Displaying 1 - 10 of 14
This study sought to inform improvements in service delivery of Retrak’s Independent Living programme by listening to and documenting the voices of participants. The interviewees were asked for feedback on the support they received and their ideas for improvement and aspirations. The ideas and experiences of these young people highlighted the importance of supportive relationships, gaining skills and finding employment, as well as feeling included and accepted by their communities. The stories they shared have provided Retrak with valuable insights into how to better support our…
This report explores options for young people aging out of residential care in the UK (“care leavers”) and the potential challenges and costs of effective implementation of those options. The report identifies four options: (1) care-leavers stay in the same residential care home until the age of 21, (2) care-leavers live in a separate building but on the same grounds as the residential home they were living in, until the age of 21, (3) care leavers live in a different house until the age of 21 (like “supported lodgings”) where not everyone is from care, or (4) care leavers “stay close” to…
On 14th December, Save the Children, Plan, World Vision, working with UNICEF, organized consultations with 124 children and young people in Capiz, Cebu, Iloilo, Leyte and East and West Samar to listen to their views about the humanitarian situation six weeks after the Typhoon in the Philippines, find out what their priorities are and ask for suggestions to improve the response. Among the priorities identified by children and young people were rebuilding homes, returning to school, and restoring electricity. Many highlighted that they were fearful of another typhoon but also…
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…
This report summarizes the findings of a study on parental and alternative childcare in Luang Prabang (LPB) and Xayabury (XYB) provinces in Northern Lao People’s Democratic Republic (P.D.R.) The objectives were to document (a) existing family and community practices aimed at preventing parental separation and promoting parental care and family reintegration; and (b) alternative care arrangements for children separated or removed from, abandoned, or relinquished by their parents in these provinces.
The study found that there are few abandoned children in…
This study funded by Big Lottery and undertaken in partnership between the University of Bristol and Buttle UK, a grant-giving charity for vulnerable children, aims to fill the gaps in our understanding of how children experience living with kins, and in particular how children in informal kinship care view their situation.
The first phase of the study used limited micro-data from the UK Population Census of 2001 to estimate the extent of kinship care in the UK in 2011 and to describe the characteristics of kinship carers and children. The findings from the analysis of the census revealed…
This paper investigates the time–space practices of young people caring for their siblings in youthheaded households affected by AIDS in Tanzania and Uganda. Based on qualitative exploratory research with young people heading households, their siblings, NGO workers and community members, the article develops the notion of sibling ‘caringscapes’ to analyse young people’s everyday practices and caring pathways through time and space. Participatory time-use data reveals that older siblings of both genders regularly undertake substantial caring tasks at the very high end of the caregiving…
Research was conducted in five Rift Valley towns (Eldoret, Kitale, Molo, Nakuru, and Naivash) in Kenya in 2011 to understand the link between emergencies and the perceived increase of children joining the streets. The findings are based on interviews with 3,138 children, of whom 2,696 were directly connected with the streets.
Findings show that food insecurity is one of the biggest factors (59%) that cause children to drop out of school and gravitate toward the streets to find food and earn money. Other major factors identified included abuse at home (23%), particularly when…
This article focuses on the resilience of children facing extreme hardship and adversity. It is based on participatory research with children living in child headed households in Rwanda. It emphasizes the importance of listening to children’s voices and recognizing their capacities when designing interventions to strengthen their psychosocial wellbeing.
This study shows that children have developed innovative coping strategies and some haveeven developed the capacity to thrive through their situation ofextreme hardship.The study of these coping strategies suggests that the children…
This is the summary report on the research phase of a project looking at the needs of child-carers in four African countries; Nigeria, Uganda, Angola and Zimbabwe. The research consisted of a literature review and participatory child-led research in one site in each of the four countries.
The research used an innovative child-led approach. In each site children who were carers of sick or disabled adults, elderly grandparents or young children came together for a workshop. At this workshop through a number of participatory activities they shared the stories of their lives as carers. They…