An effective national child protection system brings together all key stakeholders involved in child protection across different sectors, it focuses on improving mechanisms and communication between local, provincial and national level, and it utilises laws and policies that protect children from abuse, neglect and exploitation. Coram International provides consultancy on designing, improving and implementing child protection systems at local and national level.
System Mapping and Analysis
Coram International specialises in conducting child protection systems mappings and analysis to national governments as well as to specific organisations that have child protection systems in place. The purpose of these mappings and assessments is to better understand what laws, structures and services are achieving their goals in providing child protection, and which ones are not. This is the first step in building or strengthening a national child protection system.
By conducting such assessments, our team of consultants is able to develop context appropriate system frameworks that include non-formal systems such as traditional authorities and community or religious groups. Our experts can provide national, regional and local level analyses of how formal and informal child protection systems are currently working, and provide recommendations on new services and processes of reform.
System reform and model child protection system development
At Coram International, our team of lawyers and socio-legal researchers is also able to support the second phase of building or strengthening of child protection systems, the system reforms. Either after conducting our own mapping and analysis, or by providing external expertise and oversight, our team provides recommendations for designing a newly integrated child protection model, ensuring that the issues with the previous systems are addressed. This can include ensuring the system adheres to international legislation, and that the system is newly adapted to incorporate cultural and context specific issues.
We ensure that our reform recommendations incorporate short and long-term actions, as well as providing guidance on amending any existing legislation to the reforms proposed. Our consultants constantly liaise with stakeholders to discuss and determine priorities, resources and next steps during the reform process.
