Published: No date
Author: Riva B. Kantowitz for Care and Protection of Children (CPC) Learning Network Columbia University

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: 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

“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: March 2022
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange

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

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

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

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

Published: 2021
Author: Glynis Clacherty

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)

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

Published: 2020
Author: Kathleen Kostelny, Ken Ondoro, & Mike Wessells

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

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

Full publication from the Peace Psychology Book Series

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

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

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

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: Hannelore Van Bavel a,b , Gily Coene c and Els Leye for "The Conversation"

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: Bon Pasteur Kolwezi/GSIF

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

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

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

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: Jessica Kritz

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: 2017
Author: Morten Skovdal and Flora Cornish, Save the Children Fund

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

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: Williamson, K., Gupta, P., Gillespie, L.A., Shannon, H. and Landis, D. for Oxfam GB.

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

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

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

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: Michael Wessells, David Lamin, Marie Manyeh, Dora King, Lindsay Stark, Sarah Lilley and Kathleen Kostelny

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

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

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

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: 2016
Author: Mike Wessells

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

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

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

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.

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

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: UCL and Stellenbosch University

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)

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.

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

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

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

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

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: 2014
Author: Kostelny, K., Wessells, M., & Ondoro, K.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Published: 2014
Author: Community Child Protection Exchange

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

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

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: 2013
Author: Kostelny, K., Wessells, M., Chabeda-Barthe, J, & Ondoro, K

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

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.

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

Webinar presentation 28th Aug 2013 – Kenya, urban slums

Published: 2013
Author: Michael Wessells and Kathleen Kostelny

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

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

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: Plan International

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.

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

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

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

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

Published: 2011
Author: Sian Long, Maestral International

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

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

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: Interagency Learning Initiative on Community-Based Child Protection Mechanisms and Child Protection Systems

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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: 2008
Author: Sarah Lilley for Save the Children UK

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 for the Interagency Learning Initiative

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: 2006
Author: Jill Donahue and Louis Mwewa

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

Published: 2002
Author: The Concerned for Working Children - Compiled and Edited by Nandana Reddy and Kavita Ratna

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