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introduction
organisations (where possible these included
Save the Children and UNICEF as two key
agencies promoting children’s rights in a
range of countries and contexts). Key
informants also included local NGOs and
members of any national or regional
networks that promote a safer world for
children. Interviews with children, families
and community leaders were also undertaken
(refer Acknowledgements for details of
contacts in each country).
Questions to key informants included:
1. How are indicators set and measured?
2. Which participatory approaches have
assisted children to be active partners in
their own development?
3. What are the gaps in capacity of
counterparts, which reduce their
effectiveness?
4. What barriers have activities encountered
at family, community or national level,
which have been within the scope of the
project to address?
5. How have barriers or constraints been
addressed?
6. Has anything been learned through
mistakes in project design or operation?
7. Has there been opportunity to document
and share what has been learned from
mistakes or project achievements?
8. What organisational support has assisted
in the successful development of the
model?
9. Can the experience of this project help in
other program design and planning?
10. Have the project’s achievements
extended beyond the project area
through advocacy?
Limitations
• The study has been conducted over nine
months. This gave opportunity for all
countries to be visited, but with the
exception of Cambodia, insufficient time
was spent in each. The findings from the
field visits need to be viewed with this
limitation in mind, as performance must be
contextually determined and interpreted.
• The project coordinator’s familiarity with
Cambodia needs to be acknowledged as a
limitation. Outside/observer status was not
possible as it was with other countries of
the study.
• Efforts were made to meet with staff of,
and visit, a variety of programs.
Unfortunately, opportunities to spend time
with the country focal point persons or
relevant groups such as NGO and
government working groups were
constrained by either conflicting timetables
or the volume of their work
responsibilities.
• Limits of transportation, security concerns,
and reduced freedom of association in
some countries also affected these
opportunities.
• Access was possible to areas that were
for the most part stable, and not to areas
where conflict was present or recent.
This reduced the involvement of
children and programs in areas where
conflict-related risks were pronounced.
• A constraint in all countries was the
language barrier, as questions, responses
and materials often required translation
or interpretation.
• In many cases, long-term effects of
initiatives could not be commented on.
Some projects reviewed had been
operational for less than three years; they
were selected because they are innovative
or responding to emerging needs and
offer lessons even at this early stage.
• A further constraint is the quality of
information that is shared between
agencies. Information exchange occurs in
the form of published reports and studies,
but some valuable information of what is
learned through practice is not sufficiently
highlighted. Opportunity to gain further
detail is not always available. Further
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