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Care arrangements—by parents, kin, or the state—are central to the well-being and mental health of children and youth (Coe 2012a). Over the past five years, the author of this paper has actively researched child fostering practices among transnational Cameroonian families. This study of distributed parenting and new ideas about what it means to raise a child properly is informed by over three decades of research among the Bamiléké. Originating in the mountainous Grassfields region straddling Cameroon’s Francophone/Anglophone divide, the author's research includes observations undertaken…
Save the Children is undertaking innovative participative research in West and Central Africa on informal alternative care mechanisms,with a particular focus on kinship care. An estimated 15.8% of children under the age of 15 years in West and Central Africa do not live with their biological parents, the vast majority living in extended family care and only a negligible number lives in institutional care in that region. Evidence suggests that children are placed in kinship care for a variety of reasons, including traditional practices, poverty, increasing value for education and…
Children without appropriate care (CwAC) is a focus area for Save the Children’s child protection work for the period 2010-2015. The goal is that by 2015, 4.6 million children without appropriate care, and their families, including children affected by HIV and AIDS and those on the move, will benefit from good-quality interventions within an improved child protection system.
This report assesses the practice of kinship care within four research countries in the West and Central African region (Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Niger), reflecting upon the…
Abstract
While the principles behind community-based participatory research (CBPR) are firmly established the process of taking CBPR with children and youth to scale and integrating it into the programming of non-governmental organizations has been scarcely documented. This paper reflects on the experiences of Save the Children in implementing a multi-country CBPR program to increase understanding of kinship care in DRC, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The paper discusses challenges faced, lessons learned and highlights how the research process enabled action and advocacy initiatives at…
“Children without Appropriate Care (CwAC) is a priority area for Save the Children’s child protection work for the period 2010-2015. In working toward this priority, Save the Children embarked on a multi-country participatory research initiative from 2012-2013. This was undertaken to build knowledge on alternative care practices, especially informal kinship care, prevalent in the West and Central Africa. Nigeria and three other countries were involved in this regional research; the other countries are Niger, Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This study finds that kinship…
This study examines the effect of the presence of a grandmother in the household on the child in 33 Sub-Saharan African countries. The study focuses on the effect the grandmother’s presence has on the child’s educational participation, considering a range of circumstances. The researchers used a newly built database as the source of information. The database included information on 763,615 young children living in 33 sub-Saharan African countries. The researchers conducted a multilevel logistic regression analysis on this database in an attempt to answer the following questions: (1) what is…
This publication, produced by the Parenting in Africa Network (PAN), highlights the skillful parenting practices of several pastoral communities in Africa, including the Gabra and the Maasai people in Kenya, the Bozo community in Mali, the Ndebele of South Africa, and the Swahili community of the coastal strip of Africa. The aspects of parenting highlighted are: pre-birth mother care, post birth mother and child care, instilling skills in responsibility and respect, child-parent interaction, the role of fathers, sexuality and puberty, preparation for marriage, care of vulnerable children, and…
This country care review includes the care related Concluding Observations adopted by the Committee on the Rights of the Child as part of its examination of the combined second to fourth periodic report of the Congo under Convention on the Rights of the Child at its sixty-fifth Session (13 Jan 2014 - 31 Jan 2014). The Committee’s recommendations on the issue of Family Environment and Alternative Care as well as other care relevant issues are highlighted, as well as other care-related concluding observations, ratification dates, and links to the Universal Periodic…
Informal kinship care practices are widespread in the West Central Africa region. An estimated 15.8% of children in West Central Africa do not live with their biological parents. However, only a very small number (0.002%) live in formal alternative care (including residential care) while the majority live in informal care alternatives, especially with their extended family in kinship care. A regional Save the Children participatory research initiative 2012-2013 was undertaken to build knowledge on endogenous care practices within families and communities, especially informal kinship…
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…