CRITICAL REFLECTION FORUM
Child protection in the era of the Sustainable Development Goals:
Learning from evidence and rethinking approaches for policy and practice
August 31, 1st September 2016, Calgary, Canada
Background
The field of child protection in development and humanitarian settings continues to
evolve into a dynamic and professionalized sector. With the adoption of the
Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, there is renewed commitment among the
global community to ensuring childhood is free from violence, abuse, neglect and
exploitation.
Since the start of the millennium, great strides have been taken to document the
considerable achievements of child protection programmes and to learn from
challenges. Evidence and findings have been disseminated and debated through
evaluations, policy reviews, research and conferences. However there have been
few creative spaces for practitioners to critically explore the current status and
approaches to strengthening child protection in development and humanitarian
contexts, to reflect upon and explore innovative methods and start redefining theory,
policy and practice.
This one day forum, organised by a small group of child protection organisations,1
was borne out of informal discussions and reflections between international
practitioners concerned to investigate and debate some of the most pertinent and
challenging issues facing the child protection community today. It is hoped that this
initial dialogue will be a stepping stone towards the creation of wider consensus
around emerging successful approaches and a way forward for policy makers,
researchers and practitioners that is grounded in evidence. The forum will help create
a collective space for vibrant professional reflection in the future.
Aims of the forum (2016)
This first forum will focus on the learning from on-going global efforts to strengthen
child protection systems in development and humanitarian settings. There appears to
be a shared sense among many practitioners and organisations that discussions
about how to transform child protection theory and policy into practice have reached
a critical juncture. The conclusions of various studies and evaluations show that,
despite a general consensus about the potential effectiveness of the systems
approach, there remain considerable challenges to apply this theoretical approach to
1
The first Critical Reflection Forum is supported by, Child Frontiers Ltd., the International Institute for
Child Rights and Development (IICRD), World Vision International.
operational and functioning child protection systems in countries with very different
cultural, political, historical and economic contexts.2 More specifically, the debate will
begin by analyzing how and why western notions and models of child protection
systems continue to be promoted despite the evidence that they often fail to take root
in societies with distinct beliefs and traditions of family and community support and
where resources for national child welfare and protection services are extremely
limited.
With the commitment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end violence
against children by 2030 and the emergence of other global initiatives and a
solutions-focused discourse,3 it is the right time to take stock of the learning,
especially from low income countries and fragile states, bringing together the vast
reservoir of local, regional and global experiences and perspectives.4 Further
reflection by policy makers, practitioners and the donor community about the need for
a systemic approach to deliver effective policies, laws, services and programmes is
urgently required. More specifically, it is essential to reflect upon the implementation
of evidence-based strategies, applying the learning from context appropriate systems
strengthening approaches. Improved outcomes for children will depend on strong
child protection systems as delivery mechanisms for multi-sectoral action. Linking the
solution-focused discourse with the child protection system strengthening debate is
an important step towards creating broad consensus around priorities for action
under the SDGs and will help to generate political support and secure financial
investment.
Outcomes
Firstly, participants will have an opportunity to explore some of the most pertinent
issues in the international debate on child protection, including ideas about how to
move beyond the rhetoric and to shift policy and practice towards approaches and
solutions that demonstrate results. Beyond this, by sharing their unique perspectives
and experience, forum members will define the substantive issues that are most
relevant and important to strengthen child protection. These issues will then be taken
forward for further reflection and action, thereby creating an opportunity to start
rethinking the policy discourse with a view to achieving the ambitious Agenda 2030
commitments. Current learning from child protection systems strengthening initiatives
2
There are recent resources which grapple with the issues of child protection in international settings
between models replicability and contextualization, among others see: David Finkelhor, Patricia Lannen
Dilemmas for international mobilization around child abuse and neglect, Child Abuse & Neglect, Volume
50, December 2015, Pages 1-8; Alexander Krueger, Emma de Vise-Lewis, Guy Thompstone, Vimala
Crispin, Child protection in development: Evidence-based reflections & questions for practitioners, Child
Abuse & Neglect, Volume 50, December 2015, Pages 15-25
3 The Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children: http://www.end-violence.org/, INSPIRE :
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/vacs-thrives.pdf
4 See Krueger A, Thompstone G, Crispin V (2013), Learning from child protection systems mapping and
analysis in West Africa: Research and policy implications, Global Policy and Stark, L., Wessells, M.,
King, D., Lamin, D., & Lilley, S. (2012). A Grounded Approach to The Definition Of Population-Based,
Child Protection And Well-Being Outcome Areas. London: Interagency Learning Initiative on
Community-Based Child Protection Mechanisms and Child Protection Systems, Myers W, Bourdillon M,
Introduction: development, children, and protection, Development in Practice, Volume 22, Number 4,
June 2012, Wessells M & Williamson J. Placing Families and Communities at the Center: Toward a
Functional, Adaptive Systems Approach to Child Protection Systems Strengthening, draft, Tutnjevic T&
Allen D (2013) , Child Protection Systems in Fragile Contexts: The Implications for Policy and Practice,
World Vision International.
will be analyzed in relation to the SDG’s targets on VAC, as well as the evidence
based solutions currently presented in the package of strategies known as INSPIRE.5
Secondly, time will be dedicated to better understanding whether the creation of a
critical reflection space for international child protection practitioners might be helpful
and why. It is hoped that, by the end of the day, there will be greater consensus
about the need for critical reflection within the field of international child protection
and a proposal for the kind of space that will facilitate such reflection in the future.
Specific outcomes from the day include:
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5
Documentation on key lessons learned from available evidence and
experience to inform the conceptual linkages between systems approaches to
child protection, INSPIRE and the SDGs.
Summary of principles, recommendations/reflections for further discussion
and application in relation to child protection in the international development
and humanitarian context.
Agreement on possible future steps for an independent critical reflection
forum.
Income and economic strengthening; norms and values (shift behaviours and attitudes); safe
environments; parent and caregiver support; implement and enforcement of laws; response and
support services; education and life skills