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Abstract
Efforts to strengthen national child protection systems have frequently taken a top-down approach of imposing formal, government-managed services. Such expert-driven approaches are often characterized by low use of formal services and the misalignment of the nonformal and formal aspects of the child protection system. This article examines an alternative approach of community-driven, bottom-up work that enables nonformal–formal collaboration and alignment, greater use of formal services, internally driven social change, and high levels of community ownership. The…
A regional Save the Children participatory research initiative was undertaken to build knowledge on endogenous care practices within families and communities, especially informal kinship care, in order to better understand how the practice works and provide recommendations for programming to increase the care and protection of children. The research was conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and was primarily qualitative and exploratory. Similar research was underway in Niger and was…
There is growing agreement that separated children are best cared for in community settings, rather than in institutions. However, even in a community setting, there is a need for standards of care that allow for monitoring of children’s well-being. This is particularly important in countries such as Sierra Leone which is recovering from a brutal civil war and suffering from poverty, malnutrition, and limited access to adequate medical care. Since the civil war ended in Sierra Leone, child fostering—whether informal or facilitated by humanitarian agencies and the government—has become the…