Concerns for safety and protection have gained increasing recognition in humanitarian response, and are now integrated in programming covering most crises. At the same time, numerous pressing issues persist. Gender-based violence is still rampant in many conflict settings, most refugees are still living in highly unstable and unsafe conditions, and cases of child-marriage, child-labour, and other forms of child-abuse increase sharply when these crises persist.
These pressing problems call for new solutions with increased impact. To better address the current issues around safety and protection which crisis affected populations and humanitarian staff are facing, the opportunities offered by new technologies and innovation from within and outside of the humanitarian sector, need to be explored. DCHI therefore supports the spreading of awareness and knowledge around these challenges, and the exploration of innovative solutions to deal with them, enabling coalition partners to better understand the issue, to connect to each other, and to take concrete action together.
DCHI’s facilitation of the Dutch Relief Alliance Innovation Fund 2019 came to a close, when 5 proposals were chosen as the granted pilots. This years DRA Innovation Fund followed the HAP mechanism that has been developed by DCHI to support humanitarian innovation with impact at scale. Through integrating the lessons learned from the DIF Call in 2018, the HAP started with defining problem statements during the kick-off, to producing challenge brief’s in order to engage partners outside the humanitarian sector. Thereafter, the pilot proposals started taking form, with a concept note selection leading to a final, full proposal stage.
Below is a summary of the 5 granted projects
Systemic and enduring child protection challenges demand new and effective approaches – particularly in volatile humanitarian contexts. Building on evidence that community-owned and -driven approaches bring about improved outcomes, we will test the feasibility of one bottom-up approach to child protection with two applications. The approach incorporates actions to address a major contributing factor exacerbating child protection risks, stigmatization, and draws on the power of partnerships: expert knowledge on change management, coaching, data science and communications, informed by ‘design thinking’. Our consortium will produce evidence on a standardised community-driven approach, easy to understand and implement yet adaptable to any humanitarian context. This allows for scale up and dissemination among the wider humanitarian community. We believe this approach will bring about increased relevance, impact and sustainability in the field of child protection.
COMMUNITIES IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT: FACILITATING COMMUNITY-DRIVEN SOCIAL CHANGE FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN IN CONFLICT SETTINGS – War Child Holland
Adapt an innovative sexual and gender-based (SGBV) prevention approach and successfully apply it in development settings into a model suitable for humanitarian contexts. In 2016 Tearfund piloted ‘Engaging Faith Leaders and Communities (EFLC)’ to challenge social acceptance and prevalence of violence against women and girls in DRC. Endline evaluation showed significant positive results. EFLC was designed for development and post-crisis contexts, but shows considerable potential to reduce violence and address protection challenges in a crisis setting. This pilot will allow Tearfund and consortium partners EyeOpenerWorks (EOW), HEAL Africa and Help a Child (HaC) to adapt the model for use in humanitarian settings. Adaptation will be three-fold: 1. the project’s duration (i.e. 12 month intervention instead of the original 36 months); 2. the context (i.e. humanitarian context versus a post-conflict setting); and 3. monitoring, with the inclusion of a community led PMEAL (Planning Monitoring Evaluation And Learning) framework.
ADDRESSING HARMFUL SOCIAL NORMS IN HUMANITARIAN SETTINGS THROUGH A FAITH AND COMMUNITY APPROACH – Tearfund & Help a Child
We are facing a dramatic increase in forceful displacement and migration. Among displaced populations, those who are on the move face greater difficulties in accessing services. Not being in a specific location, whether in an urban setting, a refugee or IDP camp, they lack continuity of services along the migration route, which leads to chronification of existing and acquired conditions, and an overall increased difficulty in accessing efficient treatments. Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services are life saving for those who have experienced extreme adversity before and during displacement, and this innovation seeks to identify viable solutions to create continuum of MHPSS care along migration routes. We focus on children and their families on the move, within the wider context of forced displacement, so we contribute solutions to a large proportion of a highly vulnerable, rapidly-growing population that requires access to MHPSS, across a wide range of humanitarian contexts.
SEAMLESS MHPSS CROSS-BORDER CARE (MHPSS CBC) FOR THE MOST VULNERABLE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES – Save the Children Netherlands
Considering that, in general, adolescents are a large overlooked group in humanitarian settings and in Ethiopia adolescent refugees constitute almost 19% of the total population in camps, innovative program models to meet the needs of unaccompanied and separated adolescents are of primary importance on the global stage. Utilizing cash and voucher assistance to provide sustainable support to this population will be evaluated in this piloted program model, drawing on the expertise of the International Rescue Committee in implementing these types of programs and Youth Development Labs’ experience in youth-centered program design models. Through this funding, guidance around safe, ethical CVA programs will be created, piloted, and shared with the global community.
TACKLING BARRIERS TO CASH AND VOUCHER ASSISTANCE (CVA) FOR UNACCOMPANIED ADOLESCENTS BY CO- DESIGNING WITH ADOLESCENTS – Stichting Vluchteling
Build your Own Buddy (BOB) is a pilot project, adapting the evidence based short-term treatment KIDNET; the child version of Narrative Exposure Therapy (NET) and reinforcing the approach with a picture-story book and a personal buddy. It will be piloted with preschool children (5-7 years) in Wau and Jur River Counties, Republic of South Sudan (RSS). Feasibility of the approach will be tested and outcomes in children evaluated through pre- and post-measurements. A participatory mixed method design of action-research and quantitative measurements will be applied in all phases of the innovation. If the results of the pilot warrant this, up-scaling and further implementation of the intervention, as well as further research (i.e. randomized controlled trial with a control-group) will be possible.
BOB: BUILD YOUR OWN BUDDY – Help a Child