BUILDING CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM IN … 05, 2012 · N...
Transcript of BUILDING CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM IN … 05, 2012 · N...
Conference on Child Protec/on: Enhancing Capacity and Strategic Service Delivery within a Na/onal and Regional Context
Kuala Lumpur, 20 – 22 December 2012
BUILDING CHILD PROTECTION SYSTEM IN MYANMAR
Presented by:
Mr. Myo Set Aung, Director, Interna/onal Rela/ons, Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and ReseMlement
Background
The Ministry of Social Welfare. Relief and Rese6lement (MSWRR) is implemen;ng the following services systema;cally: • Child Welfare Services, • Youth Welfare Services, • Women's Welfare Services, • Care of the Aged, • Rehabilita;on of the Disabled, • Grants in Aids to Voluntary Organiza;ons, • Rese6lement and Rehabilita;on of Vagrants, • Rehabilita;on of Ex-‐drug Addicts.
The Department of Social Welfare under the MSWRR is the focal department for all children’s issues.
growth
development
prot
ectio
n
Supporting children, “the gems of Myanmar”
Background
• Myanmar became a signatory to the Conven;on on the Rights of the Child on 16 July 1991.
• In order to implement the rights of the child embodied in the Conven;on, the Child Law was promulgated on 14 July 1993.
• Myanmar formed a Na;onal Commi6ee on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) in 1993 to systema;cally enforce the Child Law.
• Subsequently, working commi6ees were formed in states/regions, districts, up to township level, all over the country.
• The aim of forming these commi6ees is to build capacity and to deliver services for children.
Key Child Protec/on Issues in Myanmar
Children made vulnerable due to poverty, family break down, weak social welfare & legal systems, natural disaster or conflict are at increased risk of - exploita;on, neglect and abuse (at home, in school, community,
workplace); - living and working on the street; - being trafficked internally and across borders as cheap labourers or
beggars; - being without parental care, with many living in ins;tu;ons; - exposure to HIV& AIDS; suffering child hood disability; and facing
s;gma and discrimina;on; - being recruited into the armed forces and groups; - being in contact with the law.
Key Child Protec/on Issues in Myanmar
While there are many cultural prac;ces and social norms that may tradi;onally protect children, others may actually be detrimental or put children at risk (e.g. early marriage, sending children away from
home for educa;on, corporal punishment/poor paren;ng skills, limited understanding/prac;ce of child par;cipa;on)
Child Protec/on Environment: recent developments! • Increased collabora;on with DSW to work at the community level aaer Cyclone
Nargis hit Myanmar in May 2008 and ini;ated the child protec;on system building project;
• New government: decentraliza;on; increased opportuni;es to work at sub-‐na;onal levels;
• Parliamentary Commi6ees on Women and Children established; • More openness to address sensi;ve child protec;on issues (e.g. MRE, working
children, CAAC); • Human Rights Commission set up; Child Rights more acknowledged as Human
Rights; • Legal Reform, including Child Law; NPA for children under review; • Increased civil society par;cipa;on; • UN Conven;on on the Rights of Persons with Disabili;es Ra;fied (7 Dec 2011); • Op;onal Protocol (OPSC) ra;fied (17 January 2012); • Budget for health, educa;on and social sector increased; • In the process of reviewing the organiza;on of DSW to assign staff at township,
district and regional/state levels.
Policy related achievements on child protec/on and some ongoing
-‐ UNICEF Technical support to two bi-‐lateral MOUs on human trafficking between Myanmar/China and Myanmar/Thailand (2008-‐2009);
-‐ Minimum Standards on Children in Residen;al Care (2008) and under revision (2012);
-‐ Police Direc;ve on Child Friendly police procedures: issued as direc;ve Dec 2010 and part of police pocket book;
-‐ OVC now strategy in new na;onal HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan (2011-‐2015) -‐ SOPs on RR of trafficked survivors Myanmar/Thailand -‐ Na;onal R&R guidelines on trafficking to have na;onal launch (Oct 2012) -‐ Joint Ac;on Plan as per UNSCR 1612 signed and implementa;on in
process
In process: -‐ Minimum Standards on Working Children draa completed 2007, ini;ally
approved then on hold, now under review again; -‐ Revision of Child Law and Na;onal Plan of Ac;on for Children (started Aug
2011)
Why is Child Protec/on System important?
• promotes a comprehensive protec;ve environment that covers all forms of abuse, neglect, violence and exploita;on;
• establishes referral and coordina;on mechanisms to ensure that services are in place to promote and support child welfare;
• contribute to: – Social economic development – Achievement of Millennium Development Goals & Millennium Declara;ons
– Fulfillment of the obliga;ons under the CRC • From addressing symptoms/issues/categories of problems • Towards preven;ng and responding to abuse, neglect, violence
and exploita;on
Towards a Na/onal Child Protec/on System
An effec;ve Na;onal Child Protec;on System strengthens the protec;ve environment to safeguard children against all forms of abuse, exploita;on, neglect and violence and should consist of three interlocking components: 1) Social welfare system for children and families; 2) Jus;ce and security system; 3) An integrated social behaviour change component to promote of
public antudes, beliefs, values and behaviours that contribute to children’s wellbeing and protec;on
• A collabora/ve project between the DSW and UNICEF on “Strengthening Service Delivery and Referral Mechanism for Child Protec/on System in selec/ve townships” (Ini%ated in 2008 in 5 townships)
Societal behaviour
change system
Child
Parents support, TCRC mobilization, social work diploma
course, capacity development to CRC
committees and social workers
Laws reform in process, including child law, labor laws; witness/
vic;ms protec;on; plan of ac;on on
recruitment of minors; capacity development to judges and law
officers
Commemora;on of CRC; launch on
situa;on of children in ins;tu;on; awareness raising on CP; mee;ng with CRC commi6ees at different levels
Aware of CP issues, CSGs formed, parents educa;on, home
visi;ng for vulnerable and project
supported children (vic;ms, released children, etc.)
Increased budget, staff alloca;on, access to military recruitments
Framework for CP System
Socio-‐economic, poli;cal and cultural context
Township/Community-‐Based Child Protec/on System
• The goal is to mobilize the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) and key stakeholders/ Township Commi6ee on the Rights of the Child members to set up a func;oning coordina;on, referral and response system to provide services for the benefit of children and respond to child protec;on concerns in 20 townships.
Labu6a, Nyaung Oo, Shwepyithar, Kungyankone, Dala 2008-‐2009 Bogale, Twantay, Hlaing, Hlaingtharyar, 2009-‐2010 Lashio, Dewai, Mahaaungmyae, Thathon, Pyay, Monywa 2011 Taunggyi, Hakka, Myitkyina, Si6we, Thanphyuzayat 2012
• DSW assigned 20 Social Welfare Officers to take the role of the Secretary of the TCRC and were trained on Child protec;on and case management
Flow Chart of Child Protec/on System at Community and Township levels
VILLAGE LEVEL
Assessment
Linkage with township level services
if services not available at village level
Children & Families
Findings Community mapping: services, partners, risks and protection concerns for children
Service delivery at village level - Government - NGOs/CBOs
Action/Case Plan
Mapping of Township Level services
- CRC committee - Government: school, health,
police, legal etc. - NGOs/CBOs
Township Services
Community awareness raising and setting up of
community support group
- Family assessment of vulnerable children - Case management (individual)
COORDINATION - Monthly
coordination - Meetings among
implementing partners, agencies, support group members
Appropriate Follow up
TOWNSHIP LEVEL
DISTRICT LEVEL
STATE/REGION LEVEL
NATIONAL LEVEL
Key ac/vi/es at township and community levels
• DSW designate social workers at 20 project townships and make linkages related to supervision between township, region and na;onal levels in these areas.
• UNICEF support DSW to define the roles and responsibili;es of the social workers in rela;on to CP
• UNICEF support the capacity development of the social workers through ongoing training and on-‐the-‐job support through the exis;ng Social Work and/or para-‐professionals training course and mentoring as well as support by prac;;oners at divisional levels to undertake appropriate supervision.
Key ac/vi/es at township and community levels
• Through the collabora;ve project, support is provided to social workers and key stakeholders (CRC Commi6ee Members) and NGO/CBOs implemen;ng partners to: ¯ iden;fy risks for children, ¯ map township and regional resources, ¯ iden;fy response processes, including professional roles and
responsibili;es of each sectoral stakeholder and referral and recording systems.
¯ undertake analysis of lessons learnt, gaps and successes to make recommenda;ons for replica;ng the process in other township, regional and na;onal levels for strengthening CP systems in Myanmar.
Key ac/vi/es at township and community levels
• Capacity development of Social Workers are related to the provision of services (statutory) as per their role: ¯ Receiving report of CP concerns ¯ Verifying and decision-‐making ¯ Assessing children/families:
-‐ undertaking a protec;on plan -‐ coordina;ng referral to relevant services or appropriate
alterna;ve care, as needed ¯ Coordinate and refer children/families needing specialized
services ¯ Follow-‐up, monitor & document each case ¯ Undertaking regular case review in collabora;on with NGO/CBO
partners ¯ Undertaking case closure
Key ac/vi/es at township and community levels
• Suppor;ng families and communi;es to play an ac;ve role in child protec;on.
• Working with community members to form community support groups (CSGs), iden;fying community resources to meet needs of children and families
• Iden;fying vulnerable children and families needing community support and services,
• Monitoring families for poten;al child abuse, exploita;on and neglect
• Finding community solu;ons and providing/ coordina;ng sustainable support to vulnerable children and their families
• Developing systems for repor;ng abuse as well as for referral for children needing special protec;on services. (The above includes early interven4on or preven4on services as well suppor4ng and monitoring some response services.)
Our Approach
• Most ac;vi;es are undertaken at the community level by NGOs/CBOs together with the community support groups and children/youth groups
• For services that are not available within the village or local community, linkages must be made with township level service providers – both government and NGO/CBOs
Ü As assigned by Myanmar Child Law: ¯ the township CRC Commi6ee members -‐ designated to provide
services for the benefit of children ¯ DSW: act as Secretary or facilitator to the CRC Commi6ees
Child Protec/on cases responded at TCRC level in 15 CBCP Townships – By Township
Jan-‐May 2012Township Girls Boys TotalDala 2 5 7Hlaing 5 2 7Hlaingtharya 4 4 8Kungyangon 2 2Nyaung U 1 1 2Shwepyithar 13 9 22Twantay 1 2 3Grand Total 28 23 51
March 2008 -‐ May 2012Township Girls Boys Total
Bogale 22 17 39Dala 53 51 104Hlaing 13 21 34Hlaingtharya 41 69 110Kungyangon 10 10 20Labutta 12 16 28Lashio 9 2 11Mahaaungmyay 1 1Monywa 2 2Nyaung U 22 10 32Pyay 2 5 7Shwepyithar 64 89 153Thaton 3 3Twantay 16 20 36Dewai 0 0 0Total 265 315 580
Child Protec/on cases iden/fied and responded in 15 CBCP Townships (March 2009-‐ May 2012) – By Type of Cases March 2008 -‐ May 2012Case Categ ory g irls boys TotalChild conflict with society 1 1Children in armed conflict 1 17 18Children in Contact with Law 30 168 198Children with d isability 1 5 6Family Reunification 4 15 19H IV infected/affected 2 2Labour Exploitation 10 4 14Missing Child 3 5 8Neg lect 33 27 60Physical Abuse 22 21 43Sexual Abuse / Exploitation 128 11 139Trafficking 15 3 18Unaccompanied Child 2 2Vulnerable Child 9 8 17Working and Street Children 9 26 35 Total 265 315 580
Jan-‐May 2012Case Category g irls boys TotalChildren in armed conflict 1 1Children in Contact with Law 3 11 14Children with disability 2 2Family Reunification 1 1 2Missing Child 2 3 5Neg lect 3 2 5Physical Abuse 1 2 3Sexual Abuse / Exploitation 16 16Vulnerable Child 2 1 3Total 28 23 51
v Community Support Groups: Made up of volunteers, some very commi6ed, but some having compe;ng priori;es related to economic situa;on. Sustainability also an issue.
v TCRC: Mandated by Child Law, but not ac;ve overall, coverage s;ll low (20 out of 345 Townships); high government staff (TCRC members) turn over; other compe;ng priori;es.
v Coopera/on and coordina/on: Con;nued need to be strengthened v Children's par/cipa/on: weak and needs to be strengthened; v Knowledge on child rights and child protec/on: need for con;nued
awareness raising and follow up to capacity development interven;ons; need to focus more on child protec;on related support (as opposed to general humanitarian needs, e.g. educa;on and health, safe water, etc.)
v Finaliza/on of the review of the Child Law
Challenges
AIM • To assess the scope and quality of the township and community
based child protec;on system building programme (CSGs, TCRCs) • To iden;fy programma;c impact/ outcomes • To assess the capacity of the partners • To guide future programming and possible scale up of CSGs and
ac;va;on of CRCs • Evalua;on explored: Relevance, Effec;veness, Efficiency, Impact,
Sustainability, Gender Equality, and Monitoring and Evalua;on.
Evalua/on on Township and Community Based Child Protec/on System -‐ 2011
Methods
METHODOLOGY • Mul;ple data collec;on methods • Consul;ng with different stakeholders: children, CSG members, parents/
caregivers, NGOs, DSW • Field visits: Mawlamyine, Tedim, Naung Oo, Bogale, Labu6a and Dala • Self assessments of 76 CSGs from diverse parts of the country • More than 1500 people consulted:
– 253 children aged 6-‐18 years (112 boys, 141 girls) – 670 women and 649 men
• All data was triangulated to inform valid findings • Ethical guidelines were applied
Findings: Relevance of the township & community based child protec/on system • Township and CBCP system-‐building work is extremely relevant to
the Myanmar context: • CSGs are becoming embedded within communi;es • CBCP work can be strengthened by engaging and listening to
children’s own views and suppor;ng children’s par;cipa;on in preven;on and response work
• Ac;va;on of TCRCs is extremely relevant • A shia is needed to ensure a primary focus on child protec;on from
abuse, neglect, violence and exploita;on, rather than a primary focus on iden;fying and suppor;ng vulnerable children
• Case management forms need to be reviewed and amended
Findings: The protec/on dimension of families and care of vulnerable children • CSGs enabling the protec;on dimension of families to be
strengthened • More sustainable forms of support for vulnerable children and
families need to be iden;fied and developed -‐ not just prac;cal support
• Prac;ces of sending poor children away from the communi;es to residen;al monasteries for their educa;on and/or to residen;al ins;tu;ons should be discouraged through the CSGs and TCRCs
• Increased efforts to mainstream vulnerability analysis including a6en;on to HIV, disability, poverty, gender, ethnicity and other factors are needed.
Findings: The availability, reach and quality of child protec/on preven/on, monitoring and response system • The Township/CBCP systems building model embraced by DSW and
partners; 407 communi;es and 9 TCRCs (2008 – 2010). • CBCP model is proving effec;ve in enabling strengthening of a child
protec;on system in project areas where the TCRCs have been ac;vated and the CSGs formed
• CSGs able to prevent and resolve a number of child protec;on concerns at the village/ ward level; more complex child protec;on and jus;ce issues are being referred to the TCRCs to solve.
• Child protec;on systems are weaker where TCRCs have not been ac;vated • Technical training and support on child protec;on is necessary to include
quality of CSGs • Number of TCRCs currently reached through UNICEF’s project are limited -‐
crucial that UNICEF develops strategies enabling mul;ple approaches to ac;vate more TCRCs
Findings: Sustainability of the programme
• CSGs need seed money to be able to generate their own income for sustainable response
• High levels of volunteerism and dedica;on of CSG members contribute to the sustainability of CSGs.
• Once ac;vated the TCRCs are considered to be sustainable as they are mandated by Child Law.
• Advocacy to secure budgets for the TCRCs • Con;nue and to expand assignment of DSW Social Welfare
Officers at the township level.
Findings: Changes in children
• Increased awareness and knowledge of child rights and child protec;on in the community
• Reduc;on of violence in the home
• Reduc;on in abusive language by parents and children • Increased support to go to school and/or stay in school • Increased self confidence and happiness of children • Reduc;on in children going to risky places • Reduc;on in children being involved in hard work • Increased support to the most vulnerable children
• Increased preven;on and response to child sexual abuse, recruitment of child soldiers, children in conflict with the law, and child trafficking
Children’s drawings of posi/ve outcomes CBCP
Vulnerable children going to school Children playing happily with friends
Before/ aher Changes
Former working child is now going to school
CSG protec4ng children from bea4ng
Findings: Gender Equality
• Township and community based child protec;on programme is designed to benefit girls and boys.
• Both women and men are ac;vely involved in CSGs;
• Increased efforts are needed to ac;vely involve girls and boys in programming.
• More men than women in TCRC • Rela;vely equal propor;ons are being
iden;fied and supported. • Data base analysis also indicates
which protec;on concerns are affec;ng girls or boys more; or in similar propor;ons.
Findings: Strengthening monitoring and evalua/on on child protec/on
• Need to review and update exis;ng M&E system, tools and processes to gather more systema;c data on child protec;on outcomes
• Increased efforts are needed to collect baseline data • Capacity building ini;a;ves with the Department of Social
Welfare to enable future management of child protec;on data bases by the Government