This report presents findings from the case study submission process – one part of three of the JLI Ending Violence Against Children (EVAC) Hub scoping study. They offer evidence to support the claim that religions offer an important contribution to EVAC. The six case studies are from diverse regions and faiths includes a short concluding summary.
Case study 1 – Peace, Love, and Tolerance: Basic Messages from Islam and Christianity to Protect Children from Violence and Harmful Practices, Egypt
Case Study 2 – Learning to Live Together, El Salvador
Case Study 3 – Empowering Children as Peacebuilders, Central African Republic
Case Study 4 – Integrated Approach to Gender-Based Violence and Child Protection, Mali, Niger and Pakistan
Case Study 5 – The Butterfly Project: Listening to victims, Cambodia
Case Study 6 – Claves Christian Organisation, Uruguay
Suggested citation: Palm, S. and Colombo, F. (eds.) (2019). ‘Scoping Study on Faith actors’ involvement in the prevention, elimination and perpetuation of violence against children. Case Studies.’ Washington DC: Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities: JLI Ending Violence Against Children Hub
View the other JLI EVAC Scoping Reports
Everyone has a role to play in the movement to end child marriage. In this brief, we explore the role of religious leaders and highlight key approaches to support civil society organisations who are considering engaging with them in their efforts to end child marriage.
Every year 12 million girls are married before the age of 18. This denies them their rights and childhood, often meaning an end to their formal schooling and the start of their life as a wife and mother, with profound physical, psychological and emotional consequences.
This brief is intended for civil society organisations that would like to start engaging with religious leaders in their work to end child marriage. It is part of a series that looks at different parts of a comprehensive approach to ending child marriage, and is based on research by the Unit for Religion and Development at Stellenbosch University, and on insights from about twenty Girls Not Brides members and partners who work with religious leaders. Practitioners can use this brief to guide them in their decisions about whether to engage with religious leaders, and if so, how.
Click here for French version
Click here for Spanish version
Click here to read the full report from Girls Not Brides.
Effective prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV) require a well-planned and coordinated effort among an array of organizations, disciplines, and sectors. In populations affected by conflict, there are additional and specific threats and risks that require action in order to establish effective protection from GBV.
This workshop enhanced planning and coordination by bringing together key staff in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, South Sudan to assess progress so far and begin mapping next steps to increase their collaboration in addressing gender-based violence in populations affected by conflict. The four-day participatory workshop combined training, information sharing, and planning. Christian Action for Development & Support (CADS) initiated this workshop in order to build staff capacity to design and implement strategies for protection from GBV. In addition to training and capacity building for CADS staff in the field, Part Two of the workshop brought more organizations to the table to discuss broader implementation, coordination, and collaboration issues.
On October 16 -18, over 185 participants and 85 organisations gathered at the General Curia for the Society of Jesus in Rome, Italy for the Faith Action for Children on the Move – Global Partners Forum. The Forum was co-organised by a partnership of 14 organisations including; ACT Alliance, ADRA International, Anglican Alliance, Arigatou International, Islamic Relief Worldwide, International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD), Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities (JLI), Mennonite World Conference, Micah Global, Salvation Army, Seventh Day Adventists, World Evangelical Alliance, World Council of Churches, and World Vision International.
The purpose of the forum was to engage religious and faith-based organisations, communities and children to dialogue on issues facing Children on the Move. The forum also worked to build consensus and develop a high-level action plan around the three main themes:
- Spiritual support for children and their caregivers to promote healing and resilience
- Creating a continuum of protection for children on the move
- Building peaceful societies, opposing xenophobia, racism, and discrimination
The initial draft of this text was developed based on discussions at workshops in Geneva (May 2018), New York (July 2018), and Rome (July 2018). It included comments and feedback received from partner organizations, the international advisory committee members, and other individuals and organizations through the end of September. During the Global Forum on Faith Action for Children on the Move participants discussed the draft version and proposed amendments and additions reflected below in the final draft to be presented to the Forum for review and approval.
We recognize that children on the move encompasses different experiences of boys and girls who migrate with parents or caregivers, alone or who are left behind, who seek refugee status and who are internally displaced. This plan represents the road map for Faith Action partners to respond and scale up action for children on the move.
Partner organizations are now sharing this document widely and planning specific programmatic and advocacy activities to strengthen faith action for the care and protection of children on the move. For more information or to join the collaboration, please contact Andrea Kaufmann who is providing coordinating support to the implementation of the action plan at globalpartnersforum@wvi.org.
Compassion International, World Vision, Buckner International, CBN and IJM have joined forces to form the “Christian Movement Against Violence Against Children” (MOCVIN). Together they are committed to promoting the protection of the most vulnerable children, seeking the fulfillment of their rights, strengthening their self-protection and reducing the current levels of violence towards them.
In order to support this movement, MOCVIN has created a series of four resources designed for adults in the context of the church who are interested in helping children and specifically, protecting them from sexual violence.
Click download for online version.
Click for Spanish
General child protection resources and code of conduct
Guião de Promoção e Protecção dos Direitos da Criança para os Líderes Religiosos
Para a promoção da Saúde, Educação e Protecção da Criança
Guide to religious leaders for the promotion of health, education and child protection in Portuguese
The involvement of religious communities is very important for matters related to the promotion of health, education and protection of the child, and aspects related to behavior change.
The present guidelines aims to guide religious leaders in the promotion of health education and protection of children through examples of actions that they can implement with their faith, relying on texts in the Bible and Qu’ran.
Published by JLI and WVI in preparation for the Faith Action for Children on the Move – Global Partners Forum.
Key learnings
- Faith actors’ grounding in local communities allows them to build the community’s trust in and ownership of child protection mechanisms. Faith actors help to build bridges – among faiths, among government actors and other organisations, and with the host community – that are crucial for the success of child protections programmes for children on the move.
- Faith actors operate in ways that are automatically holistic and multi-sectoral. They respond to the varying needs of children on the move, including healthcare, education, psychosocial and spiritual
support and needs of their parents and caregivers.
- More evidence is needed around the effectiveness of child friendly spaces (CFS) to continuously improve on current practices and gain a better understanding of the potential role of faith actors in CFS provision.
- Difficulties arise when community and grassroots initiatives are not supported by broader networks with capacity training, resources and authority. Capacity strengthening is beneficial to local faith actors so that they can protect children on the move. Links with religious networks across countries and regions help support faith actors to provide for children on the move and advocate for continued protection.
See other briefs and evidence library
Brief in Italian.
The phenomenon of street children has become a focal point of the media and in academic research in recent years. It is a continuing issue and has been accepted by the international community as a serious global problem. A large amount of research has been done related to street children, however, research related to the identity and self concept of street children has been relatively neglected. Hawk (1967) describes that it is very difficult for someone who has not been disadvantaged himself to see the world in the eyes of a disadvantaged child as
they do not come from the same context or background. Therefore, in order to understand the lives of street children it was vital that, instead of imposing theory, a methodology which allows the children to speak about their lives was used.
Ennew and Swart-Kruger (2003) describe how paradigms in both the understanding and in the definitions of street children are currently shifting with the recognition that there is not a typical street child. The new opinion is that children are not just victims or problems but
rather that they are interacting with a variety of environments where the children have the power to actively construct their own worlds. For this study, the voices of this poorly understood group in West Africa, the Talibé street children, were explored. Broadly following
the structure of Ovaska (2005) and Kealy (2012), an initial set of concepts were generated from a preliminary review of the literature. As this was specifically an exploration of the voices of a largely unheard vulnerable population a deep review of literature was avoided as
it may have prejudiced the data gathered. Using Grounded Theory, this body of research investigated the self concept of Talibé street children in the West African Country, Senegal and concluded with recommendations on how to improve the situation for these children.
