The social service system can be defined as the system of interventions, programs and benefits that are provided by governmental, civil society and community actors to ensure the welfare and protection of socially or economically disadvantaged individuals and families. (1) A functioning social welfare system serves as a vital safety net for children and families… View Article
Read more »Leadership and governance sets the tone for improving social service systems and for establishing an enabling environment for strengthening child protection systems. National governments create an enabling environment by enacting legislation and policies and setting frameworks to ensure that they are implemented, monitored, and funded. Strengthening governance and leadership of social service systems is critical… View Article
Read more »Social protection focuses on long-term outcomes and a greater need for systemic government-led initiatives to sustain interventions that support children and families. The defining feature of social protection is supporting families as direct beneficiaries, with success measured by a family’s ability to invest in the education, nutrition, and health of its children (PEPFAR, 2012). What… View Article
Read more »Food and nutritional support improve the nutritional status of children and their families and address community food security. Food support may be through direct food supplements or community or school feeding programs. Support can also be through social protection measures such as cash transfers to increase access to food or household economic strengthening activities. While… View Article
Read more »From birth, children need care and support that promotes their intellectual and emotional development. During the first three years of life, 700 new connections form every second in the young brain (Center on the Developing Child, Harvard). These connections set the foundation for all later cognitive development and skills. In early childhood, parents, caregivers and… View Article
Read more »Overview of Supporting CHILDREN OUTSIDE FAMILY CARE Most vulnerable children in developing countries live with their families in communities. The vast majority of children, even those referred to as ‘orphans’, have and live with a surviving parent, often their mother. However, HIV and AIDS have severely tested the capacity of families to care for their… View Article
Read more »PRINCIPLES OF PROGRAMMING FOR CHILDREN There are ten key cross-cutting principles that should underpin all work with children affected by AIDS and other vulnerable children. Rights based. The rights of children should be respected and promoted. Children should be protected from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect at all times. The best interests of the child must be… View Article
Read more »“Investing in social protection and children makes sense from both an economic and a human development perspective. The demonstrated impacts of social protection on children’s development last long beyond childhood, increasing adult productivity, decreasing the burden of human development losses, and contributing to breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty.” (UNICEF, 2012) Protecting orphans and vulnerable… View Article
Read more »Household Economic strengthening (HES) comprises a portfolio of interventions to reduce the economic vulnerability of families and empower them to provide for the essential needs of the children they care for, rather than relying on external assistance (PEPFAR working definition, 2011). Livelihoods are wider than economic strengthening and includes food security which is considered under… View Article
Read more »It is critical for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS to have access to essential health services including nutrition, child survival programs, prenatal care, HIV prevention and testing, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, palliative care and anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. Supporting integration of PMTCT and pediatric HIV with maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) services, early childhood… View Article
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