Terre des hommes Making a difference for children · hommes. Against this project background, the...

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© Tdh / Sajana Shrestha

Terre des hommes Making a difference

for children

2016-2020 Strategic Plan

Approved by the Foundation’s Council and brought into effect on 1 July 2016

For external use.

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Table of contents Table of contents ............................................................................................................... 2

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 32. Current challenges and international cooperation ..................................................... 4

3. Terre des hommes’ identity and action ....................................................................... 5

4. Terre des hommes makes a difference ........................................................................ 6

5. The impact on Terre des hommes’ programmes ........................................................ 7

6. Measure and monitor the impact ................................................................................ 22

7. Terre des hommes institutional partnerships ............................................................ 28

8. List of acronyms .......................................................................................................... 30

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1. Introduction

This Strategic Plan (SP) defines the Terre des hommes Foundation priorities for 2016-2020. It lays down the primary goals in its programmes and various departments.

The drafting of this five-year Strategic Plan is the product of a two-year lengthy process that has mobilised the whole Foundation.

The starting point was the observation that the previous Strategic Plan lacked clear and measurable goals or any wish to engage in an in-depth discussion on the future of Terre des hommes.

Against this project background, the Foundation first updated its mission statement and institutional values and to define its long-term vision and the added value it plans to provide to its programmes in the field: “Making a difference - Terre des hommes Vision 2030”.

The Terre des hommes’ strategy is therefore summarised as follows:

Figure 1. Sequence for developing Terre des hommes’ strategy

The 2016-2020 Strategic Plan is structured as follows: the first chapters lay down the framework of Terre des hommes’ internal and external context and the ambitions that will drive priorities over the next five years. The strategic goals of the programmes and various departments are then set out and explained. Finally, it sets out the outline of the future organisational structure, planned partnerships and anticipated funding plan.

2016-2020 Strategic Plan

Vision 2030

Mission and Values

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2. Current challenges and international cooperation

The international aid sector has changed profoundly over the past few years. Indeed, new challenges have come to light, both in terms of the problems affecting children and their families and the frame of reference for international NGOs.

In future years, a number of global trends will have a substantial impact on the protection of children’s health:

• An increase in the number and intensity of humanitarian crises (natural disasters, epidemics or conflicts), as well as an increase in the number of fragile states, leading to increased migration and the displacement of children and their families and resulting in children’s increased exposure to forms of labour exploitation.

• Increased urbanisation due in particular to a mass rural exodus of the poorest people, who are more exposed to undernutrition, trafficking and violence.

• Finally, global warming and environmental contamination will increase risks related to mother and child health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

To tackle these challenges, the international community has adopted a new agenda for 2030 that encompasses 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

To accomplish these goals, the various actors in the international aid sector must also take into account the following challenges which oblige them to redefine and position themselves:

• The emergence of new actors from the private sector and the Global South, with the

latter requesting participation and legitimate involvement;

• A reappraisal of public international aid budgets in many OECD countries and an application made to the private sector to plug significant shortages in funding;

• New requirements by funders and donors, both public and private, who demand greater transparency regarding their donations and proof of the effectiveness of international NGOs;

• Increased competition among NGOs in raising funds among the general public and in implementing government-funded projects;

• New demands from the international aid sector that question the quality and accountability of interventions;

• The development of new information technologies, which have changed methods of intervention and fundraising.

Against this background of constant change, Terre des hommes is defining and positioning itself as a medium-sized international NGO based in Switzerland that works with a network and the cooperation of international and local actors.

Subject expertise, transparency, innovative and flexible programmes, operational proximity, specific and systemic evaluations of contexts, as well as a respect for quality and accountability standards for interventions allow the Foundation to meet the needs for children’s protection and health, both in humanitarian crisis and development contexts.

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3. Terre des hommes’ identity and action

Founded by Edmond Kaiser in Lausanne in 1960 to provide aid to children who were the victims of the war in Algeria, the Fondation Terre des hommes is currently Switzerland’s largest children’s aid organisation. The Foundation is an active member of the Terre des hommes International Federation (TDHIF) and is one of the twenty largest international civil society organisations.

With a budget of more than CHF 70 million and nearly 1,500 staff in more than 30 countries in which both development and humanitarian crisis programmes are being run, Terre des hommes works with its partners and network on the protection and health of children.

Its historic roots in Swiss civil society and the commitment of more than 2,000 active volunteers across Switzerland allow the Foundation to raise public awareness of the challenges of children’s rights and projects implemented on the ground.

3.1. The mission Terre des hommes is an impartial and independent NGO that supports vulnerable children and their families, regardless of their ethnic background, religion or political affiliation.

The Foundation undertakes to make sustainable improvements to the living conditions and development of the most vulnerable children and defend their rights as defined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). In humanitarian crises, this undertaking goes hand-in-hand with a duty to save lives, to reduce children’s suffering and to protect their right to life and dignity.

Terre des hommes’ values – courage, ambition, respect and commitment – are promoted every day by everyone who contributes to achieving the organisation’s mission and delivering its projects.

3.2. Methods of intervention Through a rights-based approach, Terre des hommes’ aims to guarantee a respect for and the implementation of the rights of children to bring about positive and sustainable change, both at institutional and community level. The children’s well-being and living conditions cannot be improved in the long-term unless all stakeholders work together towards this goal. This is why Terre des hommes’ intervention:

• Is part of a participative approach adopted and developed by a group of stakeholders, represented by the children, their families and communities, formal and informal civil society organisations, businesses, state and local authorities.

• Adapts itself to the local context, based on systemic, detailed and ongoing analyses, with a particular focus on maintaining social cohesion, on gender-based discrimination and a respect for the specificities of the operational context.

• Encourages and helps countries to fulfil their obligations and institutionalise services, mechanisms and good practices by strengthening protection and health systems.

• Focuses on building the resilience of children, their families and communities affected by humanitarian crises by reconciling short-term responses with long-term objectives.

• Applies the most appropriate methods of action: support and advice, individual and collective capacity building, developing social innovation, enabling dialogue, support for coordination, advocacy or direct action, by default and always on a provisional basis.

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4. Terre des hommes makes a difference As part of the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan, Terre des hommes would like to enhance its impact on the living conditions of the children and their families and stand out in its sector thanks to:

• Its focus on two areas of intervention that merge five priority programmes and two specialised programmes;

• Proximity and an operational presence in the field in five regions of intervention;

• Clear goals and a capacity to demonstrate the quality of the results through a coherent and efficient steering, monitoring and evaluation system;

• A strengthening of the Foundation’s accountability towards the stakeholders with whom and among whom they operate;

• Innovation as a key demarcation factor vis-à-vis other actors present;

• Better management and dissemination of knowledge;

• Visible evidence-based advocacy in Switzerland and abroad;

• A balance between its capacity to adapt to the local context and its overall impact;

• Judicious allocation of funds raised, in particular semi-earmarked and non-earmarked funds;

• Capacity building and adapting management practices to encourage greater shared responsibility.

These ambitions will mainly be achieved through:

• Values, a mission and a long-term vision that are coherent and common across the whole Foundation;

• A structure, systems, tools and processes that are appropriate for the ambitions that have been set;

• Strategic mobilisation of the Foundation’s resources and workforce;

• Clear positioning on the Swiss and international scene and in the areas of intervention.

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5. The impact on Terre des hommes’ programmes

5.1. Two areas, seven programmes In 2016-2020, Terre des hommes’ operations will be consistent with the Foundation’s two historical areas of intervention, namely health and protection, and will be focused on five priority programmes and two specialised programmes.

The seven programmes aim to:

• Reduce vulnerability and strengthen the protection of children involved in risky migration;

• Reduce the number of children who are victims of labour exploitation and facilitate access to their fundamental rights;

• Strengthen children’s access to their rights in the juvenile justice systems by promoting a restorative approach;

• Reduce the mortality of children under the age of five - with a focus on the first 1,000 days - and mothers in extremely vulnerable situations;

• Improve the access of children in West Africa to specialised hospital care, in particular in the area of heart disease;

• Improve access by the most vulnerable children to basic health services as well as to a protected environment during major humanitarian crises; significantly reduce the number of violations of the fundamental rights of children in Switzerland.

The Sustainable Development Goals 1 (SDG) are at the heart of Terre des hommes’ action, and these goals in particular:

• Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages (goal No. 3);

• Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all (goal No. 8);

1 www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/fr

• Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels (goal No. 16);

Areas Programmes References to SDGs

Protection Migration 16

Exploitation 8 and 16

Juvenile Justice

16

Health Mother and child health

2, 3, 6

Specialised Care

3

Health and protection

Humanitarian crises

13, 16

Advocacy in Switzerland

3 and 16

Figure 2. Overview of programmes.

At Terre des hommes, a “programme” is a set of projects or activities designed and implemented in a contextualised way that share resources and common or complementary approaches and through these synergies enable a greater impact on the problems being addressed.

Each programme is developed according to its target public and the children’s vulnerability. However, the Foundation is aware and takes into account the fact that a same group of children is often exposed to several vulnerabilities simultaneously. This is why synergies are sought between the different areas of intervention and links between the programmes are strengthened.

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In 2016-2020, the Terre des hommes’ programmes need to respond to several challenges in the way they operate to increase their impact among children and stand out in their sector:

• Set out the “Theory of Change”. This will allow Terre des hommes’ expertise to be focused primarily on strengthening certain key elements in the health and protection systems, while retaining a broad understanding of the problems and the actors. The aim is to increase harmonisation of the approaches so they can be replicated more easily and adapted to different contexts;

• Strengthen the “Quality and Accountability” approach for all interventions, by using the core humanitarian standard on quality and accountability2 as a reference;

• Standardise recurring business processes in the projects – or use existing standards in the sector;

• Manage the growth and sharing of innovation within the programmes;

• Improve the coordination of interventions in the relief, rehabilitation and development (ERD) continuum/contiguum.

In addition, the next five years will allow us to consolidate the links between the themes of food security and livelihoods; WASH and disaster risk reduction (DRR) and the priority sectors of children’s health and protection.

Terre des hommes will have a presence in five regions of intervention respectively: Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Each programme will establish its geographical priorities in countries where the Foundation can make a significant and sustainable difference and where needs are greatest.

The nature of Terre des hommes’ mission is such that it will continue to allocate its core resources to fragile and low income countries where many children are at risk of natural disasters and armed

2 http://www.corehumanitarianstandard.org/files/files/Core%20Humanitarian%20Standard%20-%20English.pdf

conflict. The places where major humanitarian crises occur will determine the geographical areas for the humanitarian aid interventions.

5.2. The child protection sector Child protection has been a priority area of intervention for Terre des hommes since 2009. Child protection is primarily implemented through the migration, labour exploitation and juvenile justice programmes. The humanitarian crises programme is also linked to child protection in the context of an emergency.

These priority programmes, focused on target groups, are coupled with an approach towards the sector as a whole. On the one hand, there is a search for increased quality and efficiency by focusing on a specialised area; on the other, a wish to maintain a unique, coherent, visible sector with a systemic and integrated character.

For Terre des hommes, child protection is based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). It focuses on:

• The right to protection against “all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse,” (Art. 19 CRC) and, more broadly:

• The protection of rights accorded to children as members of society with recognised rights, in particular the best interests of the child, the right to health, education and access to justice.

The protection includes help to children who are victims, as well as primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. It can be extended to social protection and aims to reduce the poverty and vulnerability of individuals and their households and to reduce the harmful repercussions on children caused by food insecurity, social exclusion, disease, disability, a decline in livelihoods or the productive potential of the households or community.

As part of its rights-based approach, Terre des hommes targets the protection and prevention capacity building of the of actors in charge, both formal and non-formal, as well as

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individuals with rights, such as children, parents, families and communities.

In the interests of coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability, the Foundation’s intervention aims to ensure that all children in a given territory benefit from a system that can ensure their survival, protection, development and participation, with a specific focus on the most vulnerable children and target groups in the priority areas that have been defined.

Terre des hommes intends to develop its capacities and results in a cross-cutting way to enhance and improve its impact on strengthening child protection systems (CPS): (i) through the participation of children, families and communities; (ii) connections between formal and non-formal CPS parties; (iii) strengthening the role and capacities of the States and private sector through advocacy and specialised technical support.

To ensure an integrated approach to protection in Terre des hommes’ interventions:

• The migration, exploitation, juvenile justice and humanitarian crises (child protection in a humanitarian context) programme strategies develop synergies and joint or cross-cutting actions on learning (innovation, research, building on experiences), advocacy and the strengthening of professional skills;

• The mother and child health programme, the specialised care programme and the advocacy in Switzerland programme apply and/or actively promote minimum child protection standards.

• Processes are put in place to ensure coordination and close cohesion between child protection-centred programmes.

• Shared resources develop expertise on child protection and lead to common agendas that each programme feeds into and from which, in return, draws high added value.

5.2.1. The migration programme Children form a significant proportion of the world’s migrant population and the number of

children affected by this phenomenon continues to grow dramatically. Yet, while the challenges of child mobility cannot be ignored, laws, policies and practices that govern these phenomena are too often inadequate and fail to guarantee migrant children’s effective access to their rights. Since the current overall political environment is unfavourable to the protection of the rights of children involved in migration, additional efforts are therefore required in terms of advocacy, public awareness and communication, both on an international scale and in the migrants’ destination countries.

Terre des hommes approaches migration as a multidimensional context in which children can be harmed and in which appropriate protective measures are therefore required. Efforts at protection should address both the places of origin, transit and destination. The aim is to significantly and sustainably reduce the vulnerability of children, while ensuring their effective access to all of their rights throughout their migration. The protection of migrant children should also include support and solidarity for migration actors and their initiatives, if they are consistent with the best interests of children. The aim is to facilitate migrant children and their families’ access to better opportunities and a sustainable improvement in their living conditions.

In 2016-2020, Terre des hommes plans to contribute to strengthening the links between migration and development by operating not only in the destination and transit areas but also in the communities of origin, including countering phenomena such as children who are left behind and become victims of their parents’ migration. To this end, Terre des hommes has identified four sets of major national and international migration flows that are priorities for intervention due to their scope and relevance, the number of children involved, the fact that they are occurring in Terre des hommes’ known areas of intervention and the opportunities to build strong partnerships and to learn methodological, operational and strategic lessons. These are:

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• EuroMed flows (migration to Europe from Asia, the Middle East and Africa);

• Intra-European flows (ethnic minorities, economic migrants, trafficking);

• Flows that criss-cross around the Gulf of Guinea and the Sahel region (West Africa);

• Flows that radiate within and from Bangladesh for climatic reasons.

Tdh 2020 goal for the migration programme

By 2020, on four major migration flows – in Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe – children will benefit from coordinated systems of protection and assistance upon departure, along their routes and in their places of arrival with the aim of sustainably reducing their vulnerability, guaranteeing their rights, addressing their needs and facilitating their access to development opportunities.

Terre des hommes is recognised as a leading organisation, both internationally and regionally, and sought by all stakeholders for its technical expertise in protectings 3 children involved in migration.

To achieve this goal, the Foundation has set the following results for 2020:

• On four major flows, at the start and at various stages along their migration route, the children will benefit from institutional services and quality coordinated systems to: prevent forms of trafficking and early and/or forced migration; provide alternatives to migration; reduce the risks of migration; ensure capacity building in the protection and self-protection of children and young migrants; improve reception, integration and return / reintegration services.

3 The Protective Support of Children is a comprehensive and holistic approach to protecting the rights of children, which consists in providing the children (direct support) or their families (indirect) with social support to avoid the risks related to the mobility of children, helping children on the move improve their situation and access their rights, providing assistance to children who are victims of exploitation, trafficking and abuse, and finally ensuring greater community and institutional protection of migrant children along their routes.

• Terre des hommes will contribute significantly to the success of at least ten advocacy (among decision-makers and public policies) and communication (among the general public) activities, including the active participation of children and young people, to promote the implementation of quality child protection and development policies and systems in migration contexts.

• Terre des hommes will strengthen its expertise in providing protection to children involved in migration along with its impact on consortiums, platforms and national, regional and international networks with a view to acquiring and sharing theoretical and practical knowledge and experience on the protection of migrants and on the interplay between migration and development.

The following main means will be employed to achieve these results:

• For the EuroMed flow, Terre des hommes’ intervention will aim to strengthen the CPS for migrant and refugee children who find themselves for medium to long periods in Turkey, Greece, Italy and Eastern Europe. For the EuroMed, Gulf of Guinea and Bangladesh flows, a Terre des hommes migration observation centre will conduct major research partnerships with academics and networks of actors. Finally, for the Gulf of Guinea flows, the Foundation will support formal and informal actors for transnational coverage of the main routes, protective support during all stages of the migration route, and social inclusion/food security and livelihoods inclusion projects in the most vulnerable migrant children’s communities of origin and destination.

• The implementation of the SDGs will be reinforced with support from the Terre des hommes’ migration "observatory", the Destination Unknown campaign (TDHIF) and international, regional or Swiss hubs. Migration and child protection policies will be improved with support from initiatives by associations representing migrant and refugee children. In countries with limited resources, Terre des hommes will also encourage the

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development of internal mechanisms and coordination between the formal and informal parts of the CPS.

• In countries and regions strongly affected by the phenomena of child labour exploitation, the Foundation will seek to influence public policy and strengthen the capacity of key players to distinguish between migration and trafficking and to implement differentiated strategies and appropriate responses to reach child migrant workers, especially those working in the informal economy.

• Collaboration with TDHIF members will be consolidated and expanded to ensure there is one voice and a common stance during discussions on alternative models and innovative approaches or methods. The Foundation will also be acting on several platforms with networks of actors and consortiums to provide a forceful response and leverage. Finally, by working with academic partners, Terre des hommes will promote and support the acquisition and sharing of various types of expertise and skills through research activities, innovation labs, joint publications, the setting up of a "Protection and Migration for children" CAS and the joint organisation of events.

The following coordinated action will be undertaken with:

• Other protection programmes – through cross-cutting projects that aim to address common challenges on strengthening protection systems;

• The humanitarian crises programme – to identify specific criteria for intervention and create synergies and complementary responses and develop Relief, Rehabilitation and Development (RRD) models for intervention;

• The labour exploitation programme – if the target group is children and young economic migrants, who are victims or at risk;

• The juvenile justice programme – if the children involved in migration are in contact or

in conflict with the law in the areas of origin, transit or destination, or in their country;

• The advocacy in Switzerland programme – for migrant children who are victims or at risk of improper treatment or violations of their rights on Swiss soil (e.g. the administrative detention of minors);

• The mother and child health programme – for target groups made up of teenagers and young women at risk of teenage pregnancy, who are pregnant or breastfeeding (reproductive and perinatal health).

5.2.2. The labour exploitation programme More than 85 million girls and boys4 are involved in forms of labour exploitation and therefore face dangers and psychological, physical, social and/or emotional harm.

Child labour is a complex issue involving multiple determining factors, closely linked to poverty. The children work for their survival and that of their families. Many children find themselves in situations where they are exploited after having left their homes in search of better living conditions. They move from rural to urban areas within the same country, or migrate to a neighbouring country.

Terre des hommes’ current projects protect child victims and prevent children from becoming victims of labour exploitation in fragile states. These projects target domestic work and various industries (mining, textile, agriculture) in the informal economy. Based on its experience and expertise in the field, the Foundation will also progressively focus its work on the value chains of large companies. Indeed, a growing number of international and multinational companies recognise their responsibility in preventing child labour in their value chain.

This is why, in 2016-2020, Terre des hommes hopes to increase its impact by working with large companies to reduce exploitation and

4 Measuring progress in the fight against child labour – 2000-2012 global estimates and trends (ILO-IPEC, 2013)

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improve children’s working conditions in their value chain.

As an international NGO based in Switzerland, the Foundation wishes to take advantage of its proximity to large companies in Switzerland and the rest of Europe.

Tdh 2020 goal for the labour exploitation programme

By 2020, Terre des hommes, is contributing significantly and sustainably to prevent child exploitation in the value chain of at least three large companies. Terre des hommes also intends to contribute to strengthening the appropriate systems to protect children exploited through labour and will promote access to their rights in West Africa and Asia.

Terre des hommes is recognised for its expertise in this area and sought by large companies seeking to reduce child exploitation and improve their working conditions

To achieve this goal, the Foundation has set the following outcomes for 2020:

• Terre des hommes will help to reduce the number of children being exploited in the value chains of three large companies.

• In six fragile states, the risk of child labour exploitation will be reduced by reinforcing local social and child protection systems, institutional and community mechanisms, the monitoring and protection of working children, as well as through pilot education programmes and access to employment for the most vulnerable children and young people.

• Through advocacy in Switzerland and abroad, Terre des hommes will contribute to the worldwide movement against child labour and give children the opportunity to express their needs and views.


• Terre des hommes will initially explore possible collaboration with large businesses by organising several workshops with

interested companies, audit offices, independent consultants, IMD (International Institute of Management Development), UNIGE (University of Geneva) and NGOs with experience in this sector. Three pilot projects will therefore be launched with three different large businesses. These pilot projects will then be evaluated and supported through a skills development plan and learning through experience.

• In fragile states with limited resources, Terre des hommes will strengthen the CPSs by promoting the development of internal mechanisms and coordinating between formal and informal parties to ensure the sustainable protection of children against the risks of labour exploitation, and ensure decent working conditions and quality reintegration of child workers and victims of exploitation.

• The Foundation’s actions and that of its partners will reduce exposure to child labour by protecting, restoring and promoting the economic survival of households. Three countries will work on improving the quality of the actions aimed at strengthening livelihoods, and their impact on preventing child labour and best practice will be disseminated. Working children or those not attending school will have access to alternative forms of education, vocational training and/or jobs that protect them from labour exploitation and increase their employability. Partnerships will be set up with government authorities responsible for children, education and employment, as well as with organisations with expertise in education and vocational training to reinforce the sustainability of educational opportunities for child workers. The experiences will be built on and enable Terre des hommes to identify educational opportunities that are best suited to the needs of children who are most vulnerable to the risk of exploitation.

• Terre des hommes is actively contributing to the Rights without Borders campaign and to the initiative for responsible multinationals. The Foundation will participate in an international campaign with TDHIF aimed at hearing and taking into account the voices of

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child workers and facilitating the setting up of advisory committees. Terre des hommes will also work within a number of networks of actors and consortiums to contribute to the collective effort. Finally, the alliance with academic institutions, such as CIDE (Interfaculty Centre for Children’s Rights), IDE (International Institute for the Rights of the Child) and UNIGE will establish evidence-based advocacy thanks to a better understanding of the global challenges of child labour and a critical examination of the action.

The following coordinated action will be undertaken with other programmes:

• Other protection programmes – through cross-cutting projects that aim to address common challenges on strengthening protection systems;

• The humanitarian crises programme (protection of children in humanitarian settings) – to create synergies and complementary responses to major crises (level III) and to identify links between relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD);

• The migration programme – if the labour exploitation target group is primarily made up of children and young people who are economic migrants and victims or at risk of exploitation/trafficking;

• The juvenile justice programme – if children affected by exploitation are in contact with the law;

• The advocacy in Switzerland programme – to contribute to the Rights without Borders campaign and the initiative for responsible multinationals;

• The mother and child health programme – for target groups made up of teenagers and young women at risk of teenage pregnancy, who are pregnant or breastfeeding (reproductive and perinatal health).

5.2.3. The juvenile justice programme Child victims, child witnesses and children in conflict with the law are some of the world’s most vulnerable population groups. A

repressive response to the phenomena of conflict, violence and delinquency leads to improper use of the judicial system and to violations of the rights of children who are in conflict with the law.

The negative consequences for children are many. The most glaring is systematic and sometimes abusive use of detention in many countries, often in conditions that violate human dignity. It is estimated that more than one million children are in detention worldwide.5 The negative and pernicious effects of detention on children are nevertheless well known: identification with the criminal phenomenon, the development of an antisocial culture with the direct corollary of increased recurrence, but also the breakdown in social and family ties, an absence or interruption in access to education and training, therapeutic and health care, food, decent clothing and recreational activities.6

The obstacles to children’s access to justice and violence in the criminal justice systems are one of the key issues Terre des hommes has been addressing for several years.

In 2016-2020, the Foundation will continue its efforts to promote specialised justice for children. To do so, Terre des hommes’ intervention will be based on a restorative approach to juvenile justice. The restorative approach will focus the criminal justice response on reparations for the harm caused to the victim or society and making the young person accountable by using socio-educational rather than punitive methods. Terre des hommes’ intervention methods will be centred on reforming justice systems and the capacity building of actors, advocacy, public awareness and direct assistance provided to the children.

Tdh 2020 goal for the juvenile justice programme

5 UNICEF, Progress for Children, A report card on child protection, no 8, September 2009. 6 One estimate puts the cost to society of losing a single youth to a life-long cycle of crime and drug abuse at between US$ 1.7 and 2.3 million (Promoting Restorative Justice for Children, SRSG on Violence Against Children, 2013, page 32, http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/page/1193).

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By 2020, Terre des hommes has contributed significantly and sustainably to improving access to formal and informal justice systems by children in West Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East. Terre des hommes plans to contribute to developing and improving justice systems by enhancing the restorative approach and in particular by promoting alternatives to trials, detention and specialised custodial care for children.

Terre des hommes is a leading worldwide reference on restorative juvenile justice.


• The programme will be operational in at least 20 countries. Throughout the period, it will have an impact on 50,000 children in contact with the law, by improving their access to justice, increasing the use of non-custodial measures and specialised support for detention and reducing institutional violence against them.

• On an international level in several regions of the world, the stakeholders involved in juvenile justice will have taken and/or implemented decisions that promote the restorative approach and help to promote children’s access to effective justice, fight against institutional violence against children in juvenile justice systems, increase the number of children receiving non-custodial sentences and strengthen the role and participation of children, their families and community.

• Research and innovation will contribute to advancing knowledge in the field of juvenile justice and support for institutional change and significantly strengthen Tdh’s global positioning.

• The juvenile justice programme will incorporate recognised standards of quality and accountability, namely by systematically incorporating an analysis of the situation and knowledge management.


• The programme will implement projects in 20 countries that aim to (i) reduce violence against children in justice systems by establishing or strengthening the effectiveness of complaint mechanisms, (ii) increase children's access to justice systems, namely by reinforcing the complementarity between formal and informal justice systems, (iii) reduce the number of children in detention thanks to an increase in the number of non-custodial sentences and improvements in specialised custodial detention. The formal justice systems will be qualitatively and quantitatively monitored and informal justice systems will become more well known, allowing situations to be examined with a view to the future development of the programme.

• A global multi-agency campaign will be set up to help change mind-sets, public policies, standards and procedures that promote restorative justice. Interdisciplinary forums for dialogue will be set up locally, in and between the intervention areas, by promoting and organising national, regional and international events on juvenile justice. An international specialist journal and a CAS on juvenile justice will be available in at least three languages. Finally, Terre des hommes will support children’s advocacy initiatives, evaluated based on a joint ladder of participation to allow stakeholders to make changes to the problem with the justice system that is affecting them.

• There will be an examination of innovation work on the prevention of juvenile delinquency. Terre des hommes will also publish at least one article per region of intervention in scientific journals and draft 15 specialised technical documents on the subject of juvenile justice in collaboration with local, regional and international partners. The Foundation will participate and/or also offer international juvenile justice awards.

• All projects that are part of the programme will have a monitoring component and an ongoing situation analysis allowing one to map the criminal justice process and measure performance indicators. Furthermore, knowledge management will enable at least

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five incidences of institutional learning and ten external evaluations of the project. Finally, a platform for sharing good practices in juvenile justice will be made available to partner authorities.

There are links with several other Terre des hommes’ programmes:

• With other programmes relating to protection (exploitation, migration, humanitarian crises) as part of three cross-cutting projects to address common challenges in strengthening child protection systems (CPS): (i) participation and capacity building of children, families and communities; (ii) technical support and influence vis-à-vis States, national civil societies and the private sector (key institutional actors); (iii) coordination between formal and informal parties in the CPS;

• The implementation of pilot projects, institutional learning and the drafting of a framework document for juvenile justice in humanitarian crises settings, in conjunction with the emergency and humanitarian crises department as well as other partners in the Child Protection Working Group;

• The juvenile justice programme provides its expertise in strengthening justice systems to improve access to justice for child victims of exploitation or migration;

• The advocacy in Switzerland programme incorporates juvenile justice elements to improve the rights of children in conflict with Swiss law.

5.3. The health sector Terre des hommes’ intervention in child health covers the continuum of care in the community and at home through to the first contact with the health system and beyond to tertiary and specialised care. To this end, the Fondation has implemented two programmes:

• First, the mother and child health programme, which contributes to improving the health and nutritional status of the most vulnerable children, the under-fives - focusing on the first 1,000 days of their lives - and that

of their mothers. It concentrates on health promotion and the strengthening of preventive and curative services and adopts a public health approach aimed at having a maximum impact on the population.

• The specialised care programme, which helps to promote West African children’s access to highly specialised hospital care, especially in the field of heart disease, in Europe and increasingly in the country or region of origin. To do this, Terre des hommes has established a partnership with higher education hospitals.

These two programmes are complementary, albeit at seemingly opposite ends of the continuum of health care. Indeed, their aim is a positive transformation of the lives of children so they can enjoy life to the full. While the approach to primary health care enables the survival of thousands of children, the specialised care programme reminds us that each child is unique and cherished by a family and a community. In short: every child counts.

5.3.1. The mother and child health programme Between 1990 and 2015, under five mortality worldwide was cut by half as was that of 44% of mothers. 7, 8 Despite this progress, in 2015, 5.9 million children under five died, nearly half of whom were in the first 28 days of their lives. This figure does not include a number of stillbirths. If current trends continue, about half of the 69 million child deaths anticipated between 2016 and 2030 will occur in the neonatal period.

Most of these deaths are preventable or treatable through simple, low cost interventions. Half of the deaths of children under five are due to infectious diseases such as pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, most of which occur before the age of two.9 The main causes of

7 UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN-DESA Population Division (2015): Levels & Trends in Child Mortality: estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. 8 WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and the United Nations Population Division (2015): Trends in maternal mortality: 1990 to 2015. 9 Liu L et al.: Global, regional, and national causes of child mortality in 2000–13, with projections to inform post-2015

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mortality in the neonatal period are complications owing to premature birth, birth asphyxia and septicaemia. Approximately 315,000 children die each year due to a lack of clean water, hygiene and sanitation. Globally, undernutrition is the underlying cause of more than half of deaths.10 Similarly, three preventable or treatable causes account for over half of maternal deaths: postpartum haemorrhage, gestational hypertension and infections.

The Terre des hommes health strategy is based on many years of experience and know-how and is built around five themes: the screening and treatment of acute malnutrition, the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI); the strengthening of the primary health care system; the integration of WASH in health programmes and more recently, perinatal health.

The Foundation has introduced innovative approaches and tools in each of these areas, such as the IeDA project, which uses IMCI software. The project has already been introduced in more than 200 primary health centres in Burkina Faso and will soon be extended to more than a quarter of all the country's health centres. It will also soon be introduced in Mali. Another example is the SIMSONE project in Mali, which aims to improve the quality of care at birth using a mobile simulation training team. There is also the payment exemption initiative for children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women in Burkina Faso, which has just been enshrined in law, thanks to strong lobbying from Terre des hommes. The Foundation also has experience with flood-resistant raised vegetable gardens in Bangladesh and India.

In 2016-2020, six policy changes will characterise Terre des hommes’ health strategy:

• A geographical focus on 4 to 6 countries in West Africa and Asia gradually aiming to cover at the very least a target population corresponding to a whole administrative unit.

priorities: an updated systematic analysis. Lancet 2015; 385: 430–40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)61698-6. 10 Black, Robert E., et al., ‘Maternal and Child Undernutrition and Overweight in Low-Income and Middle-Income Countries’, The Lancet, vol. 382, no. 9890, 2013, pp. 427–451.

• A strengthening of the performance of the health system based on the principles of primary health care and universal coverage to be able to meet various challenges and contingencies that may arise in the future.

• A focus on perinatal health, and the first 1,000 days of life from conception to 2 years.

• An investment in empowering local communities using evidence-based community engagement strategies (such as participation by women's groups) with special attention paid to the most vulnerable.

• A focus on WASH and electricity supplies in health centres, especially in the delivery rooms.

• Technological and social innovations to speed up progress and enable scaling.

• An improvement in data collection to enable intelligent planning and more effective action.

Tdh 2020 goal of the mother and child health programme

To promote the health of mothers and children under five and reduce mother and child mortality, Terre des hommes by 2020 will have sustainably strengthened the primary health care and community health system in its regions of intervention in at least two priority countries in West Africa and two in Asia, mainly in rural areas and gradually in peri-urban areas.


• To improve the availability and use (effective coverage11) of basic good quality primary health care services for pregnant or breastfeeding women, infants and small children.

• An increase in the proportion of mothers and "helpers" adopting healthy behaviour, with a focus on an optimal approach to infant

11 Effective coverage is defined as the probability that a person needing the intervention obtains the potential health gain achievable from it—effective coverage is contingent firstly on receiving the intervention in a timely manner, and secondly on receiving it at a level of quality necessary to assure the potential gain in health. (WHO, 2003. Health Systems Performance Assessment: Debates, Methods and Empiricism).

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feeding, hygiene practices and the appropriate use of the health care facilities.

• The provision of an adequate and equitable supply of drinking water and sanitation in primary health facilities. The supply of drinking water and sanitation in certain target communities will also be strengthened and managed safely.

• Strengthen the capacity at district level to produce quality data on time so that decisions can be made on the health of the mother, the newborn and the child.


• The primary health care system will be strengthened to improve the health of mothers, newborns and children under five, including the quality and affordability of health structures and preventive and promotional services in communities.

• Communication strategies will provide information on changes in behaviour and practices, especially among mothers and caregivers, regarding danger signs during pregnancy and neonatal and childhood diseases.

• Drinking water sources will be installed that are protected from outside contamination and are safely managed. Sanitation facilities will be set up and safely managed. Water treatment systems will be upgraded in health facilities and households. Finally, Terre des hommes will participate in developing and testing the WASH monitoring methods and tools in health care facilities as part of the global action plan jointly conducted by WHO and UNICEF.

• The collection, analysis and use of data will be reinforced in health centres and district supervision will be improved.

• Terre des hommes’ expertise will be strengthened, particularly in the area of perinatal health, community mobilisation, behavioural change and mobile health (mHealth) and will add to our skills in screening, the treatment of acute malnutrition

and the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI).

There are links with other Terre des hommes programmes at several levels:

• Child protection programmes – with regard to the registration of births, pregnant teenagers and overall advocacy;

• The areas of food security and livelihoods, DRR and building resilience, which will be integrated across all phases of the project management cycle;

• The humanitarian crises programme – to address the challenges of the Relief - Rehabilitation - Development contiguum/continuum.

5.3.2. The specialised care programme With more than 50 years of providing treatment to 13,000 children from poor countries requiring specialised medical care, this programme, which transfers individuals to surgical facilities in Europe has led to an unprecedented network in Switzerland with strong partnerships with hospitals (HUG (Geneva University Hospital), CHUV (Lausanne University Hospital) and Inselspital Bern (Berne University Hospital), as well as with the Tdh Valais Foundation and “La Maison” and the reception and convalescence centre in Massongex.

However, the operational and financial capacity of the hospital partners in Switzerland has reached its limits and children in West Africa continue to require specialised care. Fortunately, there are now opportunities to improve the access and quality of specialist care in the countries of origin.

Therefore, in 2016-2020, the specialised care programme will gradually focus its activities and rebalance its approach between care in Switzerland and the country of origin. With the support of Swiss paediatric surgical teams and greater synergy with other players in the field, the Foundation will promote access and the quality of tertiary care through centres of excellence in Senegal, Benin and Morocco. These collaborations will take place by strengthening skills on site, networking between stakeholders and donors both in the North and the South and

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thanks to continuing remittances from a chain of solidarity across Switzerland, Spain and France.

Tdh 2020 goal for the specialised care programme

By 2020, Terre des hommes plans to have facilitated West African children’s access to specialised hospital care, in particular in the field of heart disease, with operations performed in Switzerland, Spain and France on 250 sick children a year from disadvantaged backgrounds and on 50 to 150 children per year in regional centres of excellence in Morocco, Senegal, Benin and Mali. Post-operative medical care will be improved and made available to more than 1,500 children a year.


• 1,250 children (250 per year) with serious diseases will be transferred to Europe to receive quality care.

• A total of 500 children with serious diseases will receive quality care in West Africa, in regional centres of excellence in Morocco, Senegal, Benin and Mali. More than 1,500 children will be monitored annually in all countries of origin (post-operatively) and plans will be made on possible preventive measures.

• Information software and a standardised database will notify all stakeholders of each beneficiary’s individual condition and the stage they are at.

• The general public and specialists in Switzerland and in the countries in question will know about the specialist care, will understand the challenges relating to improved access to tertiary care and will support the programme.


• Partnerships will be set up with Swiss hospitals and the chain of solidarity will be consolidated with all partners, including Tdh

Valais, Tdh Spain, Aviation Without Borders and the volunteer network in Switzerland.

• In Morocco, Senegal, Benin and Mali, specialised centres of excellence in paediatric cardiac surgery will become regional benchmarks and treat 500 children. 1,500 children will be monitored annually (post-operatively) in their country of origin with appropriate medical care provided and social monitoring of children who have been operated on so they can attend school or pursue an apprenticeship. Finally, an assessment on the project to prevent the damage caused by caustic soda will be carried out in Guinea and discussions will be carried out on extending this preventive approach.

• The gradual integration of software and the electronic health records among affiliate partners will facilitate medical decision-making. In addition, collaboration will be planned with other NGOs who have options for performing operations in Europe or locally.

• Events will be organised to maintain visibility and the support of a committed and loyal population.

5.4. The emergencies and humanitarian crises programme The greatest challenge of the 21st century in the field of humanitarian aid is to meet the needs of populations exposed to crises, while preparing for a riskier and more uncertain future in which needs are likely to become more and more and complex.

Over the past decade, the number of people requiring humanitarian assistance and protection has almost doubled, from an average of 30 to 40 million people a year to 50 to 70 million. The number of people displaced by conflict or violence, nearly 60 million people at the end of 2015, has been the highest since the Second World War.12

Terre des hommes’ priority for 2016-2020 is to meet the needs of the most vulnerable

12 www.unhcr.org/558193896.html

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children and their communities affected by level 3 major humanitarian crises13 caused by a natural disaster, an epidemic or a conflict.

This response considers the whole RRD contiguum initially through direct and integrated assistance focused on the basic needs of affected populations (non-food items, shelter, WASH, health, protection), and secondly through targeted health and child protection assistance together with the people and local authorities.

Terre des hommes also responds to level 2 humanitarian crises 14 caused by a natural disaster, an epidemic or conflict in areas of intervention already benefiting from the Foundation’s development activities or in new geographical areas of interest for future development activities.

Tdh 2020 goal of the emergencies and humanitarian crises programme

By 2020, Terre des hommes will respond immediately and effectively to the needs of children during major humanitarian crises and will contribute significantly to ensure access by the most vulnerable children to basic health care services as well as a protective environment. 15 Terre des hommes will also contribute to the rehabilitation of the health and welfare systems.

The Terre des hommes Foundation, within TDHIF, is well recognised as a leading organisation on child welfare in the humanitarian aid sector, both internationally and in Switzerland, and is sought by all humanitarian aid actors in particular for its expertise on child protection in humanitarian crises.


13 According to UNOCHA’s typology. 14 According to UNOCHA’s typology. 15 The protective environment is a child-centred intervention model made up of concentric circles in which the child is "surrounded by immediate and extended family. Next there is the direct community, with friends and neighbours. Surrounding this are institutions, such as schools or health services, or religious and other local institutions. On the outside are the larger institutions and services, government and media, all reinforcing held values and beliefs.” (Terre des hommes, 2012. Working with children and their environment, p.12)

• Terre des hommes’ action will contribute significantly to prevent and reduce the impact of crises on children, their families and their community through a specific response, either directly or through partnerships, to the children’s protection and health needs and by providing appropriate assistance to ensure people’s basic needs are covered.

• Terre des hommes will provide quality aid to beneficiaries of its work in the humanitarian aid sector in line with international humanitarian standards governing quality and accountability.16

• Terre des hommes will organise its activities as part of a working strategy in a network and partnership to produce lasting change for children in humanitarian crises, allowing it to consolidate its position as a key and privileged player helping children in the humanitarian aid sector in Switzerland and abroad, among the general public, authorities and partners and in particular within TDHIF.


• Exploratory missions will be conducted In level 2 and 3 humanitarian crises17, as well as in long-term emergency situations, to adapt Terre des hommes’ response to the context and positioning of other emergency workers to identify the potential for direct intervention by Terre des hommes or a partner(s) already active in the countries. Moreover, by actively standing by, anticipating, being prepared and being responsive, prompt intervention can be ensured in a crisis.

• The humanitarian standards governing quality and accountability18 will systematically be applied to all interventions and methods of action will be adapted to take the Relief - Rehabilitation - Development contiguum challenges into account.

16 e.g. Sphere, CPMS, WHO, Core Humanitarian Standards, ICRC). 17 According to UNOCHA’s typology. 18 e.g. Sphere, CPMS, WHO, Core Humanitarian Standards, ICRC).

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• Global advocacy on the issues of children in the context of a humanitarian crisis will be relayed to Terre des hommes’ partners swiftly and effectively during major crises, with participation in international events in the area of humanitarian aid and in ICVA and VOICE networks. In addition, the Foundation’s expertise on health and protection in the context of a humanitarian crisis and its presence in the field will inform and influence the position of the other TDHIF members.

Terre des hommes organises the emergency and humanitarian crises programme in conjunction with the following programmes:

• With protection-related programmes (exploitation, juvenile justice, migration) as part of three cross-cutting projects to address common challenges in strengthening protection systems (CPS): (i) the participation and empowerment of children, families and communities; (ii) technical support and influence vis-à-vis States, national civil society and the private sectors (key institutional actors); (iii) coordination between formal and informal parties in the CPS;

• The support of the humanitarian aid sector in mother and child health and protection programmes: (i) in regions of intervention during low intensity crises; (ii) in the transition phase towards major level 2 and 3 crises.

5.5. The advocacy in Switzerland programme In 2016-2020, the advocacy in Switzerland programme will focus primarily on the most serious violations of children's rights in areas where the Foundation has proven expertise.

The first is migration, an area Terre des hommes works in across all its regions of intervention. In Switzerland, the situation of migrant children is particularly worrying. Indeed, their treatment does not meet the minimum standards set by international organisations in this area and their numbers are rising sharply. Attitudes and practices must urgently be changed so that these minors are seen first and foremost as

children and enjoy the same rights as other children.

Second, there has been a sharp rise in surrogacy (S) since the 1980s with unacceptable abuses from the perspective of the fundamental rights of children and women. The lack of an international framework means the strict implementation of any policy and a legislative position on the matter is unrealistic. Although this problem is not new to Terre des hommes, it follows on from the historic Intercountry Adoption Programme, decreed in 2015.

To do this, the Foundation is committed within existing networks, including the Swiss Network of Children's Rights, to monitor the implementation of the CRC and to help reduce violations of children’s rights in Switzerland.

Tdh 2020 goal of the advocacy in Switzerland programme

By 2020, Terre des hommes aims to have contributed to the recognition of violations of the fundamental rights of children in Switzerland, particularly with regard to migration and surrogacy. Terre des hommes has taken a public position on these issues, proposing changes in legal frameworks, public policies and practices. The Foundation is recognised in Switzerland as a leading organisation in the area of children’s rights and is sought for its technical expertise.


• The fundamental rights of migrant children in Switzerland will be respected through the inclusion of the needs and rights of these children, regardless of their status in the Confederation and cantons’ public policies.

• The commodification of women and children in the context of surrogacy will be fought and banned for Swiss nationals and there will be repercussions for offenders. The Swiss government will take measures in this

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regard when drafting international agreements in this area.


• With regard to migration, Terre des hommes will continue its investigative work, harvesting objective data and publishing reports. It will lobby parliament alongside partner networks and organisations for a ban on detaining child migrants. As part of its partnership with the IDE (International Institute for the Rights of the Child) and SSI (Swiss Foundation of the International Social Service) in ADEM (Alliance for the Rights of Child Migrants), Terre des hommes will promote the

development and implementation of common minimum standards in all cantons on the treatment of unaccompanied foreign minors from the time they enter Swiss territory until their departure or integration. Finally, a unit will be set up to monitor violations of the fundamental rights of children.

• With regard to surrogacy, Terre des hommes will increase knowledge of the extent of this problem and educate the people who may be involved (doctors, parents, lawyers, authorities); it will take part in establishing an international framework to ban any commercial surrogacy worldwide, and will support Switzerland’s position in the debate while helping to develop specific measures to protect children born through surrogacy.

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6. Measure and monitor the impact

6.1. The overall steering Under the previous Strategic Plan, the issue of goals, measurable indicators and institutional steering remained a major challenge for the whole Foundation.

Several lessons have been learnt and have helped to strengthen the steering of this new Strategic Plan:

• At project level, each field project has indeed been designed with indicators but the process of providing the information for the defined indicators and establishing an analysis of results for each theme across the organisation began several years ago and needs consolidating.

• Each department has also developed indicators to measure and monitor their activities within each sector, but development and progress is still limited.

• Finally, at institutional level, cross-cutting projects are equipped with indicators that allow the implementation to be monitored with a particular focus on the operational side. In 2013, an attempt was made to develop a steering system, but it encountered several obstacles in its implementation: the development of quality indicators, the establishment of clear processes and the development of tools to aggregate and integrate the indicators.

The development of the long-term vision will require programme steering that is based on reliable indicators that enable us to assess the results achieved and decide on any adjustments that may be needed.

Vision 2030 and the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan have established the conditions for programme steering: concentrating on five priority programmes and two specialised programmes, the prevalence of the programme dimension, other dimensions of the organisation supporting it and the definition of an overall Theory of Change (TOC) for each programme. The project monitoring will also continue to be strengthened.

This steering system must be efficient, flexible and clear to be able to monitor the implementation of the Foundation’s 2016-2020 Strategic Plan within the framework of Vision 2030.

This new steering system should be capable of tracking and integrating the three levels of the institution's indicators: the programme indicators, as defined in the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan; the departmental indicators to monitor their activities and goals and finally institutional indicators on large-scale cross-cutting projects, managed according to General Directorate regulations.

The programme steering will be implemented according to the goals outlined in the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan, and the specific operational plans. This framework will define a steering protocol specifying the critical points that will be monitored, indicators and qualitative summaries required, as well as the framework for analysing them. Performance indicators will enable monitoring and decision-making. Ongoing consolidation during the project monitoring and good management and knowledge sharing will help to provide the steering with reliable information and knowledge that is both relevant and substantiated. We will also continue to improve our information system to enhance the quality of our data and ensure it is used and analysed correctly.

2020 goal for steering

By 2020, Terre des hommes aims to have an effective steering system, informed by quantitative and qualitative indicators from three levels in the organisation: cross-institutional, departmental and at programme level linked to the implementation of the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan.

The system will enable logical and structured coordination between the three levels and responsibilities and processes will be managed and complied with.

To achieve this goal, the Foundation has set the following outcomes for 2020;

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• Quantitative and qualitative indicators will be created for each of the three levels: institutional, departmental and programme.

• A steering system will be set up to coordinate between each level, with clear responsibility at each level, monitoring indicators and defined processes.

• Tools will be developed to structure the control system and will be used at all three levels.

6.2. Quality and accountability Terre des hommes has a proactive approach.

Listening, dialogue, an ongoing analysis of situations and forces at work, flexible strategies with adjustments made according to results achieved, are all key factors in ensuring impact.

An analysis of our project management practices has shown some difficulty in including these approaches in standard practices that are common to the whole organisation.

This approach subscribes to the commitments and standards of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS), currently a key initiative in the international cooperation sector, in line with an international trend that the Foundation is also committed to. Terre des hommes has decided to base its approach to quality and accountability on this system of reference, which has the advantage of nurturing reflection on the action rather than a prescriptive and technical approach.

2020 goal for Quality and Accountability

By 2020, a Quality & Accountability approach will support Tdh’s capacity to contribute to sustainable results, by optimising existing resources and working with the people, State actors and civil society.

Consistency and links with the Quality & Accountability policy, methodological, financial and human resources as well as communication and information management tools, will all form part of a quality assurance system.


• The quality of the information and communication with stakeholders will ensure there is accountability for all our interventions. In contexts where the latter is both relevant and realistic, the participation of State actors, civil society and representatives of the people, including children, will contribute to the decision-making process at various stages of the project and may form the basis for partnerships and joint action.

• Intervention strategies will be based on a recognition of individual and collective capacities and will reinforce the social dynamics that contribute to lasting change. To do this, a TOC will be defined and broken down by programme. It will inform the stakeholders’ thinking in defining the relevant strategies to strengthen the system, incorporating the principles of equity and "Do No Harm”.

• Project management arrangements will support this contribution to social change, fostering an analysis of social systems, strategic thinking, monitoring and evaluation. The methodologies that support the operational planning, governance and management of multi-stakeholder projects will be strengthened and harmonised. Consideration will be given to the specific needs of emergency interventions and their coordination with long-term projects will be encouraged.

• The qualifications and management of teams in the field, the supplementary funding of the project management stages inadequately covered by lenders (situation analysis, development of country strategies, evaluation and capitalisation) and the increased skills of the teams in the field in terms of communication with actors will be consistent with our strategies for supporting social change.

• A learning process will contribute to ongoing improvements. Support for a critical reflection on action taken, a boost in the number and quality of assessments, support for capitalising on the projects and a

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management system and knowledge sharing will help to consolidate our approaches and promote incremental innovation.

To achieve the above goals, an institutional project should be set up with the following critical conditions:

• Strong institutional delivery, commitments to priorities and the management of each department throughout the organisation;

• A common framework consisting of a Quality & Accountability Policy (Q&A), institutional guidelines and cognitive and methodological resources;

• Support on a regional level and for teams in the field through the integration of Q&A resources;

• A system for learning, combining face-to-face training and the exchange of practices, access to online resources and e-learning;

• A Quality Assurance system providing a framework for the analysis and monitoring of our commitments;

• Finally, self-assessment and third party verification, provided by CHS Alliance and participation in other networks involved in these issues (IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee, Accountability Charter), will contribute to our progress strategies.

6.2.1 Information Systems

The mastering of "new technologies" (ICT) is also an essential factor in improving quality (situation analysis, monitoring, evaluation, project and programme steering) and accountability processes. The "programme ICT" or "ICT4D" are also key to consolidating Protection and Health structuring processes. This cross-cutting approach is increasingly considered an essential skill that provides both opportunities as well as significant risks that are often underestimated.

It is about ensuring that Tdh is not gradually left behind by other specialised players.

2020 goal for information systems

By 2020, Terre des hommes plans (i) to have an appropriate and structured framework of ICT programs and data use (ii) to provide their teams in the field and at headquarters with tools that are suitable for their requirements.


• To have guidelines and operational variations that manage the integration and development of ICT tools to support the programmes with a particular focus on ethical data management.

• To build the skills needed to master technologies mainly through strategic operational partnerships with specialised players, working as a consortium with similar organisations as well as through capacity building in regional offices.

• To deploy the tools or standard frameworks in the institution to enable situation analyses, project monitoring, programme steering and accountability processes, with a specific focus on the tools for collecting and analysing surveys and the software that supports the project cycle management and decision-making (geographically and at headquarters).

• To design or encourage the adoption of business tools to support the Health and Protection programmes and prioritise the structuring processes at Terre des hommes (including case management protection) and ensure active monitoring of the specific tools.

6.3. The innovation For several years, the field of humanitarian aid and development has been on a constant search for innovative solutions to achieve a greater impact among beneficiaries.

As part of this strategy, in particular since 2013, Terre des hommes has actively invested in innovation, and has therefore encouraged the emergence and scaling up of some innovations in its programmes.

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In 2016-2020, the Foundation aims to strengthen innovation in its intervention programmes to continue to make a difference to the lives of children and their families.

The strategic priorities for Terre des hommes’ innovation will cover but not be limited to the following:

• Use of Information Technology and Communication (ICT) in our business processes to increase efficiency and impact;19

• Use of “frugal” techniques or technologies20 to mobilise untapped resources available locally or greatly reduce the cost of services;

• Alternative approaches and working methods to the usual rationale applied in social, legal or medical services in order to significantly improve the efficiency of the service or its access for the children’s well-being.

2020 goal for innovation

By 2020, innovation will be one of Terre des hommes’ differentiating factors. Indeed, the discovery and scaling up of disruptive innovations21 in programme priorities will have led to a significant increase in impact among beneficiaries. Terre des hommes is also a leading and pioneering figure in innovation in its sector.


• Terre des hommes will be better equipped to manage the emergence and dissemination of "exploratory” or potentially "disruptive" innovation in its programmes.

• Terre des hommes will be recognised by its peers and donors as an innovative NGO.

19 Cf IeDA, Childhub, CAS JJ 20 Frugal innovation is a process of responding to a need in the simplest and most efficient way possible using the fewest resources. It is often summed up as providing low cost quality solutions and innovating better with less (Wikipedia). 21 Disruptive innovation usually performs below the level of existing technologies, but nevertheless eventually replaces it (Pearson 2014).


• In at least three out of five of the Foundation’s priority programmes, a major innovation, capable of profoundly altering our current interventions22 will be tested and successfully scaled up. To do this, a dozen more or less disruptive innovative ideas provided by Terre des hommes or by local players will be selected, explored and tested,

• The Foundation will be active in international networks on innovation in the humanitarian sector and will regularly present its work, which is published and internationally recognised. It will also forge operational, technical and scientific partnerships to increase the impact and credibility of its activities as a leading reference on innovation within TDHIF. Innovation will allow the Foundation to alter the general public’s perception in line with its institutional values and to stand out in donors’ minds.

To achieve the above goals, an institutional project - based on the recognised fundamental aspects of innovation, such as the experimental approach, the central role played by its users and "open” innovation - needs to be established, based on the following critical conditions:

• A dual and interdisciplinary structure: the creation of independent incubation spaces that are temporary and protected – " innovation labs".

These spaces will be open to actors in the organisation and to local partners on a selective, voluntary and non-hierarchical basis.

Interdisciplinary and multiple profiles will actively be sought.

• Adequate financial investment: based on the experience of the innovation fund created in 2013, an investment that could represent up to 5% of the organisation’s non-earmarked

22 Whether in terms of products, processes, positioning etc.

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and semi-earmarked funds will progressively be allocated to innovation.

With this investment, targeted and innovative financing, particularly involving the private sector, will be identified and secured with the help of the Fundraising sector.

• A search for integration and scaling up: innovation is not a goal in itself, the Foundation aims to incorporate the changes resulting from this strategy in future regular activities. The regional dynamics in the intervention areas will therefore be heavily involved owing to their special role in the exploration and dissemination of new ideas and solutions.

• A corporate culture that encourages innovation: even if it benefits temporary protected spaces, innovation should form an integral part of the Foundation’s culture. Indeed, successfully managing the emergence of innovation requires an open mind-set to risk-taking, investment and an original approach from the employees, but especially from the management.

6.4. Risk management Terre des hommes has two categories of risk. The first are operational risks in the field.

These include:

• Risks of physical or psychological abuse towards children who are beneficiaries of Terre des hommes’ projects while the projects are in progress.

• Security and safety risks faced by international and domestic employees during their work in the field, whether in crisis areas where violence or kidnapping can occur, but also in terms of health issues (tropical disease epidemics) and road accidents.

• The risk of fraud and corruption that may occur in regional offices abroad.

The second category are institutional risks, affecting a wider area and that have an impact on the organisation as a whole. They include reputational, financial, legal or computer risks.

In previous years, the Foundation has primarily focused on operational risk management by setting up a process for reporting the various aforementioned risks.

However, the clear trend towards very fast overall media coverage of incidents shows the need to develop institutional risk management further in the future.

In 2016-2020, Terre des hommes plans to have an integrated approach to operational risk management and will develop a policy and processes tailored to institutional risk management.

2020 goal for risk management

By 2020, employees and the institution will be aware of the risks, anticipate and reduce them and, if there are problems, respond appropriately by implementing training, policies and procedures known and respected by all.


• Each employee will know and control the reporting process and its associated policies and will raise the alarm when needed.

• Existing operational risk management policies - security, child protection, fraud - will be strengthened and known to all employees.

• Institutional risks will be identified and incorporated in the risk management system.


• Every employee both at headquarters and in the field will be trained in the updated reporting process. All regional offices will be updated once a year on safety issues, child protection and fraud and a safety simulation exercise will be conducted at headquarters every two years. Finally, the intranet’s information system will be improved and the databases harmonised.

• Security and safety procedures will be strengthened, particularly in the context of

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humanitarian crises, and policies will be deployed to support and train the regional offices.

The employees and national partners in the field will be updated and apply the child protection policy.

Finally, the anti-fraud policy will be reviewed jointly by the Risk Management Unit and the Finance and Programmes Departments, in accordance with international standards.

• An institutional risk policy will be drafted, approved and included in Terre des hommes’ risk management system.

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7. Terre des hommes institutional partnerships

Terre des hommes’ action is conceived as a contribution to the changes brought about by groups of players. Terre des hommes’ therefore forms part of a network of local, regional and global actors that aims to increase its impact by combining resources, knowledge and influence.

The Foundation maintains strategic institutional partnerships for a long-term outlook and cooperation in multiple interventions. Four types of actors in particular have been targeted for 2016-2020:

• NGO partners and TDHIF: Terre des hommes will carry out operations, international advocacy and will also share knowledge, approaches and support with these actors;

• Technical and financial partners: these actors will provide funding support to the Foundation’s programmes and de facto coordination both at strategic and technical level (knowledge sharing, joint research);

• Academic institutions: these partnerships will aim to ensure the quality of the training, the research and the production and dissemination of Terre des hommes’ knowledge;

• Companies: partnerships with the private sector operate on two levels. They enable skills, technological and financial resources to be provided for Terre des hommes’ operations, while also reducing the exploitation of child labour in some companies’ value chain.

At the present time, we believe that these partnerships can be consolidated:

• With TDHIF, we would like to move from a relationship of good cooperation and coordination to a more strategic relationship based on genuine cooperation.

• With academic partners and NGOs, we can move from ad hoc relations sometimes based on personal relationships to a strategic long-term partnership.

• We must also increase the number of technical and financial partners with whom we can develop a relationship that influences our overall strategy and our learning beyond that of a financial contribution. Today, this collaboration is limited to the SDC and CdB.

• Finally, we want to develop partnerships with the private sector which, nowadays, are few and limited.

2020 goal for institutional partnerships

By 2020, Terre des hommes will have built and / or strengthened multiparty collaboration to combine efforts and resources and achieve a greater impact, in the spirit of the Sustainable Development Goals’ Goal 17.23


• Terre des hommes is actively contributing to TDHIF’s common goals and will develop cooperation in project implementation, international campaigns and advocacy, the sharing of knowledge and approaches.

• Close collaboration with strategic NGO partners will allow Terre des hommes to increase its impact and the quality of its support.

• Close collaboration with technical and financial partners will allow Terre des hommes to increase its impact.

• Strategic academic partners will enhance the quality of Terre des hommes’ training and research and the production and dissemination of knowledge.

• Strengthening partnerships with the private sector will increase the quality and impact of the projects.

23 www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/fr/globalpartnerships

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These are the main means that the Foundation will employ to achieve these results:

• Campaigns and international advocacy will be coordinated and implemented in conjunction with TDHIF members. In pilot countries, operational cooperation will increase the volume of operations, efficiency and the impact of the operations carried out by TDHIF members. The sharing of expertise and knowledge between members will be improved to enhance complementarity and cooperation, in particular for programmes that protect migrant children and children who are victims of labour exploitation. Cooperation between members will develop Terre des hommes’ influence and the acquisition of new resources.

• Terre des hommes will negotiate strategic alliances with at least two organisations. Each programme will identify at least two key strategic partners (complementing Terre des hommes’ intervention with other resources and expertise). Terre des hommes will strengthen its capacity to execute large contracts as part of a consortium with partner organisations (international or local).

• Existing technical and financial partners will be retained and their technical contribution

will be optimised (knowledge sharing, strategic coordination, etc.). Each programme will identify at least two key technical and financial partners supporting the programme financially, but also strategically and technically.

• Terre des hommes will increase its cooperation with its long-term academic partners and strengthen its presence and collaborations in its network of academic partners in Switzerland, internationally and regionally. Each programme will have at least two long-standing institutional academic partners. Finally, the Foundation will develop a research policy and enhance the quality of its partnerships with academic institutes.

• When executing its projects, Terre des hommes will promote the implementation of multiparty partnerships, including with the private sector, focusing on the provision of skills, technological and financial resources. Meanwhile, Terre des hommes will take part in discussions on the private sector’s role and place in development, particularly in the context of the Shared Value initiative.

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8. List of acronyms

AEV: Advertising equivalent value

CAS: Certificate of Advanced Studies

CdB: Chaîne du Bonheur

CHS: Core humanitarian standard on quality and accountability

CHUV: Lausanne University Hospital

CIDE: Interfaculty Centre for Children’s Rights

CPS: Child protection system

CRC: Convention on the Rights of the Child

CRM: Customer relationship management

DRR: Disaster Risk Reduction

EHCS: Emergencies and humanitarian crises sector

HMR: Human resources management

HUG: Geneva University Hospitals

IASC: Inter-Agency Standing Committee

ICT: Information and Communication Technologies

ICVA: International Council of Voluntary Agencies

IDE: Institute for Children’s Rights

IeDA: Integrated e-Diagnosis Assessment

IMCI: Integrated Management of Childhood Illness

IMD: International Institute for Management Development

IT: Information Technology

MNCH: Maternal, Newborn and Child Health

NGO: Non-Governmental Organisation

OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

PAC: Programme administrative costs

PHC: Primary health care

Q&A: Quality and Accountability

RRD: Relief-Rehabilitation-Development

S: Surrogacy

SBL: Secure based leadership

SDC: Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation

SDG: Sustainable Development Goal TDHIF: Terre des hommes International Federation

SIMSONE: Simulation-based training in obstetric and basic neonatal care

SP: Strategic Plan

TOC: Theory of Change

UNICEF: United Nations Children’s Fund

UNIGE: University of Geneva

VOICE: Voluntary Organisations in Cooperation in Emergencies.

WASH: Water, hygiene and sanitation

WHO: World Health Organization

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