I have Courage Child Protection Community Engagement

What is Courage and child protection? Courage is a powerful toolkit that can work inside any child protection organization, community, family or individual to help enhance the child protection work that you do. Child protection is the prevention and responding to violence, exploitation and abuse against children. Our aim is to give you the practical tools you will need to develop a child protection strategy that: –Recognises the rights and needs of all children. –Helps you to identify where they are being abused or overlooked. –Provides you with the strategies you will need to resolve the child protection challenges that you encounter. –Empowers yourself, your organization and your community to make a difference, in partnership with other like-minded individuals or organisations. –Measures and evaluates your progress to ensure that the difference you make is effective and sustainable.

Why is Courage important? Courage community engagement will help to uphold children’s rights and maintain public health and wellbeing. It will also assist us in preventing the severe and lasting consequences of abuse, exploitation and neglect, which include: –Depression, anxiety, post traumatic stress –Substance abuse –Suicide –STDs/HIV/AIDS –Unwanted pregnancy –Learning difficulties and cognitive development –Developmental delays and behavioural issues –Neurological impact: toxic stress (extended living in violent environment) –Poor self-regulation, hyper-vigilance and aggressive anti-social behaviour –Violence perpetuates violence, lowered social cohesion and capital

What is our Courage vision? We believe that child protection is everyone’s responsibility, but often the challenges seem too great, and the solutions too complex to effect real change. It is for this reason that we have created the following vision of the Courage Child Protection Community Engagement Programme: To create a practical child protection toolkit that empowers individuals, families and organizations to develop and implement a simple yet effective child protection programme in any unique community environment.

Holding onLetting goMoving on 1. Shock 2. Denial 3. Awareness 4. Acceptance 5. Understanding 6. Testing 7. Moving forward CONFIDENCE LEVELS The Change Curve (Kubler Ross) High Low 1. Build awareness & acceptance of the fact that child protection challenges are taking place in your community 2. Prioritise these child protection challenges and identity strategies to solve the problems 3. Turning strategies into an action plan: what you need to do, how you are going to do it, and measure progress What we are trying to do with Courage

The importance of empowerment Every child protection challenge is about disempowerment, which means that every child protection strategy or solution should be about personal, family, community and organizational empowerment. In any child protection situation, you will always have three kinds of people, the child protection officer or organization, the child and the perpetrator or person responsible for the child protection challenge. The question is, will they choose Personal Empowerment or to live in the Drama Triangle, as illustrated below. The Courage child protection programme helps to build personal empowerment in each of these people to ensure a positive outcome. SURVIVOR ENABLER ACCOUNTABILIY PERSONAL EMPOWERMENT CHILD CHILD PROTECTION INDIVIDUAL/ORGANISATION PERPETRATOR CHILD PROTECTION RESCUER VICTIM PERSECUTOR DRAMA TRIANGLE* * Stephen Karpman

The mind-shift required RESCUERCHILD PROTECTION INDIVIDUAL/ORGANISATION ENABLER Concern for victim Help driven by guilt Victim needs me Solve problem for victim Concern for vulnerable Identifies need for change Provide with choices Empower to act VICTIMCHILDSURVIVOR/THRIVER Suffering Helpless and disempowered Feels trapped/Can’t solve No choices Identifies suffering as problem I need to help myself Identify choices Act to change situation PERSECUTORPERPETRATORACCOUNTABLE PARTY Victim doesn’t matter No empathy No responsibility/blame others Self centred Identifies right from wrong Empathises with victim Takes responsibility Make amends

I have The Courage Toolkit & Workshop

To download a print ready pdf version please visit

Workshop Overview This workshop can be run over the space of a day or broken up into individuals exercises that cover the following: 1.Creating a community child protection vision 2.Identifying child protection challenges in your community 3.Prioritising child protection challenges in your community 4.Selecting child protection strategies: –Prevention & Early Intervention –Sex, Conception & Pregnancy Awareness –Option Counselling for Crisis Pregnancy –Statutory Intervention –Child Abandonment Management –Permanent Child Placement through Adoption 5.Identifying your child protection community partners 6.Developing an individual, family and community empowerment plan 7.Creating an action plan for implementation

1. Creating a Child Protection Vision This map illustrates a world where children’s rights are met and a world where their rights are not met. It also illustrates the various developmental stages of a child from 17 to 32 weeks in-utero, all the way to adolescence, from 12 to 18 years. You would use this map to develop your community child protection vision. A1 PVC Map

The universal rights of a child All children are entitled to a number of universal rights that are defined at an international, continental and country level. Courage summarises these rights into two different worlds: –A world where a child’s rights are met. –A world where a child’s rights are not met. These rights are grouped into four key areas: –The most basic physical rights that children need fulfilled to live. –The rights that children need to love and build relationships with other people. –The rights that children need to learn and develop to their full potential. –The rights that children need to live their best lives and to leave a legacy. Each of these rights are enshrined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF’s Convention on Rights of the Child and the various in-country constitutions that protect children around the world.

universal rights of the child A World of No Rights A World of Rights the rights you need to learn the rights you need to love the rights you need to live rights to love violated rights to learn violated rights to leave a legacy violated rights to live violated the rights you need to live

The developmental needs of a child Each child develops in their own unique way, however, certain critical needs and milestones are relevant to all. Courage has summarised these developmental stages as follows: 17 – 32 weeks in-utero: Growth & Care 0 – 12 months: Love & Routine 1 – 2 years: Personality, 1st Steps & Words 2 – 3 years toddler: Independence, Observing & Imitating 4 – 5 years: Planning & Making Friends 6 – 8 years: School, Projects & Problem Solving 9 – 11 years: Accomplishment & Friendship 12 – 18 years teenager: Puberty, Hormones & Early Adulthood You could use this developmental chart to understand the child you are caring for better, to meet their physical, mental, emotional and social needs. The charts will also help you to assess whether a child is experiencing any basic developmental or behavioural delays.

developmental needs of the child

1.2.3 First Counting

developmental needs of the child

2. Child protection in your community Many people fail to see the child protection challenges that are happening in their own community, or they are too afraid to admit that they exist. Courage has illustrated a typical local community complete with formal and informal housing, and social services such as hospitals, clinics, schools, places of worship and government offices. In this community you will also find lots of different kinds of people, children, parents, grandparents, community members, teachers, doctors, social workers, the police and more. All of these people are interacting and many are experiencing child protection challenges and/or solutions. Their conversations are illustrated using our Courage icon language, which we use throughout the Courage engagement programme to ensure understanding, no matter what language you speak. You will use this map to see if you can identify any child protection challenges that you have observed in your own community, and think about the impact that it had. Acknowledging that child protection challenges are taking place in your community is the first step towards solving these problems and preventing them from happening again.

3. Prioritising your child protection challenges There are different views on what a child protection challenge is, due to different people’s cultures and social norms. Courage has identified 35 different child protection challenges that are happening in communities around the world. Each child protection challenge is illustrated using a scenario and an icon, this will help you to understand the Courage icon language better moving forward. Each challenge, their drivers and consequences are also explained in more detail through the smaller icons at the top of each chart. Use these charts to identify and prioritise the child protection challenges happening in your community. Write down each challenge and then rank it on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 is ‘not a concern’, 5 is of ‘medium concern’ and 10 is of ‘highest concern’ to you in your community. Not only will this help you to rank the most important challenges you face currently, if you do this exercise on an annual basis, it will become a useful benchmarking tool, to see how your community's child protection challenges are evolving over time. You will also use this summary of challenges to identify which child protection strategies you will need to access and in developing your child protection empowerment plan.

35 x A5 Laminated Cards

child protection challenges 1 NOT A CONCERN 2345 MEDIUM CONCERN HIGHEST CONCERN

child protection challenges 1 NOT A CONCERN 2345 MEDIUM CONCERN HIGHEST CONCERN

child protection challenges 1 NOT A CONCERN 2345 MEDIUM CONCERN HIGHEST CONCERN

child protection challenges 1 NOT A CONCERN 2345 MEDIUM CONCERN HIGHEST CONCERN

child protection strategy: child protection challenges ranking CHILD PROTECTION CHALLENGE RANKRANK CHILD PROTECTION CHALLENEG RANKRANK CHILD PROTECTION CHALLENGE RANKRANK RANKRANK RANKRANK Poverty & Inequality AbandonedNo Registration or Identity Child TraffickingStreet Children, Unaccompanied Minors & Refugees Teenage Pregnancy Abuse in the Justice Care System Poor NutritionChild MarriageBullying Late Termination of Pregnancy Physical AbuseNo/Poor Healthcare Virginity TestingAbuse of children with disabilities Stigma/Abuse of Pregnant Mothers Corporal Punishment No Education or Schooling Female Genital Mutilation & Circumcision Violence against Sexual Minorities Drug & Alcohol Abuse In-Utero (FASD) Murder & Attempted Murder Sexual Abuse & Rape Harmful Male Circumcision Exposure to Gangsterism Mother to Baby HIV Transmission Emotional AbuseChild LabourBody Parts used for Traditional Medicine Self Harming & Suicide OrphanedNeglectCommercial Sexual Exploitation Child Headed Households Addiction

4. Child Protection Strategies Once you have identified and prioritised your child protection challenges, you will need to choose the prevention, early intervention and statutory intervention strategies required to address them. Courage has 6 different child protection strategy maps that illustrate a process or concept to help you engage with the people involved in your child protection challenge. Use these strategy maps to identify the best way forward in addressing your child protection challenge. This could include developing an action plan, or just having a conversation about the way forward with affected individuals so that they know what options are available. The strategy maps include: 1.Prevention and the process followed in an early intervention 2.Sex, conception and pregnancy awareness 3.Option counselling for someone experiencing a crisis pregnancy 4.The process followed in a statutory intervention 5.The process to follow if a child has been found abandoned 6.Permanent child placement through the process of adoption

6 x A2 PVC or A3 Laminated Posters 4. Child Protection Strategies

child protection strategies: sex, conception & pregnancy awareness univers al needs of the child

child protection strategies: sex, conception & pregnancy awareness univers al needs of the child OR

child protection strategies: sex, conception & pregnancy awareness univers al needs of the child X ILLEGAL OPTION OPTION COUNSELLING

child protection strategies: sex, conception & pregnancy awareness univers al needs of the child

5. Identifying community child protection partners Everyone is responsible for ensuring that all of the children in our communities around the world are protected, and no-one is able to protect all of the children all on their own. The most important ingredient in a strong child protection system is partnership. The first step in developing a child protection partnership plan is clearly defining your role, once you understand what you need to do, you then need to identify all of the people who can help you to do this. Using the Courage Community Map, identify all of the partners that you will need to work with to achieve your child protection vision. Once you have identified these partners, you will need to develop win/win partnership plans with each of them. To develop a win/win partnership plan, ask yourself, what do I need to give to this partner to help them achieve our child protection vision. Then ask yourself, what do I need to get from this partner to help me achieve our partnership vision.

Identifying community child protection partners Me/My Organisation Partner?

Creating win/win partnerships What do I/we need to give? What do I/we need to give? What do I/we want to get? What do I/we want to get? What do I/we need to give? What do I need to give? What do I/we want to get? What do I/we want to get? Partner Me/Us Partner Me/Us Partner Me/Us Partner Me/Us

6. Developing an empowerment plan Courage has identified 7 different disempowerment themes which all child protection challenges fit into (the fit may differ from community to community, depending on the unique circumstances that have created the challenge you are dealing with). Once you have identified and prioritised your child protection challenges, group the most critical under the 7 disempowerment themes below. Then use the corresponding empowerment theme to develop a belief set or value system that will drive how you put your child protection solution into action.

example: sorting child protection challenges into themes

disempowerment driver

empowerment driver

disempowerment driver

empowerment driver

disempowerment driver

empowerment driver

disempowerment driver

empowerment driver

disempowerment driver

empowerment driver

disempowerment driver

empowerment driver

disempowerment driver

empowerment driver

7. Developing a child protection plan It is important to move from awareness and understanding into action and delivery as quickly as possible. To assist you with this, Courage has developed a number of ‘templates’ to help you develop a child protection strategy –Strategy Overview –Vision Template –Child Protection Challenges Ranking Template –Strategic Priorities Template –Action Plan Template –Strategic Action Plan Template –Strategic Partnerships Templates –Challenges/Disempowerment Theme Sorting For more information on developing a child protection strategy, see the Courage Facilitator Guide or download a free toolkit at

child protection strategy: overview Overarching Vision & Values for your Child Protection Plan What do we want to achieve? (Child Rights & Needs) What is the reality of our children? (Child Protection Challenges) Identify & Prioritise Strategy Objectives Partnership Plan (Roles & Responsibilities) Action Plan (What, Who, When, Where, Why & How) Implementation & Measurement/Evaluation Quarterly Review Annual Strategic Planning Process

child protection strategy: vision What is the purpose of children in our community and society? What world would we like to create for them to ensure that they thrive?

child protection strategy: child protection challenges ranking CHILD PROTECTION CHALLENGE RANKRANK CHILD PROTECTION CHALLENEG RANKRANK CHILD PROTECTION CHALLENGE RANKRANK RANKRANK RANKRANK Poverty & Inequality AbandonedNo Registration or Identity Child TraffickingStreet Children, Unaccompanied Minors & Refugees Teenage Pregnancy Abuse in the Justice Care System Poor NutritionChild MarriageBullying Late Termination of Pregnancy Physical AbuseNo/Poor Healthcare Virginity TestingAbuse of children with disabilities Stigma/Abuse of Pregnant Mothers Corporal Punishment No Education or Schooling Female Genital Mutilation & Circumcision Violence against Sexual Minorities Drug & Alcohol Abuse In-Utero (FASD) Murder & Attempted Murder Sexual Abuse & Rape Harmful Male Circumcision Exposure to Gangsterism Mother to Baby HIV Transmission Emotional AbuseChild LabourBody Parts used for Traditional Medicine Self Harming & Suicide OrphanedNeglectCommercial Sexual Exploitation Child Headed Households Addiction

child protection strategy: strategic priorities HOW DIFFICULT WILL THIS BE TO IMPLEMENT/SOLVE? WHAT IMPACT WILL THIS HAVE ON MY COMMUNITY? LOW MEDIUM HIGH LOW MEDIUM HIGH SHORT TERM MEDIUM TERM LONG TERM Priority 1 Priority 2 Priority 3

child protection strategy: strategic action plan CHILD PROTECTION PRIORITY: WHAT & WHYMEASUREMENT & EVALUATION Define what you want to achieve with this goal or priority? Define why you are doing it, in relation to achieving your child protection vision? Identity they key measures of success for this priority? (Ask yourself, ‘what would success look like if we achieved this?’) How would you measure whether you have achieved this priority or not? How often and when would you measure whether you have achieved this priority? HOWWHOWHEN How are you going to achieve this priority? (Use the Child Protection Strategy Maps to help you answer this question) Who is responsible for delivery? When must it be delivered by?

child protection strategy: strategic partnerships

child protection strategy: partnership plan What do I/we need to get? What do I/we need to get? What do I/we need to give? What do I/we need to give? What do I/we need to get? What do I/we need to get? What do I/we need to give? What do I/we need to give?

child protection strategy: challenges/disempowerment theme sorting

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