Part 9 of the explanation with the ToC: Once you have the data collected and analysed, have come up with a strategy and made a plan and a timeline out of that, have designed awareness-raising and advocacy campaigns and a monitoring and evaluation system to keep an eye on whether it works, you will start to find that the initial transition team is no longer able to handle all the work that needs to be done. As people are needed to run the advocacy campaign, people to run the awareness campaign, people to take care of the monitoring and evaluation, plus you have a mountain of work ahead of you with individual assessments, recruiting and training carers and so on.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Recruitment”Author: Florence
I am the founder of and consultant at Family-Based Solutions. I have started this website and this community, and I am the moderator. I have been involved in alternative care since 2007, having been involved up close in China, Brazil, India, Kenya and Myanmar.
Initially I ran another NGO dedicated to improving the chance of survival and the quality of life of children in institutions, over time getting more and more involved with family-based alternatives and community services. In 2018 I folded the previous NGO and founded Family-Based Solutions. You can find more information on what I do now on the other pages of this website.
Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Awareness-Raising & Advocacy 2
Part 8 of the explanation with the ToC: Last Thursday, an overview was given about the kind of issues that require awareness-raising and advocacy and why this is important to take seriously. In this blog, more information will be given on this, and on breaking the news that you are planning to move from institutional to family-based care.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Awareness-Raising & Advocacy 2”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Awareness-Raising & Advocacy 1
Part 7 of the explanation with the ToC: It could be said that awareness-raising and advocacy are two sides of the same coin. Advocacy is raising awareness in the government and its representatives and through doing so lobbying for necessary changes. Awareness-raising is providing communities, families, and the general public – either individually, in small groups or en masse – with information about issues that they might not have had knowledge or proper insight about previously, to change their mindset and opinion.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Awareness-Raising & Advocacy 1”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: M&E
Part 6 of the explanation with the ToC: Setting up Monitoring and Evaluation Systems for various parts of the project.
There is not an exact moment when you need to start to develop monitoring and evaluation systems, essentially it is something that needs to be put in place for all parts of the transition process where it is possible to check whether the outcomes of what is being done are what they were supposed to be. Monitoring this allows for a course adjustment in a case where the outcomes turn out not to be as hoped.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: M&E”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Data Gathering & Analysis 2
Part 5 of the explanation of the ToC: In the previous blog we saw why it is so important to gather data and what kind of data needs to be gathered at the national and community level. This week, we see what else is involved in data gathering and Analysis, starting with the data that needs to be gathered at the level of individual institutions.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Data Gathering & Analysis 2”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Data Gathering & Analysis 1
Part 4 of the explanation with the ToC: Gathering data, in a variety of ways and on a variety of topics, is an essential part of the process. Information on the current situation is the foundation of all decisions, strategies and actions that will be made. Without knowing what is and is not currently present, and the background of why that is so, there is no way of determining what needs to happen and what needs to be put in place.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Data Gathering & Analysis 1”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Planning
Part 3 of the explanation of the ToC: The first job of the transition manager or the transition team will be to create an overview of what the transition process will entail – something like this model, but with more details relevant to the local situation -, what resources will be needed to take care of at different stages, who will be responsible for taking care of various tasks and a rough timeline on how all of this will fit together. From that overview, a strategy and a plan can be devised.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Planning”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Goal and Start
Part 2 of the explanation of the ToC model: The overall goal of this model is the full implementation of the UN Guidelines on Alternative Care for Children. Reaching this goal means that the two underlying principles of these Guidelines are adhered to throughout all systems of child protection and alternative care. These two principles are the Necessity Principle and the Suitability Principle. The Necessity Principle refers to making sure that children grow up in their own family unless it is impossible or not in their best interest for that to happen. In effect, this covers the prevention of family-separation and motivation for making every attempt towards family reintegration, in cases where separation has already taken place.
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Goal and Start”Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Introduction
On 30 March, I shared the Theory of Change model to achieve full implementation of the UN Guidelines on Alternative Care for Children with you (HERE). As I mentioned then, I currently do not have the funds to publish this model with its explanation. The fundraiser on GoFundMe to bring together these funds needed has not been terribly successful to date. And yet I do want to make the explanation that goes with the model available to people. So, I have decided to cut the explanation up into pieces and to share it (in a slightly abbreviated version) with you in blogs over the coming weeks. It will cover many topics that have come past in the blogs so far but in a more structured way. Today, the introduction to the explanation of the model:
Continue reading “Model for Setting Up Alternative Care System: Introduction”Report on the Simulation Lab Conference
With the sudden interruption of life due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been some delays in bringing out the conference report. The first priority has to be ensuring the safety and mental well-being of the children. However, while the report is not entirely ready to be brought out yet, work on it has been progressing. So today I would like to give you a sneak-peek at some of the highlights from the report on the outcomes of the Immersive Simulation Lab: Family-Based Care Conference:
The conference attendees included government representatives involved in child protection in Maharashtra including the District Child Protection teams, Child Welfare Committee teams and members of the Government Sponsorship and Foster Care Approval Committees. There were also representatives from UNICEF, SOS Children’s Villages, Miracle Foundation, CSA, Prerana, and Swanath Foundation. A wonderful mix of government and NGO people exchanging ideas and experiences.
Continue reading “Report on the Simulation Lab Conference”