Starting Up Child Centered Spaces in Emergencies: A Field Manual

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CCF delivers tangible benefits to children at the earliest possible stage, and communitymembers typically appreciate this ability to organize assistance rapidly.Furthermore, CCSs provide an entry program that can be taken to scale quickly,delivering urgently needed assistance to large numbers of affected children. Insetting up and running CCSs, CCF obtains very useful information about communitystructure and resources, which is useful in program planning. While CCSactivities are conducted, CCF staff can conduct a more thorough assessmentneeded to guide longer-term programs. Also, the community mobilization thatoccurs through the establishment of CCSs provides a platform for participatoryplanning and engagement on subsequent programming.CCF is often in an excellent position to advocate on behalf of children’s wellbeing.To begin with, the collection of information about children in a significantgeographic area gives CCF credibility as a supplier of information on the situationof children, including those who are most vulnerable. No less important foreffective advocacy are CCF’s networks and programmatic capacities. In settingup CCSs, CCF engages in intensive dialogue and collaboration with government,civil society and community groups, thereby forming networks that are useful inadvocacy. In venues such as government meetings, child protection coordinationmeetings and discussions with donors, CCF works to educate influentialpeople about children’s needs and rights and about what program efforts arenecessary to support at-risk children. By engaging on a significant scale andestablishing a significant number of CCSs, CCF becomes seen as a serious internationalNGO and earns respect by backing its words with actions. As CCFestablishes itself as a force for children and as adding value in the local area,donors often take notice and seek to partner with CCF as a means of supportingemergency-affected children. The strategic positioning with donors is oftenenabled by CCF’s predominantly national staff and its program approach ofempowering local people, building capacities, respecting local culture and supportinglong-term development.10
What Are Child Centered Spaces?PurposeCCSs are part of a rights-based approach to protecting children from harm. Asan intersectoral approach to ensuring children’s well-being, CCSs help to createa protective environment, ensure children’s realization of their right to educationeven in the midst of emergencies, and mobilize communities around meetingchildren’s needs. Child Centered Spaces are safe, physical spaces for childrenaffected by conflict or disasters to gather, providing emergency education, protectionand multisectoral support, including psychosocial support. Throughcommunity mobilization around children’s needs, Child Centered Spaces provideregular, structured activities for children, adolescents and parents of young childrenunder the supervision of caring adults from the community.Child Centered Spaces allow children to participate in activities where they canplay, express their feelings, thoughts and opinions, and learn new things fromadults and other children, providing a sense that “things are getting back to normalagain.” CCSs provide structure to children’s days as well as help them learnimportant social skills, such as cooperation and sharing, through interaction withother children. CCSs also help children learn about risks, such as landmines anddiseases, and build life skills such as hygiene and numeracy. Through CCSsyouth have the opportunity to engage in activities such as literacy and life skillstraining, sports, art, mentoring younger children and community enhancementactivities. These activities for both children and youth help to promote positivecoping mechanisms, minimize the consequences of deprivation and traumaticexperiences, and promote healthy development.Furthermore, mothers of young children receive assistance with the health,nutrition and development needs of their infants and toddlers. This modelreflects CCF’s philosophy of holistic support for the well-being of childrenthrough attention to their safety, psychosocial and development needs.CCSs enable families and community members to organize around the needs ofchildren and begin the planning process to address other critical needs for thecommunity. CCSs are developed, established and run by local communities withsupport from CCF. They provide the venue for adults to organize themselves andact concretely on behalf of their children. Awareness of child protection anddevelopmental needs is made central to families and communities, improving thesustainability of child protection and support programs at the local level. In thisway, the caregiving structures around children in the community are strengthened.In addition, the capacity of communities to recover from the emergencyis recognized, which helps reduce feelings of helplessness and dependency oninternational aid.11
Page 2 and 3: Starting Up Child Centered Spacesin
Page 4: Table of ContentsIntroduction .....
Page 7 and 8: IntroductionEmergencies, such as ar
Page 9 and 10: Research in northern Uganda and in
Page 11: Deprivation, Exclusion and Vulnerab
Page 15 and 16: • Children engage in cultural act
Page 17 and 18: Step 1: Coordinate with GovernmentS
Page 19 and 20: Step 2Quick ChecklistConduct a Prel
Page 21 and 22: 19• The community also provides m
Page 23 and 24: Comments on Steps 4 - 6: Follow-upV
Page 25 and 26: In Sri Lanka, because different eth
Page 27 and 28: Example from the Field: ChadSetting
Page 29 and 30: Step 6: Recruit CCS AnimatorsIt is
Page 31 and 32: Schedule Training and CCS Activitie
Page 33 and 34: Step 8: Conduct Initial Training fo
Page 35 and 36: • CCSs provide a valuable platfor
Page 37 and 38: Have the animators create a list of
Page 39 and 40: CHILD CENTERED SPACES DOs and DON
Page 41 and 42: CODE OF CONDUCTIt is of utmost impo
Page 43 and 44: Reporting Forms and Activity Schedu
Page 45 and 46: • Find out whether there are loca
Page 47 and 48: • Setting aside a specific time f
Page 49 and 50: Guidelines• Post the daily activi
Page 51 and 52: Step 9:Quick ChecklistImplement CCS
Page 53 and 54: ences prior to the emergency. Nonfo
Page 55 and 56: Step 11: Provide Follow-up Training
Page 57 and 58: During follow-up visits to the CCS
Page 59 and 60: Outputs:Outputs include such things
Page 61 and 62: Field Example: Timor Leste — Obje
Page 63 and 64:
Step 13: Transition out of the CCST
Page 65 and 66:
BibliographyAction on the Rights of
Page 67 and 68:
Annex 165CCF CHILD PROTECTION ASSES
Page 69 and 70:
Assessment ScopeGenerally the purpo
Page 71 and 72:
of collecting existing information
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discussions about particular issues
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❏ What are the most common worrie
Page 77 and 78:
Some questions related to issues se
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Annex 2UNICEF RAPID CHILD PROTECTIO
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Annex 379Community Mobilization Gui
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Challenges in Community Mobilizatio
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Learning about community power stru
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An additional step is to develop an
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Annex 4Sample Plan for Completing a
Page 91 and 92:
Annex 6UNICEF, Sri Lanka89UNICEF Ch
Page 93 and 94:
Annex 7IASC Guidelines: Strengthen
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93with nonformal education or commu
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• Integrating topics related to t
Page 99 and 100:
Sample Process Indicators• Percen
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I. What is a Child Centered Space?A
Page 103 and 104:
III. Roles and Responsibilities of
Page 105 and 106:
12. Never use race, ethnicity, reli
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PlayPlay allows children to relax a
Page 109 and 110:
10. Never use program supplies or m
Page 111 and 112:
Annex 11UNICEF Child-Friendly Space
Page 113 and 114:
• Ask children and adolescents wh
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Starting Up Child Centered Spaces in Emergencies: A Field Manual

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