Partnering for Child protection:
strengthening national child
protection systems through
effective reporting violence against
children
Plan Asia Regional Office
Asia & Pacific First Policy Dialogue
and
Sixth Regional Consultation of Child Helplines
26-28 November 2013
Hanoi, Vietnam
In this presentation:
• About Plan and its child protection
portfolio
• Role and importance of Plan Asia in
supporting inter-agency collaboration and
civil society platforms
• Synergies with CHI/child helplines:
emerging good practice
• Good practice and challenges
identified
• Recommendations and way forward
(child friendly reporting mechanisms
and increased quality of participation
etc.)
About Plan International
• Plan is not-for-profit, independent child
rights based organization with no
religious, political or governmental
affiliations
• Plan works in 50 developing countries
across Asia, Africa and the Americas,
supported by National Organisations in 22
donor countries
• We work in partnership with more than
3.5 million families and their communities
at local, national and international levels,
and with children in particular
Where we work – Plan in Asia
Defining Child Protection in Plan
‘
to
“ Child Protection is the term
used to describe the responsibilities
and activities undertaken to prevent or
stop children from being abused or
ill-treated ”
[Plan definition]
In more detail this means protecting
children from specific acts of intentional or
unintentional abuse which may harm them
physically, emotionally, sexually or by
neglect.
5
Vision for Child Protection in Plan…
Plan aims to create child safe environments – internally
and externally - where children are respected,
protected, empowered and active in their own
protection, and where staff are skilled, confident,
competent and well supported in meeting their
protection responsibilities through clear policies,
procedures and good practice.
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Child protection in
everything we do…
If girls and boys are not protected
first from violence and
discrimination in their home,
community or educational settings
there is little point in interventions
for their survival, development
and participation in society.
Therefore, protecting children is an
issue which cuts across all Plan’s
programmes…
Strategic efforts for a greater impact...
Overall goal of Plan Asia regional strategy on Child Protection:
Every child enjoys right to protection from all forms of
violence in all settings through effective, competent and wellresourced national child protection systems
With a several areas of specific focus:
• Capacities of duty bearers are enhanced at different levels for
establishing and strengthening child protection systems to prevent violence
against children and respond to child protection issues in the best interest of
every child;
• Effective community-based child protection mechanisms are
established, sustained and scaled up to contribute towards fully functional
national child protection systems;
• Meaningful involvement of children, particularly those from
excluded and marginalised groups, in their own protection is ensured;
• Advocacy is conducted with duty bearers for the establishment and
enforcement of child protection legal and policy frameworks and allocation
of resources to ensure fully functioning child protection systems are in place.
Synergies with different actors…
Strengthening child protection
partnerships and coordination
between different stakeholders
including governments, civil society
organisations, communities and
children and multi-sectoral
cooperation and coordination to
protect all children is essential for
closing gaps in provision and reaching
child protection targets...
Partnerships with Child HelpLines
across Asia...
• Over the past decade, Plan has been supporting
establishment, maintenance and integration of
child helplines through local implementing
partners in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India,
Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, Vietnam...
• A wealth of experiences in mutual support and
learning resulted in integrative efforts to
mainstream helplines as a standing reporting and
referral mechanism of the emerging national
child protection systems...
Significant achievements and
good practice in the making...
• Improved professionalism in counseling services,
supervision and regular appraisals, resulting in providing
better quality services to callers;
• Increased access of helpline by becoming a 24 hour service
in many places;
• Higher degree of sustainability through integration into
state run system;
• Advocacy and engagement with a wide array of public
actors, including policy-makers, police, prosecutors, media
etc. to ensure the cases are properly processed and followed
through;
• Providing data on the nature and incidence of child abuse
on a regular basis...
Challenges faced...
• Reaching the most marginalised and excluded children
through innovative methodologies and approaches;
• Ensuring full operationality and better networking and
coordination with different local and national child
protection actors;
• More effective linkages with the components of national
child protection systems, especially with support services
including shelters and community based mechanisms;
• Awareness of the child helpline is still largely at provincial
level, but not entirely reaching district and community levels
• Quality of children’s involvement and participation at
different levels
Key recommendations
• Strengthening support to building comprehensive and
holistic child protection system at national level;
• Increased contribution to creation of child sensitive
mechanisms to report child protection concerns;
• Involving children in their own protection through more
active inputs into child helplines functional and operational
mechanisms and building children’s own risk awareness and
resilience;
• Increasing reach-out to children in need of special
protection, children from remote areas and those with
disadvantaged and underprivileged backgrounds and
situations…
THANK YOU!