The goal of Save the Children Sweden’s child protection programme in South and Central Asia is to ensure all children have access to functioning child protection systems.
Legal and policy development
Legal reform is necessary to prohibit all forms of violence against children in all settings. This programme promotes the development of adequate legislative frameworks and policies and supports their implementation for creating and strengthening effective national child protection systems. We are undertaking a national review of the legal/policy gaps and procedures, and identifying reasons for lack of enforcement and implementation. Studies at the country level are compiled into a regional reports and key messages and are used for advocacy work at the national level as well as with regional bodies.
Child Protection in Emergencies
A state’s child protection system must be founded on human rights obligations. In an emergency setting, children are more vulnerable and existing protection issues are intensified. This programme develops a model for a rights-based national child protection system which can adapt to an emergency situation. We build on child protection systems that exist at a community level and map existing good practices. We strengthen cooperation with regional bodies working on disaster preparedness and responding during emergency situations. As many emergencies in the region are triggered by disasters, we specifically look into climate change, child-centred disaster preparedness and children’s rights.
Preventive and Responsive Structures
Services should be provided in a coordinated and holistic way, integrating the contributions of different institutions such as schools, hospitals, law enforcement and the justice system. This programme promotes rights-based child protection systems that have child-friendly preventive and responsive structures, mechanisms and services at the national, district and community level. We support country programmes in producing good practise documents on existing child protection mechanisms. At the regional level, country studies are compiled and used for lobbying and advocating across the region.
Family and Community Support
The UN Study on Violence Against Children strongly recommends that culturally appropriate and gender-sensitive parenting programmes are in place to support families in providing violence-free homes and communities. This programme strengthens the abilities of children, families and communities to provide care and protection for children. We are developing a campaign which focuses on the positive roles that fathers, mothers or other caregivers can play to promote children’s development, promote nonviolent relationships and address gender socialisation and gender stereotypes. We build the capacity of parents, caregivers, teachers, and community members on good parenting and the impact of psychological and physical punishment, sexual abuse and exploitation.