Children at the centre: a guide to supporting community groups caring for vulnerable children

Empowering communities to take action for vulnerable children

By: Long S & Mudekunye L (eds)
Published by: Save the Children Fund (SCF), 2007
Via: Eldis

Child support organisations can help empower communities to demand services in children's best interests and to ensure that the appropriate groups, including government, provide such services. These guidelines aim to provide practical guidance to agencies supporting, or wishing to support, the establishment of community groups to support vulnerable children. It draws together experiences from children, community group members and staff of supporting organisations to provide suggestions that can be adapted to different contexts to deliver quality and long-term care for children. Authors identify key actions that organisations should consider to enable community groups to:

• work with children as partners
• ensure that all group activities protect children from harm
• be transparent and accountable to children, and other members of the community
• develop realistic and manageable plans that will benefit children
• make the best use of resources that already exist within the group and the local community, and successfully access additional resources when necessary
• identify successes and failures, and discuss potential improvements
• advocate for changes within the community and with others at local and higher levels so that children's rights are realised.
  

Practical examples and useful resources in community-based child protection are also provided.
(http://www.sarpn.org.za/documents/d0002413/Vulnerable_children_STC_2007.pdf)