CHILD PROTECTION
MINIMUM STANDARDS
Child Protection in Emergencies


Child Protection in Emergencies is about preventing and
responding to violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect.
Whether caused by armed conflict or disasters, an
emergency is a time when children face significant
protection issues and increased risk of violence.
In any emergency situation, children are particularly at
risk of separation from their families, abandonment,
physical, psychological and sexual abuse, economic
exploitation and lack of access to essential rights and
services such as health, shelter and education.
This is Samira
Child Protection Working Group


The CPWG is the global level forum for
coordination and collaboration on child protection in
humanitarian settings. The group brings together
NGOs, UN agencies, academics and other partners
under the shared objective of ensuring more
predictable, accountable and effective child
protection responses in emergencies.
www.cpwg.net
CPWG Members and Associates

Bureau for Population and Refugee Migration; Government of Canada;
Child Frontiers; Child Helpline International; Child Soldiers International;
ChildFund International; Columbia University, CPC Network; Danish
Refugee Council; Department for International Development; Displaced
Children and Orphans Fund; European Commission Humanitarian
Office; EveryChild; Family for Every Child; Geneva Call; GOAL; Handicap
International; Heartland Alliance; International Bureau for Children's Rights;
International Committee of the Red Cross; International Labour
Organization; International Rescue Committee; Islamic Relief Worldwide;
Keeping Children Safe Coalition; Mercy Corps; Norwegian Refugee
Council; U.S. Office for Foreign Disaster Assistance; Plan International;
Retrak; Refugee Point; Save the Children; SOS Children's Villages
International; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Terre
des Hommes; The International Institute for Child Rights and Development;
United Nations Children's Fund; United Nations Department of
Peacekeeping Operations; United Nations High Commission for Refugees;
War Child Canada; War Child Holland; War Child UK; Watchlist on
Children and Armed Conflict and World Vision International.
Child Protection: Life-saving, but Undervalued




Expertise, preparation, preventative measures and
well-designed child protection responses help
communities reduce risks to children and provide a
sense of normalcy as quickly as possible.
Protecting children in emergencies saves lives and
reduces the lifelong negative impact on children’s
wellbeing and development and future productivity.
Second to education, child protection is the least-funded
area of humanitarian response.
Most child protection projects receive less than half the
funding required.
The Need for CP Minimum Standards
“I have trouble convincing our manager
and donor that child protection in
emergencies can prevent violence and
save lives”
“We find it find hard to discuss the
importance of child protection
interventions with humanitarian workers in
other sectors”
“I spend a lot of time searching for the
latest guidelines on child protection”
The Need for CP Minimum Standards
“CPMS would help
organizations prepare for
child protection issues
during emergency
response”
“CPMS indicators would
allow organizations to better
evaluate their response work
in terms of child protection”
“CPMS would provide
benchmarks for what is a
‘good enough’ child
protection programme”
“CPMS would enable new
cluster members at country
level to benefit from evolution
of the sector so far, and
encourage all actors to obtain
a minimum level of quality in
responses”
Child Protection Minimum Standards in
Humanitarian Action (CPMS)

A practical, interagency tool to address such
challenges. They are reshaping Child Protection in
Emergencies worldwide.
Toolkit for Humanitarian Action
“The CPMS work to strengthen the quality and
accountability of child protection programming
(…) They provide a clear basis for
coordination, expectation of appropriate
responses and improved monitoring and
reports. Most importantly, they don’t exist in
isolation. They have become an important part
of the toolkit for humanitarian action.”
Leslie Norton, Government of Canada, Director General,
International Humanitarian Assistance Bureau, DFATD.
Drafting Process
November
2010, First
meeting
July 2011,
Large
consultation
April 2012,
Country
consultations
(Four
languages)
October
2012, Global
launch
Process to develop CPMS
• 400+ people
• 30 organizations
• More that 40 countries worldwide
• 16 country consultations
• 8 pre-final drafts
CPMS Objectives

The Child Protection Minimum Standards aim to
improve programming and accountability in
child protection work. They compile current
good practice and learning, and facilitate
better communication and advocacy on child
protection issues.
CPMS Objectives





Establish common principles among those working
in child protection;
Improve the quality of child protection
programming and its impact for children;
Improve accountability within child protection work;
Provide a synthesis of good practice and learning
to date;
Enable better advocacy and communication on
child protection risks, needs and responses.
Working together: CPMS and other
humanitarian standards



The Sphere Project, the ICRC Professional Standards for Protection,
INEE Standards, HAP and others help humanitarian actors to improve
quality and accountability in Humanitarian Response.
+
CPMS became companion Standards to the Sphere Standards in
May 2013.
CPMS Structure

The CPMS begins with
Principles and
Approaches
Principles Underpinning the CPMS
Standards for a Quality Response
1. Coordination
2. Communications,
Advocacy and Media
3. Human resources
4. Programme Cycle
Management
5. Information
Management
6. Child Protection
Monitoring
Standards for Addressing Needs
7. Dangers and injuries
8. Physical Violence and other harmful
practices
9. Sexual Violence
10. Psychosocial distress and mental
disorders
11. Children associated with armed
forces or armed groups
12. Child labour
13. Unaccompanied and separate
children
14. Justice for children
Standards for Developing Adequate
Strategies
15. Case Management
16. Community-based
child protection
mechanisms
17. Child-friendly spaces
18. Protecting excluded
children
Standards for Mainstreaming
19.Economic Recovery
20. Education
21. Health
22. Nutrition
23. WASH
24. Shelter
25. Camp Management
26. Distribution
CPMS Structure Follows Sphere Format

Background information

Standard




Key actions in the
preparedness and
response phase
Outcome and action
indicators to measure
your efforts
Guidance notes
References
CPMS Changing Child Protection in
Emergencies
“Sometimes our field staff are under
enormous pressure to jump into responses
without consulting existing actors and systems
on the ground. CPMS Principle 5 really
helped our colleagues to identify what was
existing in the country as a child protection
system: on the ground, in the community, in
the government’s systems.”
Makiba Yamano, World Vision International
Who are the CPMS for?
Donors
Government personnel and those
working in independent or multilateral
organizations
Planners,
policymakers
and coordinators
Those working
directly with
children,
families and
communities
Justice
system and
security
personnel
CPMS
Armed
forces and
armed
groups
CPMS Help Measure Impacts


There is a clear need to
increase the sector’s
effectiveness by
producing a solid
evidence base.
The CPMS state how we
measure the impact of
our work and provide
sample indicators.
At all stages of humanitarian response
Preparedness
Prevention
Response
Early
Recovery
To sum up: How can the CPMS be used?
To plan and cost
humanitarian
interventions
To monitor and
evaluate the
allocation of funding
To establish common
and measurable
expectations
To agree on common
principles between
different actors
To induct and train
new staff or partners
As a learning and
reference document
To increase the
effectiveness of
humanitarian
activities in other
sectors
To improve advocacy
and communications
on child protection
issues
CPMS Roll-out Products

Handbook available in English, French, Spanish & Arabic in
hard copy

Translations into Turkish, Korean, Indonesian and Portuguese

Roll-out Pack (banners, brochures, presentation etc.)

CPMS Contextualization “How-To Guide”

Training packages: Field Workers Frontline CPMS
training/workshop CPiE F2F Training Package structured
around CPMS, Action for the Rights of the Child (ARC) aligned
with the CPMS
More CPMS Products Coming Soon..


CPMS Mainstreaming Briefs & “Top Tips”
What You Need to Know about the CPMS in an L3
(forthcoming)

Child-friendly Version of CPMS (forthcoming)

Youth-friendly Version of CPMS (forthcoming)

Summary Version of CPMS Handbook

Video Lecture Series
Roll-out process 2013-2015
Raise
awareness
• Gather
support of
government
and other
humanitarian
leaders
• Promote use
of CPMS
Contextualization
Mainstreaming
• Make the content of
the standards
appropriate and
meaningful to the
context
• To have a set of
Standards that the
government can
invest in
Provide a basis for
improving sector
plans
• Dialogue with actors
from other sectors to
improve
incorporation of child
protection in all
sectors
Integrate &
monitor
application
• Improve the
quality,
predictability
and
accountability
of the child
protection
response in
your context
Roll out events so far!
18 Launches
9 Contextualizations
20 CPMS Trainings
& Workshops
• East Africa region, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan,
Jordan, DRC, Ethiopia, Pakistan, the Philippines, USA, the
Latin America region, and the North American region,
Colombia, Vietnam, Yemen, Burundi and CAR.
• Jordan, Kenya (Dadaab), DRC, Rwanda, Mali, Sudan, Indonesia,
Burundi and CAR.
• Burkina Faso, Caribbean (regional), Democratic Republic of Congo
(national and South Kivu Province), Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Mali,
Mauritania, Niger, Pacific (regional), Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka,
South Sudan, Australia, CAR, Indonesia, Turkey-Syria Response,
Afghanistan and Thailand.
Support CPMS Implementation!
Does the inter-agency CP Strategy refer to CPMS?
Reach out to
the CPMS Task Do humanitarian decision makers recognize CPMS?
Force for
advice or
Has there been a CPMS Launch?
technical
assistance!
Does the country have a specific CPMS roll-out plan?
Have CPMS been contextualized for the country/area?
Is there a need for technical assistance to help promote,
adapt to implement the CPMS?
Global Level support
Develop &
produce capacity
building &
Technically support communication
contextualization, materials
mainstreaming &
Financially other activities
support
workshops
& trainings
Monitor use
&application
of the
Standards
Recent & upcoming CPMS events
(See cpwg.net > Minimum Standards > Events)
Using the CPMS
Show Video