Overview of Protection
in Early Childhood
Indicators
Presentation to Thai Government, UNICEF and
NGO colleagues
Bangkok
February 17th, 2014
Dr. Philip Cook
Executive Director of
International Institute for Child
Rights and Development,
Royal Roads University, Canada
Child Protection in the early years: Covering a
broad spectrum of childhood risks
• Defining CP UNICEF uses the term ‘child
protection’ to refer to preventing and responding
to violence, exploitation and abuse against
children – including commercial sexual
exploitation, trafficking, child labor and harmful
traditional practices, such as female genital
mutilation/cutting and child marriage (ref 2
optional protocols)
• Trend in CP Emphasis on Systems Strengthening as
opposed to issues (e.g. street children), move to
link CP to broader well-being of children
• Challenges Although many countries now have CP
laws, CP remains a relatively young field in many
countries with weak systems and poor
measurement capabilities
Overview of Child Protection Indicators
• CP Indicators include government
incidence data, UNICEF MICS,
TransMonee (SI), DEVInfo, CDC,
WHO, ISPCAN at both regional (e.g.
IAHRC, ACPF, ASEAN) national and
local level
• Challenge of under recognition and
under reporting of child protection
abuses especially with most
vulnerable populations (e.g.
Indigenous peoples, migrants)
• General comment 13 (with GC7)
provides a case study and
opportunity to create rights
framework for CP indicators and
greater harmonization of indicators
from international to national to
local
..”There are important
opportunities because communities
want to end the violence and local
authorities are developing
indicators and actions that could
translate into new possibilities.”
CINDE, Colombia
General Comment 13 Indicators (examples)
•
Structure
1. Comprehensive legislation and policy strategy addressing
child protection and defining violence
2. Legislation and policy linking well being to violence
prevention and promotion of support for child victims of
violence
•
Process
1. Comprehensive spectrum approach to protection from
prevention to crisis management
2. Disaggregated data system
3. Awareness raising campaigns
4. Violence prevention programs systemically connected with
lifespan and ecological approach
General Comment 13 Indicators (Cont’d)
•
Outcomes
1. Direct and proxy measures of incidence of violence,
neglect, exploitation
2. Active application of government and vulnerable
communities in generating indicators for use in local
planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation
3. Quality of interventions
Colombia
Reinforce the CRC, Codigo Sobre la
Infancia y Adolescencia and
the National Agenda for early childhood
through the De Cero a Siempre (from Zero
to Always) Presidential intersectoral
policy on early childhood
Harmonization of Indicators:
Vulnerable Communities to national and
international levels
Co-create and pilot an international good
practice model:
ECD/Protection Indicators for Stages of
Development
Informed by an Integral approach
“It is the set of actions planned at the national and regional level,
to promote and ensure the development of each girl and boy
from conception to age six. Through a unified and intersectoral
approach, from a rights and a differential approach, articulates
and promotes the development of plans, programs, projects and
actions for comprehensive care must ensure that every girl and
every boy, according to their age, context and condition.”
ECD/Protection Indicators for Stages of
Development
In which rights are progressively realized through each
child’s right to:
1. Have a parent or primary caregiver who accepts and puts into
practice parenting guidelines that favour development
2. Live and enjoy the highest attainable standard of health.
3. Guarantee and maintain adequate nutritional status.
4. Grow in an environment that favours development.
5. Build identity in a context of diversity.
6. Express feelings, ideas and opinions in everyday
environments and have these views taken into account.
7. Grow in environments that promote rights and in which
actions are taken before exposure to risk or violation of rights.
ECD/Protection Indicators for 5 Stages of
Development and 4 settings
Stages
• Preconception
• Pregnancy
• Birth to first month
• Two months to three years
• Three years to six years
Settings
• Home
• Education
• Health
• Public spaces
ECD/Protection GC 7/13 Indicators for Stages
of Development
•
Direct Outcome Measure Immediate impact on individual
child (e.g. report of violence from child protection
professional)
•
Proxy Measure Not immediate impact but next nearest
level of measurement (e.g. hospital admission rate, report
of accident , child removal from home)
•
Change in Risk or Protective Factors Useful information to
correlate with direct outcome and proxy measures (e.g.
reduction in parental stress, change in attitudes towards
use of corporal punishment)
ECD/Protection Indicators for Birth to First
Month
• Direct Outcome Measures Maternal mortality, maternal mental
disorder, violence against new born (e.g. shaken baby syndrome,
victim of community violence), lack of maternal attachment, low
birth weight, disability, abandoned child, separation from mother
due to armed conflict or forced displacement, lack of identification
•
Proxy Measures Hospital admission rates for violence against
infants, lack of birth registration, record of displaced or separated
infants, infant removed from home due to abuse of neglect
ECD/Protection Indicators for Birth to First
Month
•
Change in Risk Factor/increase in protective factors Parental
knowledge, values and behaviors of positive parenting,
participation in safe motherhood programing, community
mobilization for birth registration, family reintegration programs
ECD/Protection Indicators for Birth to First
Month
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Protection indicators
Secure attachments and parental empathy
Maternal agency and empowerment
Strength of mothers extended family and local social networks
Quality relationship between these informal social networks and
government women, family and infant services
Breast feeding
Safe, uncrowded housing
Home visit and support
Positive parenting values
Positive child rearing attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of local
caregivers
ECD/Protection Indicators for three Years to Six
Years
• Direct Outcome Measures Violence against child, children witness
violence, lack of parental attachment, disability, neglect,
abandoned child, separation from parents due to armed conflict or
displacement, sexual abuse, harmful child labor, social isolation
•
Proxy Measures Hospital admission rates for physical or sexual
abuse , child removal for physical or sexual abuse or neglect,
incidence of harmful child labor, incidence of young children
affected by social isolation, displacement or conflict
ECD/Protection Indicators for three Years to Six
Years
• Change in Risk Factor/increase in protective factors Access to
quality, culturally appropriate, affordable early childhood
programming, parental and community knowledge, values and
behaviors of positive parenting, community mobilization for child
protection, family reintegration programs, strengthened
community-government protection prevention, surveillance,
referral and rehabilitation, services for children with a disability
targeting vulnerable populations, community programs to eliminate
harmful child labor in early childhood, specialized programs for
displaced, socially isolated or conflict affected communities
ECD/Protection Indicators for three Years to Six
Years
• Protection indicators
• Children’s healthy cognitive, social, physical, emotional
development
• Maternal agency
• Safe, uncrowded housing
• Child friendly spaces in the local neighbourhood
• Strength of extended family and local social networks
• Quality relationship between these informal social networks and
government women, family and infant services
• Child development and rights awareness of caregivers
• Awareness of positive child development and children’s rights
amongst secondary caregivers (e.g. older siblings, youth,
relatives, neighbour etc)
ECD/Protection Indicators for Home Settings
•
Risk Factors Single parent, non-biological male partner living in
home, crowded living conditions, high levels of domestic violence,
social isolation, extreme poverty, unhealthy parenting behaviors
and intergenerational relationships, lack of food security
•
Protective factors Home visiting program, caring extended family,
knowledge of positive parenting, strong social attachments,
healthy intergenerational relationships, access to family focused
restorative practice (e.g. family group decision making), access to
other government household services mitigating risks (e.g. home
based cash transfers)
ECD/Protection Indicators for Public Settings
•
•
Risk Factors High levels of violence to children, sexual exploitation
and abusive labor practices of boys and girls, social isolation and
inequity of vulnerable populations, lack of local public policy
(including planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation
structures) on ECD/protection and children’s rights
Protective factors Quality public policy on ECD/protection and
child rights (including planning, budgeting, monitoring and
evaluation structures), culturally appropriate public policy, strategy
for child friendly communities, design of child and family friendly
built environment, community engagement (especially vulnerable
populations) in this process, youth engagement in ECD/protection
policy and programs
National and Municipal Focus
•
National level
Integrate protection indicators into intersectoral into De Cero A
Siempre indicator clusters
•
Municipal level
Work with local government and vulnerable communities to
strengthen existing CP reporting processes and where needed
develop new indicators in partnership with community members
(use methods such as outcome mapping and other participatory
indicator process such as those developed with the Thai
Government DLA and UNICEF Thailand)
“If our parents had these opportunities – the knowledge,
information and indicator tools that we are living today –they
would not have made the same mistakes, such as the
mistreatment of their children" – Community Promotoras,
Comuna 13 Medellin, Colombia
Thank You
More information:
International Institute for
Child Rights and
Development (IICRD)
University of Victoria
Victoria BC V8W 2Y2
Tel: (250) 472-4762
Fax:(250) 853-3215
Email: pcook@uvic.ca