019 edition of this global guidance for minimum standards for child protection in humanitarian action.

Published: 2019
Author: UNICEF
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

The operational guidelines are designed and intended to help UNICEF staff and partners support and promote safe, nurturing environments for children’s recovery, psychosocial wellbeing and protection. The guidelines present an operational framework that emphasizes engaging actors at all levels (children, caregivers, families and community service providers) to design and implement MHPSS strategies that
are locally relevant, comprehensive and sustainable in order to more effectively restore, strengthen, and mobilize family and community supports and systems with the ultimate goal of supporting child and family wellbeing in humanitarian settings.

Published: 2019
Author: Sabrina Hermosilla, Janna Metzler, Kevin Savage, Miriam Musa and Alastair Ager
Resource Type: Research, Resources

Humanitarian crises present major threats to the wellbeing of children. These threats include risks of violence, abduction and abuse, emotional distress and the disruption of development. Humanitarian response efforts frequently address these threats through psychosocial programming. Systematic reviews have demonstrated the weak evidence-base regarding the impact of such interventions. This analysis assesses the impact of Child Friendly Spaces (CFS), one such commonly implemented intervention after humanitarian emergencies.

Published: 2019
Author: Beniamino Cislaghi
Resource Type: Research, Resources

Many of the programmes that achieve gender norms transformation in low- and middle-income countries are conducted at ‘community’ level. These programmes help people address existing relations of gender and power in their family and broader social networks. There are several programmatic strategies for community-level interventions that transform gender relations. This think piece looks at how community-led approaches can help transform harmful gender norms.

Published: 2019
Author: Glynis Clacherty
Resource Type: Research, Resources

Migrant children are often represented through stereotypical narratives by media, governments and even researchers. These representations range from institutional narratives that reduce their experience to “pre-flight, flight, post flight” to psychological narratives that can represent them as traumatized victims of war.

Published: 2018
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange for the Interagency Learning Initiative (ILI)
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Resources, Tanzania, Training materials and tools, Uganda, Webinars and learning events

A themes-focused report back of the workshops held in Kampala and Arusha 30 Jan-01 Feb and 06 Feb-08 Feb, 2018. These workshops were designed to create the time and space for practitioners in Uganda and Tanzania to reflect deeply on aspects of their own organisation’s community-based child protection work, learn about each others’ work and other evidence and learning, and to think about how they might employ some different approaches moving forward.

Published: 2018
Author: Written by Glynis Clacherty, edited by Lucy Hillier, with contributions from Mike Wessells for the Interagency Learning Initiative (ILI)
Resource Type: Case Studies, Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Resources, Uganda

This case study tells the story of a child protection programme developed by a community-based organisation called Children of the World that works in villages in northern Uganda. The Children of the World programme was chosen for this set of case studies because of its focus on the importance of a personal psychological process for real sustainable child protection.

Published: 2018
Author: Written by Glynis Clacherty, edited by Lucy Hillier, with contributions from Mike Wessells for the Interagency Learning Initiative (ILI)
Resource Type: Case Studies, Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Resources, Uganda

This case study tells the story of a regional association set up by truckers to protect children, in particular to stop truck drivers from picking up girls under 18 in the towns along the Uganda section of the Kampala-Mombasa trucking route. It tells the story of some of the truckers who took a stand against sexual exploitation of under-age girls as individuals and how they approached the Uganda Reproductive Health Bureau (URHB) to help them with technical information.

Published: 2018
Author: Hannelore Van Bavel a,b , Gily Coene c and Els Leye for "The Conversation"
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Research, Resources, Tanzania

Among the Maasai the circumcision of both boys and girls serves as a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. Efforts to discourage the practice haven’t always resulted in fewer Maasai girls being cut. But new research shows that they have had an impact on the cultural meaning of the ceremonial rite of passage, as well as its context. Hannelore van Bavel, Els Leye and Gily Coene explain.

Published: 2018
Author: Written by Glynis Clacherty, edited by Lucy Hillier, with contributions from Mike Wessells. Photographs by James Clacherty.
Resource Type: Case Studies, Resources, Tanzania

A case study collaboration between the Interagency Learning Initiative (ILI) on community-based child protection mechanisms, the Community Child Protection Exchange, and Kwa Wazee, Tanzania.

Published: 2018
Author: Written by Glynis Clacherty, edited by Lucy Hillier, with contributions from Mike Wessells. Photographs by James Clacherty.
Resource Type: Case Studies, Resources, Tanzania

A case study collaboration between the Interagency Learning Initiative (ILI) on community-based child protection mechanisms, the Community Child Protection Exchange, and Tanzanian Home Economics Association (TAHEA).

Published: 2018
Author: The Interagecy Learning Initiative on Community-Based Child Protection and Systems Strenghtening
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Resources, Webinars and learning events

We came together as child protection actors from global, regional, national and local contexts to reflect on progress to date, and to identify next steps, in supporting stronger community-led or “bottom-up” approaches to strengthening child protection systems.  We renewed our commitment to putting communities in the driving seat to protect their own children and we successfully agreed at the meeting how we would take action forward.

Published: 2018
Author: Terre Des Hommes
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources

A short brief on how TDH approaches working with communities and connecting formal and informal actors for child protection.

Published: 2018
Author: Bon Pasteur Kolwezi/GSIF
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Research, Resources

A short brief about research (2018) undertaken in Kolwezi in the DRC. Sustainable, low-carbon future seems unthinkable without batteries and cobalt. Yet the human and environmental costs of cobalt production are unsustainable for the communities living at the ‘upstream’ end of the supply chain. While the market price of cobalt tripled in the past 2 years, human rights conditions in the mining communities of Kolwezi (DRC), the global capital of cobalt, have not improved accordingly, and, for many, have declined.

Published: 2018
Author: Mark Canavera et al. with Good Shepherd International Foundation
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources

The goal of this document – and the research process that underpins it – is to articulate the model that the Good Shepherd Sisters (GSS) have been implementing in Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). By consulting with stakeholders from multiple levels – the Good Shepherd Sisters and their staff, participants in their programmes, community members who are not involved in the programme, government and non-government partners, and mining company representatives – we aimed to document what the Good Shepherd Sisters have been doing in Kolwezi over the past five years with an eye to provide constructive recommendations about the future of the programme, which is currently under review for possible replication in areas around Kolwezi.

Published: 2018
Author: Mark Canavera et al. avec Good Shepherd International Foundation
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources

Le but de ce document et le processus de recherche qui le sous-tend est d’articuler le modèle que les Soeurs du Bon Pasteur (GSS) ont mis en place à Kolwezi en République Démocratique du Congo (RDC). En consultant des intervenants de multiples niveaux les Soeurs du Bon Pasteur et leur personnel, les participants de leurs programmes, les membres de la communauté qui ne participent pas au programme, les partenaires gouvernementaux et non gouvernementaux et les représentants des sociétés minières, nous avons cherché à documenter ce que les Soeurs du Bon Pasteur ont réalisées à Kolwezi au cours des cinq dernières années dans le but de fournir des recommandations constructives sur l’avenir du programme, qui est actuellement en cours de révision pour une réplication possible dans les zones situées autour de Kolwezi.

Published: 2018
Author: Clacherty, G. published by the Interagency Learning Intitative on Community Based Child Protection, the Community Child Protection Exchange and TPO Uganda
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources, Uganda

A case study collaboration between the Interagency Learning Initiative (ILI) on community-based child protection mechanisms, the Community Child Protection Exchange, and TPO Uganda.

Published: 2018
Author: Michael G. Wessells for the Child Resilience Alliance
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

The terms “community-based” and “community-led” are often used interchangeably, but there is in fact a world of difference between these two approaches. A community-led approach to child protection is driven by the community themselves. Here, it is the community who holds the power and owns the process, not NGOs or outside experts. It is also the community who makes the decisions about which harms to children to address and how to address them.­­..Link to the online guide here.

Published: 2018
Author: Pearson, K.R., Bäckman, M., Grenni, S., Moriggi, A., Pisters, S. & de Vrieze, A. for SUSPLACE
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

A toolkit focusing on sustainable societies and creative, arts-based methods which can help communities work towards the goal of sustainability. This is a book which can inspire you and show you the power of creative approaches in community development, as well as teach you new skills and ways of thinking. The toolkit is Europe-focused and has an emphasis on the environment and nature, but many of its approaches and techniques, as well as its underlying theories, have global relevance and can be applied in different contexts, including child protection.

Published: 2018
Author: Global Communities
Resource Type: Case Studies, Information Briefs, Resources

A cross-sector example from the humanitarian response to disaster affected populations. Global Communities partners with communities to recover after natural disasters by addressing long-term needs and rebuilding climate-resilient infrastructure. It works with communities to strengthen their environmental resilience through climate change adaptation planning and disaster risk mitigation. The approach seeks to empower communities to identify, prioritise and find solutions to their most pressing needs. Haiti, Colombia, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico.

Published: 2018
Author: Jessica Kritz
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources

A cross sector case study. Every urban slum creates challenges too complex for governments to resolve when working alone. Old Fadama, the largest slum in in Accra, Ghana, is home to over 100 000 people. Old Fadama has virtually no water or sanitation infrastructure, contributing to diminished quality of health and frequent cholera outbreaks when the nearby river floods. Our research introduces a model for cross-sector collaboration, supporting stakeholders who wanted to improve community health by installing latrines.

Published: 2018
Author: The Horn of Africa Regional Environmental Network
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

A training workshop manual provides guidance on how to collect real-life stories of change from community members by using video as a participatory evaluation tool. The manual provides detailed support on each step and can potentially be used beyond its original purpose to document and tell the story of the impact of a large project or a smaller community-owned action.

Published: 2017
Author: Morten Skovdal and Flora Cornish, Save the Children Fund
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Training materials and tools

A useful guide showing how practitioners can use qualitative research to improve practical programming.

Free download until 28 February 2017! http://dx.doi.org/10.3362/9781780448534 Thereafter contact [email protected]

Published: 2017
Author: Morten Skovdal, Sitholubuhle Magutshwa-Zitha, Catherine Campbell, Constance Nyamukapa,and Simon Gregson
Resource Type: Research, Resources

A research article on how local organisations position themselves to be able to work with larger agencies on HIV issues in Zimbabwe. From the journal: Globalization and Health

Published: 2017
Author: UNHCR
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Resources

A report by UNHCR which seeks to help community-based protection actors and MHPSS practitioners understand the implications of their work for one another’s field of expertise including how they can collectively contribute to the wellbeing and protection of people affected by forced displacement.

Published: 2017
Author: Plan International
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Resources

A case study which describes the community-based child protection programme implemented between 2015 and 2016 with Burundian girls, boys and adults in Mahama refugee camp in Rwanda.

Published: 2017
Author: Williamson, K., Gupta, P., Gillespie, L.A., Shannon, H. and Landis, D. for Oxfam GB.
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

The executive summary of an independent systematic review, commissioned by the Humanitarian Evidence Programme which identifies, synthesizes and evaluates existing evidence of the impact of protection interventions on unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) in humanitarian crises since 1983.

Published: 2017
Author: Guest Editors: A. K. Shiva Kumar, Lorraine Sherr, Vivien Stern and Ramya Subrahmanian
Resource Type: Research, Resources

A Special Issue of Know Violence in Childhood: A Global Learning Initiative.Some community focused article are included.

Published: 2017
Author: Williamson, K., Gupta, P., Gillespie, L.A., Shannon, H. and Landis, D. for Oxfam GB
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

The full report of an independent systematic review, commissioned by the Humanitarian Evidence Programme which identifies, synthesizes and evaluates existing evidence of the impact of protection interventions on unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) in humanitarian crises since 1983.

Published: 2017
Author: Williamson, K., Gupta, P., Gillespie, L.A., Shannon, H. and Landis, D. for Oxfam GB
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

The evidence brief of an independent systematic review, commissioned by the Humanitarian Evidence Programme which identifies, synthesizes and evaluates existing evidence of the impact of protection interventions.

Published: 2017
Author: The Fifth Barefoot Guide Writer’s Collective
Resource Type: Case Studies, Resources, Training materials and tools

Many organisations, large and small, are tackling the deep challenges of exclusion and coming up with creative, innovative and workable solutions that are putting into practice the policies and strategies that everyone is talking about. This Barefoot Guide, written by 34 practitioners from 16 different countries on all continents makes many of these successful approaches and solutions more visible.

Published: 2017
Author: N. Beth Bradford
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Resources

A case study from Zimbabwe on how a national case management system for orphans and vulnerable children was built based on a community based care model.

Published: 2017
Author: Michael Wessells, David Lamin, Marie Manyeh, Dora King, Lindsay Stark, Sarah Lilley and Kathleen Kostelny
Resource Type: Case Studies, Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Research, Resources, Sierra Leone

Chapter 5 of the publication “The Social Realities of Knowledge for Development: Sharing Lessons of Improving Development Processes with Evidence” published by the International Development Institute, 2017. Using Interagency Learning Initiative (ILI) action research in Sierra Leone, this chapter from a DfiD provides a case study on how a highly collaborative approach can enable child protection research to achieve a significant national impact. The chapter describes how the inter-agency research facilitated a community-driven approach to addressing teenage pregnancy.

Published: 2017
Author: Hannelore Van Bavel, Gily Coene & Els Leye
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Tanzania

A study which looked at changing practices and shifting meanings of female genital cutting among the Maasai people in Tanzania. The findings suggest that an increasing social pressure to abandon female genital cutting  has inspired thehiding of the practice, causing the actual cutting to become detached from its traditional ceremonial connotations. It advocates for more bottom approaches to support a contextually relevant approach to social change.

Published: 2017
Author: Michael Wessells, Columbia University and Kathleen Kostelny, Columbia Group for Children in Adversity
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources, Sierra Leone

Child rights are fundamental for ending violence and injustice against children and promoting children’s wellbeing. However, the top-down manner of introducing child rights is frequently problematic. Ethnographic research in Sierra Leone and Kenya indicates that top-down, impositional approaches to teaching child rights can lead local people to view child rights as a harm to children or to prefer traditional practices that can clash with human rights standards. To implement child rights, the use of a slow, respectful process of internally guided social change is recommended. To appear in M. Ruck, M. Peterson-Badali, and M. Freeman (Eds.) Handbook of Children’s Rights: Global and Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Taylor and Francis.

Published: 2017
Author: Michael G. Wessells
Resource Type: Research, Resources

This article, which introduces the 2nd Special Issue on Children and Armed Conflict, outlines 3 pillars of systemic supports for war-affected children: comprehensiveness, sustainability, and Do No Harm. It shows how supports should be multileveled, resilience-oriented, multidisciplinary, tailored to fit different subgroups, and attentive to issues of policy and funding.

Published: 2017
Author: Alejandro Silva for Terre des Hommes
Resource Type: Resources

MAPA is the result of the collaborative efforts to work with young people at risk or in conflict with the law. It is guided by Terre des Hommes-Lausanne Foundation and focuses on the exchange of experiences between experts and institutions with a long history of working with boys and girls, teenagers and young people living in situations of violence, drug abuse and any form of exploitation, in Nicaragua and other countries in Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. The approach looks at both the individual and the community with a focus on psychosocial aspects. This 76-page handbook describes the key methodologies used by the initiative across the globe and is useful for those wanting to explore how individual teens and the community intersect. It is specifically written for those working with marginalised teenagers and who are seeking to facilitate greater participation

Published: 2016
Author: Mike Wessells
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Sierra Leone, Training materials and tools, Uganda

Mike Wessells’ presentation at the Kampala workshop 17-18 August 2016 where he discusses questions about community driven child protection which keep him awake at night.

Published: 2016
Author: Eddy Walakira
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Research, Resources, Training materials and tools, Uganda, Webinars and learning events

This presentation looks at the results of a War Child Holland initiative in Northern Uganda around prevention of violence against children in a post war setting.

Published: 2016
Author: Patrick Onyango
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources, Sierra Leone, Training materials and tools, Uganda, Webinars and learning events

A presentation on girl mothers in armed forces and groups and their children in Northern Uganda, Liberia and Sierra Leone – Participatory Action Research to assess and improve their situations.

Published: 2016
Author: James Kobogozza
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Research, Resources, Uganda, Webinars and learning events

An overview of a recent mapping of child protection systems in Uganda.

Published: 2016
Author: Kostelny, K., Lamin, D., Manyeh, M., Ondoro, K., Stark, L., Lilley, S., & Wessells, M.
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Sierra Leone

The Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone disrupted the Interagency Learning Initiative’s action research on strengthening community-based child protection mechanisms. In response, ethnographic research was conducted to investigate the wider effects of the Ebola crisis as well as the specific effects on the community led intervention and problems related to teenage pregnancy.

Published: 2016
Author: International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD), Dr. Philip Cook, Michele Cook, Natasha Blanchet Cohen, Armel Oguniyi & Jean Sewanou
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Research, Resources, Webinars and learning events

A final report on action research which looked at how communities can help drive monitoring, planning and action around social cohesion strengthening and child protection in Chad and Burundi.

Published: 2016
Author: Vanessa Currie and Cheryl Heykoop for International Institute for Child Rights and Development
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools, Webinars and learning events

Child-Centred Accountability and Protection Evaluation (CAPE) is a multi-institutional pilot project focused on assessing how the impact of child protection services and programs addressing sexual abuse and exploitation can be measured and evaluated from a child-centred perspective.

Published: 2016
Author: UCL and Stellenbosch University
Resource Type: Research, Resources

A 2016 review which builds on our knowledge and previous reviews (2009) of the effects of interventions, specifically psychosocial wellbeing, targeting children affected by HIV.

Published: 2016
Author: Rachel Bray and Andrew Dawes, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources, Tanzania

Based on an evidence-focused literature review, this paper examines existing knowledge on raising adolescents in East and Southern African countries, including Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Published: 2016
Author: Columbia Group for Children in Adversity Inc., CINI, Chetna Vikas, Plan India, Praxis – Institute for Participatory Practices.
Resource Type: India, Research, Resources

Reflections from an inter-agency action research initiative aimed at learning from communities in Jharkhand state of India about harms faced by children and protections available to them.

Published: 2016
Author: Child Frontiers on behalf of the Systems Strengthening and Disaster Risk Reduction Task Force - co-led by the CPC Learning Network and Plan International
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

This review targets actors supporting child protection responses in humanitarian settings. The document aims to provide an overview of child protection systems strengthening in emergencies practice to date, and propose certain key considerations with regards to systems for child protection practitioners.

Published: 2016
Author: Michael G. Wessells
Resource Type: Research, Resources

An article featuring the rise of systems thinking evident in ecological frameworks and child protection systems, it emphasises resilience approaches and the movement away from deficits frameworks that underscore disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It also identifies numerous obstacles to achieving a comprehensive understanding of war-affected children. Primary among these are a weak evidence base, insufficient attention to contextual diversity, use of non-holistic approaches, and the marginalisation of children’s agency.

Published: 2015
Author: Mike Wessells
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda

KiSwahili version of “Bottom-up approaches to strengthening child protection systems: Placing children, families, and communities at the center.” This article examines an alternative approach of community-driven, bottom-up work that enables non formal–formal collaboration and alignment, greater use of formal services, internally driven social change, and high levels of community ownership. From the journal: Child Abuse & Neglect

Published: 2015
Author: Mike Wessells
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources, Sierra Leone, Uganda

This article examines an alternative approach of community-driven, bottom-up work that enables non formal–formal collaboration and alignment, greater use of formal services, internally driven social change, and high levels of community ownership. From the journal: Child Abuse & Neglect

Published: 2015
Author: Plan International
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Resources

PLAN International’s review of its global programmes for community-based child protection. NB this is a very large file: 50MB

Published: 2015
Author: Malherbe, N., Cornell, J., & Suffla, S. (Eds.) for Institute for Social & Health Sciences. University of South Africa.
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

A manual which provides excellent practical and detailed instruction and guidance on how to undertake a PhotoVoice activity with adults and/or children. The manual recommends a facilitation style which guides but does not lead or seek to provide answers or to influence.

Published: 2015
Author: Zeinab Hijazi for UNICEF
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

This is a compendium of psychosocial support (PSS) resources which is designed to support UNICEF’s global guidance on community-based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, including a framework that clearly shows the shift away from a Child Friendly Space focused approach to a more community-based approach. The compendium of resources supplements the global guidance through providing a set of resources that can be used in different field settings.

Published: 2015
Author: Kurt Madoerin. Kwa Wazee
Resource Type: Case Studies, Resources, Tanzania

A background document on the Tatu Tano programme in Nshamba, Tanzania, Developed and implemented by Kwa Wazee.

Published: 2015
Author: Kurt Madoerin/Kwa Wazee
Resource Type: Case Studies, Resources, Tanzania

An outline of the Tatu Tano programme and learning from 2015.

Published: 2014
Author: Kostelny, K., Wessells, M., & Ondoro, K.
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources

In diverse contexts, community-based child protection mechanisms (CBCPMs) are front line efforts to protect children from exploitation, abuse, violence, and neglect and to promote children’s well-being.

Published: 2014
Author: Kostelny, K., Wessells, M., & Ondoro, K.
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources

This research report is an output of the Interagency Learning Initiative on Community Based Child Protection Mechanisms and Child Protection Systems. The technical leadership for the Initiative is provided by the Columbia Group for Children in Adversity.

Published: 2014
Author: Wessells, M., Kostelny, K., and Ondoro, K. For the Interagency Learning Initiative on Community-Based Child Protection Mechanisms and Child Protection Systems
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources

Summary and Integrated Analysis: A grounded view of community-based child protection mechanisms and their linkages with the wider child protection system in three rural and urban areas in Kenya

Published: 2014
Author: Kostelny, K., Wessells, M., & Ondoro, K.
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources

This research report is an output of the Interagency Learning Initiative on Community Based Child Protection Mechanisms and Child Protection Systems. The technical leadership for the Initiative is provided by the Columbia Group for Children in Adversity.

Published: 2014
Author: Mike Wessells, David Lamin, & Marie Manyeh
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources, Sierra Leone

An overview of the Interagency Learning Initiative process of supporting community-driven action that addresses needs of vulnerable children in Bombali and Moyamba Districts of Sierra Leone.

Published: 2014
Author: ECPAT International, Plan International, Save the Children, UNICEF and World Vision - ECPAT International, Bangkok
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources

A review of mappings and assessments of the child protection system in 14 countries was commissioned by the Inter-Agency Steering Committee (IASC), a subcommittee of the East Asia and Pacific Child Protection Working Group.

Published: 2014
Author: Dr. Lucie Cluver
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Training materials and tools

Dr Lucie Cluver’s presentation from the webinar “Research in a shoestring” 17th March 2014

Published: 2014
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

A short round up of studies undertaken since the publication of the 2009 review “What are we learning about community based child protection mechanisms?” All the studies are hyperlinked.

Published: 2014
Author: Frédérique Boursin-Balkouma - Sociologue - Spécialiste en protection de l’enfant, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Nouhoun Sidibé - Enseignant – Chercheur - Spécialiste en Education, ISFRA, Bamako, Mali
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources

A travers un diagnostic participatif, l’étude commanditée par l’ONG Terre des hommes dans les districts sanitaires de Markala et Macina avait pour objectif d’identifier les problématiques et les risques de protection de l’enfance les plus répandus ; ainsi que de découvrir les pratiques endogènes de protection (PEP) existantes.

Published: 2014
Author: Frédérique Boursin-Balkouma - Sociologue - Spécialiste en protection de l’enfant, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Nouhoun Sidibé - Enseignant – Chercheur - Spécialiste en Education, ISFRA, Bamako, Mali
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources

A participatory study sponsored by the Terre des Hommes NGO in the health districts of Markala and Macina which aimed to identify the most common risks for child protection as well as existing endogenous protection practices.

Published: 2014
Author: Dr Monica Ruiz-Casares
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

Dr Monica Ruiz-Casares’ presentation for the webinar “Research on a Shoestring” 17th March 2014.

Published: 2013
Author: Kostelny, K., Wessells, M., Chabeda-Barthe, J, & Ondoro, K
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources

A rapid ethnographic study in two urban slums in Mombasa, Kenya, of community-based child protection mechanisms and their links with the national child protection system

Published: 2013
Author: CPC Learning Network
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Uganda

This study looks at how people living in protracted refugee settings in Uganda protect their children.

Published: 2013
Author: Cluver, L, Orkin, M, Boyes, M, Sherr, L, Makhasi, D, Nikelo, J.
Resource Type: Research, Resources

Increasing evidence demonstrates negative psychological, health, and developmental outcomes for children associated with parental HIV/AIDS illness and death. However, little is known about how parental AIDS leads to negative child outcomes.

This study used a structural equation modelling approach to develop an empirically-based theoretical model of interactive relationships between parental or primary caregiver AIDS-illness, AIDS-orphanhood and predicted intervening factors associ- ated with children’s psychological distress, educational access and sexual health.

Published: 2013
Author: Ken Ondoro, Kathleen Kostelny, Mike Wessells
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources, Webinars and learning events

Webinar presentation 28th Aug 2013 – Kenya, urban slums

Published: 2013
Author: The African Child Policy Forum; African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect; Environnement et Développement du Tiers-monde; International Social Service; Mouvement Africain des Enfants et Jeunes Travailleurs; Plan International; Regional Inter-agency Task Team on Children and AIDS; Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative; Save the Children; SOS Children’s Villages International; Terre des hommes; UNICEF; et World Vision..
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources

Addis Ababa, 6 Novembre 2013 – Treize agences travaillant en Afrique ont lancé une Déclaration Conjointe qui appelle les gouvernements africains à renforcer leurs systèmes de protection de l’enfance afin de garantir à chaque enfant, le droit à une vie sans violence, abus, exploitation et maltraitance dans les contextes d’urgence et de non-urgence.

Published: 2013
Author: African Child Policy Forum; African Network for the Prevention and Protection against Child Abuse and Neglect; Environnement et Développement du Tiers-monde; International Social Service; Mouvement Africain des Enfants et Jeunes Travailleurs; Plan International; Regional Inter-agency Task Team on Children and AIDS; Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative; Save the Children; SOS Children’s Villages International; Terre des hommes; UNICEF; and World Vision..
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources

Addis Ababa, 6th November 2013 – Thirteen agencies working in Africa have issued a Joint Statement calling on African governments to strengthen their child protection systems to secure the right of children to a life free from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect in both emergency and non-emergency settings.

Published: 2013
Author: Michael Wessells and Kathleen Kostelny
Resource Type: Research, Resources

Natural helpers play a critical role in ensuring children’s safety during and in the aftermath of crises.

Published: 2012
Author: Child Protection in Crisis Network
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Uganda

The goal of this research is to take a bottom-up approach in examining existing CBCPMs in Arua and Nebbi districts in Uganda. By understanding how communities currently define, prevent, and respond to child protection violations and how local systems connect (or do not connect) to formal protection systems, these mechanisms may then be supported, and enhanced, rather than ignored or undermined.

With appropriate support, CBCPMs may be able to increase coverage and efficacy and even improve the implementation of locally appropriate strategies.

Published: 2012
Author: Inter-Agency Learning Initiative on Community-Based Child Protection Mechanisms and Child Protection Systems
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources, Sierra Leone

This document serves as a seven-page summary of the longer report included among these research documents, “An Ethnographic Study of Community-Based Child Protection Mechanisms and their Linkages with the National Child Protection System of Sierra Leone.”

Published: 2012
Author: REPSSI
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

The overall aims of the guidelines are to help young carers:

1.To feel more empowered (by the acquisition of new knowledge and skills) and less vulnerable in their role as young carers;

2.To feel more supported (by other individuals and groups) in their role as a young carer.

Published: 2012
Author: Plan International
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

This report describes the methodology used by Plan for their comparative analysis of community based child protection mechanisms. The report includes the full set of tools used.

Published: 2012
Author: Plan International
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Research, Resources

This report provides a child-friendly summary of Plan’s comparative analysis of community based child protection mechanisms.

Published: 2012
Author: Cluver, L, Orkin, M, Boyes, M, Sherr, L, Makhasi, D, Nikelo, J.
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Research, Resources

A brief demonstrating how parental AIDS-illness and death have severe negative impacts on children, and why AIDS in particular has these effects.

Published: 2012
Author: CPC Learning Network and the Interagency Learning Initiative
Resource Type: Research, Resources

Lessons learned on conducting research drawn from a collective body of research undertaken by the CPC Learning Network and the Interagency Learning Initiative.

Published: 2012
Author: Principal Investigator, Mike Wessells, Columbia Group for Children in Adversity
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Kenya, Research, Resources

A rapid ethnographic study in two urban slums in Mombasa, Kenya, of community-based child protection mechanisms and their links with the national child protection systems. This is a four-page overview of the results of this study.

Published: 2012
Author: Neil Boothby, Mike Wessells, John Williamson,, Gillian Huebner, Kelly Canter, Eduardo Garcia Rolland, Vesna Kutlesic, Farah Bader, Lena Diaw, Maya Levine, Anita Malley, Kathleen Michels, Sonali Patel, Tanya Rasa, Fred Ssewamala, Vicki Walker
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Uganda

A systematic review of evidence of effective early response strategies for children outside of family care.

Published: 2012
Author: Neil Boothby, Mike Wessells, John Williamson, Gillian Huebner, Kelly Canter, Eduardo Garcia Rolland , Vesna Kutlesic, Farah Bader, Lena Diaw, Maya Levine , Anita Malley, Kathleen Michels, Sonali Patel, Tanya Rasaj, Fred a Ssewamala , Vicki Walkerk
Resource Type: Research, Resources

Published: 2011
Author: Kwa Wazee
Resource Type: Case Studies, Resources, Tanzania

A 2011 evaluation of the Kwa Wazee girl’s self-defence training initiative in Nshamba, Tanzania.

Published: 2011
Author: Sian Long, Maestral International
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Research, Resources, Tanzania

This report describes a child protection system strengthening initiative that was piloted in four districts in Tanzania. The aim of the initiative was to improve the delivery of social and protective services to all children, especially the most vulnerable, with a view towards building an evidence base for an effective child protection model that can be scaled up nationally.

Published: 2011
Author: Child Protection in Crisis Network
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Research, Resources, Uganda

In 2011, 320 children from across Uganda participated in a consultation on the nature of childhood in the country. Drawn from urban and rural areas children shared their hopes as they described what they saw ‘doing well’ as a child to mean. Over 150 parents also indicated their own aspirations for their children.

Published: 2011
Author: Susan McKay, Angela Veale, Miranda Worthen & Michael Wessells
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Uganda

In this paper, the authors describe an innovative ¢eld practice ^ community-based, participatory action research (PAR) that meaningfully involved formerly associated young mothers, and other vulnerable young mothers, in their communities.

Published: 2010
Author: REPSSI and TPO Uganda
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools, Uganda

Practical information about community-based psychosocial and mental health interventions in the aftermath of emergency situations. This learning is derived from the experiences of the Transcultural Psychosocial Organisation in Uganda (TPO) and REPSSI.

Published: 2010
Author: Alyson Eynon and Sarah Lilley for Save the Children UK on behalf of the Child Protection Working Group of the UN Protection Cluster
Resource Type: Case Studies, Resources

This discussion paper uses three case studies – Myanmar, the occupied Palestinian territories, and Timor Leste – to examine the state of evidence about strengthening national child protection systems through community-based mechanisms during emergencies.

Published: 2010
Author: Interagency working group on child protection systems in sub-Saharan Africa
Resource Type: Information Briefs, Resources, Training materials and tools

This Resource Guide is intended to provide practical tools and resources for two related groups of stakeholder users: Country level policy and decision makers and international and country level partners who are providing technical assistance and/or funding aimed at system strengthening.

Published: 2010
Author: Interagency Learning Initiative on Community-Based Child Protection Mechanisms and Child Protection Systems
Resource Type: Kenya, Research, Resources

A rapid ethnographic study in two urban slums in Mombasa, Kenya, of community-based child protection mechanisms and their links with the national child protection system.

Published: 2010
Author: ChildFund International
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Training materials and tools

Simple tools and methods to research in a participatory way with children and youth, and to engage with communities from the very beginning.

Published: 2010
Author: Grace Onyango & Miranda Worthen
Resource Type: Resources, Sierra Leone, Training materials and tools, Uganda

A guide for programmers and implementers based on the Participatory Action Research project with young mothers and their children in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Northern Uganda.

Published: 2009
Author: Mike Wessells, lead consultant, on behalf of an Inter-Agency Working Group
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources

This 20-page executive summary presents an overview of the key findings from a 2009 inter-agency review of the evidence on community-based child protection mechanisms. The full report is also available in this research section.

Published: 2009
Author: Mike Wessells, lead consultant, on behalf of an Inter-Agency Working Group
Resource Type: Research, Resources

This 2009 inter-agency studied examined 160 documents about working with community-based groups for child protection.  While finding that the evidence base concerning the child protection outcomes achieved by such work, the report identified sets of factors that seemed to contribute to more effective community-based work and outlined promising practices.

Published: 2009
Author: Deborah Daro and Kenneth A Dodge
Resource Type: Research, Resources

A research article which looks at five different community child abuse prevention efforts (in the USA) which focus on enhancing community capacity, including formal and informal resources, and local cultural contexts.

Published: 2009
Author: Samira Ahmed, S. Al Hebshi and B. V. Nylund for UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

An Innocenti Working Paper Special Series on Social Norms and Harmful Practices.This paper examines the experience of Sudan by analysing the factors that promote and support the abandonment of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and other harmful social
practices. Despite the fact that FGM/C is still widely practiced in all regions of northern Sudan, women’s intention to circumcise their daughters has decreased significantly during the last 16 years. Attitudes are changing and today, actors are mobilizing across the country to end the practice. This paper examines these changes. It analyses programmes that support ending FGM/C in Sudan and
highlights the key factors that promote collective abandonment of the practice, including the roles of community dialogue, human rights deliberation, community-led activities, and the powerful force of local rewards and punishment.

Published: 2009
Author: Haile Gabriel Dagne for UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre
Resource Type: Research, Resources

This paper provides a comparative analysis of the social dynamics of change in four geographic locations with different ethnic populations in Ethiopia, where interventions were undertaken to support the abandonment of FGM/C and other harmful practices. Each experience used community dialogue as a tool to promote the abandonment process, although their overall strategies and impact differed. The four experiences together provide a greater the understanding of the process of change within communities and the role played by key actors within and outside the community. The study demonstrates that by addressing FGM/C within a human rights context, community members are able to consider not cutting as a possible alternative to the existing convention of cutting.

Published: 2009
Author: Theresa S. Betancourt and Timothy Williams
Resource Type: Research, Resources

This paper reviews what is currently known from research about the effectiveness of interventions to address mental health problems in children and adolescents affected by armed conflict. The focus will be on interventions delivered in conflict affected countries either during active humanitarian emergencies or during the post conflict period.

Published: 2009
Author: Torres, J., Camacho, F., Aguilar, J. & Hanson, E. for War Child Holland and Corporación Sumarse
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

Designed for children and young people who are doing a photography or art projects on children’s rights.

Published: 2008
Author: Sarah Lilley for Save the Children UK
Resource Type: Case Studies, Research, Resources

This 2008 discussion paper shares Save the Children’s experience in working with community-based groups; the paper is an effort to stimulate dialogue by highlighting the successes and challenges of such work.

Published: 2008
Author: Nicole Benham
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Resources

A Report of the Interagency Learning Initiative: Engaging Communities for Children’s Well-Being.

This 2008 report, commissioned by an inter-agency steering committee and produced for review by the United States Agency for International Development’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund, drew largely upon interviews with practitioners to draw out factors that both enable and constrain good practice with regards to working with community-based child protection and welfare groups.

Published: 2008
Author: Nicole Benham for the Interagency Learning Initiative
Resource Type: Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

A report which aims to identify key issues, as a step toward the development of a broad consensus on good practice in engaging with communities to promote children’s safety and wellbeing.

Published: 2008
Author: Kamal Kar with Robert Chambers
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

A cross sectoral example and guidance for community-led action to improve sanitation.

Published: 2008
Author: Kurt Madoerin. Published by REPSSI
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Resources, Tanzania, Training materials and tools

Several decades of experience in working with vulnerable children across the planet had resulted in Kurt coming to believe that in the face of family, community and societal disintegration, the single most important supportive “intervention” that could be offered “to”, and more importantly “with” children and youth, might be the mobilisation of children and youth into their own child-led and youth-led organisations.

Published: 2006
Author: Jill Donahue and Louis Mwewa
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Research, Resources

Case studies of mobilisation and capacity building to benefit vulnerable children in Malawi and Zambia.

Published: 2006
Author: Amnesty International
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

Amnesty International (2006) Ben ni walen/let’s agree and take action – mobilising for human rights using participatory theatre. Amnesty International. Amsterdam.

A guide on how to implement a theatre for development project which “contains basic guidelines and suggestions rather than giving step-by-step directions on how to develop programmes.”  Whilst the guide does set out to “teach” rights to some extent, there is also a focus on promoting a community assets-based approach and opening up dialogue and discussion and to reflect and decide how things could be changed, not to dictate.

Published: 2006
Author: Lunch, C., & Lunch, N. for InsightShare
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

A manual which is a comprehensive and practical guide written by practitioners for setting up and running participatory video projects anywhere in the world. This manual sets out to support communities to lead their own development and is therefore a promising tool which could potentially be used to support community-level child protection processes. The manual explicitly mentions endogenous innovation and horizontal learning as well as vertical learning, for example, for advocacy.

Published: 2005
Author: REPSSI
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

Building upon “The Journey of Life: A Community Workshop to Support Children,” this 2005 publication includes much of what is available in that earlier workshop manual but also includes a section for holding workshops with children.

Published: 2005
Author: B. Cope for War Child Holland
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

One-page music activities. The activities are simple but require preparation and practice to facilitate. While the focus is psychosocial, with no explanation as to how they impact on individuals and groups, they could be used as icebreakers, team building and for other objectives.

Published: 2005
Author: Glynis Clacherty and Professor David Donald
Resource Type: Case Studies, Reports and consultations, Resources, Tanzania

The aims of the Humuliza Project are to develop a practical instrument to enable

teachers and caregivers to support orphans psychologically and to develop the

orphans’ own capacity to cope with the loss of their caretakers.

Published: 2004
Author: REPSSI
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

This 2004 publication from the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative, is a workshop designed to raise awareness of the problems and needs of children. It provides guidelines on how the community can find solutions. It was developed in southern and eastern Africa but has been used in a variety of settings. This 49-page booklet includes instructions for the facilitator(s) and concrete workshop planning tools.

Published: 2002
Author: The Concerned for Working Children - Compiled and Edited by Nandana Reddy and Kavita Ratna
Resource Type: Research, Resources, Training materials and tools

A document which shares the body of knowledge acquired by the Concerned Working for Children, India, and questons which still need answering.

Published: 2001
Author: Sarah Earl, Fred Carden & Terry Smutylo. Foreword by Michael Quinn Patton
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools, Webinars and learning events

How can we really measure the the impact of our programmes? This book helps practitioners identify and set realistic expectations and goals for outcome mapping.

Published: 2001
Author: Save the Children UK
Resource Type: Resources, Training materials and tools

A training manual on how to use various theatre and arts approaches to help communities – both adults and children – unpack and understand power issues in their lives and how to undertake effective advocacy for child rights.