In this episode, The Alliance for Child Protection and Humanitarian Action hosts a discussion on Version 2 of the Technical Note for the protection of children during the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar begins with an overview of Version 2 from Audrey Bollier and Hani Mansourian. Followed by a roundtable discussion facilitated by Judi Fairholm, which includes perspectives from field practitioners Zeynep Sanduvac in Turkey and Riyad Al Najem in Syria. The latter portion of this webinar is dedicated to a question and answer period between webinar participants and the roundtable panel.
List of Speakers:
Judi Fairholm, the Alliance
Hani Mansourian, the Alliance
Audrey Bollier, the Alliance
Zeynep Sanduvac, the Nirengi Association
Riyad Al Najem, Hurras Network
Sara Lim Bertrand, the Alliance
Main Points:
0:10 Judi provides an overview of the webinar.
1:41 Hani introduces the Technical Note Version 2 and the aim of the guidance.
3:45 Hani highlights one of the changes that has come in Version 2, which is the emphasis on the importance of context and highlights the three key ways children are impacted by the pandemic.
7:14 Hani shares the guiding principles of Version 2 and discusses the social-ecological model.
9:55 Audrey discusses Part 2 of the Technical Note, including sections on ‘towards a multi-sectoral response’ and ‘child protection-specific programs’.
12:12 Audrey shares the diagram on the slides, which leads child protection actors through a series questions to consider what state of the pandemic they are currently experiencing.
13:25 Audrey shares the Technical Note Annexes and the final sections of the Technical Note. This concludes Hani and Audrey’s presentation.
15:10 Judi introduces the roundtable segment of the webinar and invites the panel to introduce themselves.
20:13 Q1: How has the Alliance has been positioned to prevent and respond to child protection?
22:00 Q2: Looking back at COVID-19, when did you realize it was going to put children at risk and what that risk would look like?
25:07 Q3: What changes have you seen in the landscape that are happening now that have moved from Technical Note 1 and now into what we are facing with Technical Note 2?
28:38 Q4: How have you used the Technical Note and the Annexes in the field?
34:08 Q5: If you had to identify the three-top child protection risks to consider, what would those be? Audrey shares her top-three risks as: Psychosocial distress, violence in the home, and child labour and long-term socioeconomic effects.
36:56 Riyad shares his top-three risks in Syria as: access to education, physical and emotional distress, and unaccompanied and separated children.
39:18 Zeynep shares her top-three risks in Turkey as: physical and emotional abuse, gender-based violence, child labour and psychosocial and mental health.
41:20 Q6: Looking at protective factors, what factors are critical for children to be safe from violence?
49:13 Q7: Looking down the road, what are the emerging trends concerning child protection and COVID-19?
51:49 Q8: How can we best access these materials that have been and continue to be produced by The Alliance?
53:38 Q9: What has been your biggest learning in highlighting and driving forward these complexities to keep children safe at these times? Riyad shares his most important learning as looking at building on what communities have already and being flexible in adapting structures.
56:14 Zeynep shares her biggest learning as the importance of business continuity in the child protection sector and humanitarian settings.
58:39 Audrey shares her biggest learning comes from the global aspect of the pandemic and how to adapt The Alliance’s response.
1:00:32 Hani shares his biggest learning as the importance of context due to the global nature of the pandemic and The Alliance was faced with creating a note that could be applied in countries all over the world.
1:04:00 Judi begins the Q&A session.
1:04:05 Q1: How can we provide protection to street children from COVID-19?
1:08:07 Q2: Have practitioners been able to operate child-friendly spaces for displaced children or children on the street, and if so, how has that been done during COVID-19.
1:11:07 Q3: How do we address increasing child neglect leading to an increasing number in suicides during COVID-19?
1:17:45 Q4: Is there guidance on online sexual abuse and exploitation, and how do we prevent that?
1:18:41 Q5: How do you keeping going within this time of COVID-19 and what do you use take care of yourselves as actors responding to the protection needs of children?
1:25:37 Judi gives closing remarks and concludes the webinar.
Important Links:
Technical Note Version 2: [ Ссылка ]
The Alliance COVID-19 Resource Hub: [ Ссылка ]
