REV. JOHN YORK, SECRETARY GENERAL, INTER-RELIGIOUS COUNCIL OF LIBERIA LEARNING FROM ONE ANOTHER: REPLICATING SUCCESSFUL MODELS REV. JOHN YORK, SECRETARY GENERAL, INTER-RELIGIOUS COUNCIL OF LIBERIA Sarajevo| 25 July 2015

Overview of the Problem  Liberia’s Civil War ( ) and Ebola Outbreak ( ) have resulted in more than 50,000 orphaned children  Orphanages have become a big “business” in Liberia and more than 200 have been established since 2003  Displacement, urbanization and extreme poverty contribute to children being placed in orphanages  Instead of being trusted to communities and extended family structures, children were sent to institutions

Problems with Institutionalization  The large increase in institutions left them highly unregulated  Child abuse occurs regularly in many institutions  Some orphanages serve as child trafficking or illegal adoption centers

IRCL Focus Area  Communities were ill-equipped to support children who lost their parents as well as parents who could not afford to keep their children

Available Assets  More than 90% of Liberia’s population subscribe to a major faith tradition  Moral: Religious leaders had the moral authority to speak out against institutionalization  Spiritual: Religious passages on supporting those in need.  Social: Community structures, such as the Shaita Women of Faith (WoF)

Assets of the Religious and Inter- religious Communities  Accessibility to radio and TV talk shows  Platform to disseminate messages against child abuse and institutionalization  Inter-religious groups (Shaita WoF) to address the prioritized driver

The Program - Objectives  O1: To decrease child abuse in the communities through religious messaging  O2: To support teen mothers and provide an alternative to institutionalization  O3: To reintegrate institutionalized children in the community

Decreasing Child Abuse and Institutionalization through Messaging  IRCL built a network of more than 2000 key religious leaders at the community level who propagated messages against child abuse through:  Participating in call-in radio and TV talk shows  Providing sermons against child abuse  Messaging on deinstitutionalization across the network through the U’ Report  National and local consultations of religious leaders on de-institutionalization

Increasing the Community’s Capacity to Care for Orphans  Shaita WoF each contribute to a fund that is used to support at-risk teen mothers within the community  Shaita WoF mobilize other women’s groups to replicate the model  Women’s groups develop sustainability strategies for the program

Reintegrating Orphans  Identifying orphans and referred them to community programs  Serving on Child Welfare Committees (CWCs)  Ensuring that children receive alternative care within communities  Supporting families that care for orphans IRCL has referred over 200 children orphaned by Ebola for support

Methods Employed  Awareness Raising- through messaging  Education- through training WoF  Strategic Humanitarian Assistance- through supporting at-risk teen mothers  Advocacy- through radio and TV programs and serving on child welfare committees

Strengthened Capacity  UNICEF has trained IRCL Staff, Coordinators and Field Teams on Monitoring and Reporting Abuses, Referral Pathways for De- institutionalization, and Psychosocial Support (PSS)  Coordinators have motorbikes to reach difficult terrains for surveillance  RfP International provides technical guidelines, program inputs, etc.  IRCL has 3 functional out station offices with full physical and operational presence with local RLs.

 Constructing a database on RLs in Liberia targeting an estimated 10,000 RLs  Ability to reach 2000 RLs within a minute by the IRCL U’ Report chapter which is free without charge on all phone networks in Liberia

A Note of Thanks Our special courtesy and appreciation to the Buddhist Community of the Religions for Peace Family whose enormous contributions have made this program successful Thank You!