Practical Model for Implementing UN Guidelines

In February, I announced that I was developing a Theory of Change model to given an overview of the practical stages involved in implementing the UN Guidelines on Alternative Care for Children. This is applicable both for places wanting to move from institutional to family-based care or for those who are just trying to set up family-based care and family strengthening. Today I would like to present the model I came up with.

Of course, a one-page image is necessarily a simplification and it does not have very much practical use without the explanation that I created to go with it. That explanation is a bit too long to add to a blog, but I will be working on making a document containing the model together with the explanation and assumption.

In the meantime, I did not want to make you wait for the model itself. The horizontal bars show concrete steps in the process, and the arrows on either side show where these steps come back at various points as the transition moves forward, with the arrow for awareness raising running up throughout the entire process.

Then there are the two horizontal lines. The first one marks the point where it starts to become a bit more clear to an outsider looking in that any work at all is being done, even though the majority of the work involved in the process actually comes before this line. However, that work is clearing the ground and its rewards come later in the process. The second horizontal line indicates that the work above it will start when the first children move into family-based care and will continue after there are no children left in institutional care.

As the Coronavirus has put something of a stop to getting paid for work – though I have plenty of work that I don’t get paid for to keep me more than busy. So, in order not to delay the public access to this model with the explanation too long, I have started a GoFundMe page, which you and find HERE. If you would like to see everything together in a document sooner rather than later, please consider contributing.

Please share this blog to help spread awareness.