Resources Database

This template protocol has been developed for use by local and international investigators and other research stakeholders, such as program managers, donors, and government that are implementing research involving orphans and vulnerable children. The process of protocol development enables discussion and agreement on the implementation strategy and child protection issues, among other concerns. This process improves the study design, enables matching of resources to objectives, and ultimately improves the usability of the data generated from the study.

This UNAIDS Case Study looks at what care programmes for people with HIV and AIDS are doing to minimize stress and burnout.  Interviews with AIDS Support Organizations (ASOs) in Uganda and South Africa were held with a range of people including: managers and supervisors of care teams; carers on the staff of ASOs; community volunteers; primary carers within families; and individuals with expertise in this field.

This National Plan of Action (NPA) for Orphans and Vulnerable Children is linked to the National Multisectoral HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan 2006 -2008 and the National HIV and AIDS Policy. It arises out of a recognised need for practical steps and widespread cooperation to ensure the rights of all children are fully met in Swaziland. This Plan, therefore, outlines clear actions to be taken, necessary to promote the survival, growth, well being, development and protection of OVC.

The purpose of this guidance is to help PEPFAR country teams and implementing partners develop country operational plans (COPs) and design programs that support vulnerable children in their contexts, align with known best practice, and incorporate potential innovation. It seeks to aid teams in identifying and implementing appropriate, evidence-based, and cost-effective activities that will maximize improvement in the well-being of vulnerable children in the epidemic and close gaps in past programming efforts.

This policy brief describes challenges of implementing supportive supervision within the health sector in the Pacific and provides recommendations for governments to overcome the current challenges.   It was produced by the Human Resources for Health Knowledge Hub, University of New South Wales. The Knowledge Hubs Initiative is a strategic partnership funded by AusAID as part of the Australian Government’s commitment to meeting the Millennium Development Goals and improving health in the Asia and Pacific regions.

Systematic reviews of child focused psychosocial and mental health interventions have identified the large gaps that can exist in this field between research and practice, particularly the limited evidence base for some interventions offered in settings affected by conflict and violence. The package of care described in this case study sought to address some of these issues by using a methodology incorporating a synergistic relationship between research and practice – one that would allow ‘fine tuning’ of both processes.

This document is a 2-day training module that is part of “Work For Care; Sexual and Domestic Violence During and After War, A Trainers’ Manual” produced by Admira Foundation.  Under circumstances of war and conflict, helping others may help to reduce our own feelings of helplessness in the face of so much suffering and destruction. What many care workers do not realise however, is the impact of their work on themselves. The suffering of clients, in combination with limited sources and possibilities to help, can be overwhelming and can cause various forms of professional stress.

International humanitarian aid workers providing care in emergencies are subjected to numerous chronic and traumatic stressors.  This longitudinal study aimed to examine consequences of such experiences on aid workers’ mental health and how the impact is influenced by moderating variables.  A main conclusion of the report is that when recruiting and preparing aid workers for deployment, organizations should consider history of mental illness and take steps to decrease chronic stressors, and strengthen social support networks.

This publication is intended for three primary audiences: international development professionals who want to define “workforce” for program design purposes, those who seek information about field activities, and those who want to reflect on the implementation of successful, high impact programs—whether they were broad-based or sector-specific projects or local activities. The goal is to provide readers with options and strategies for connecting diverse sets of development objectives through international workforce initiatives.

This document is intended to explore strategies to protect orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) who were made so by HIV from abuse, exploitation, violence, and neglect. It draws from lessons learned by OVC program managers, designers, and policy developers—particularly those associated with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEFPAR).

Developed in coordination with seven U.S. Government departments and agencies — the Departments of Agriculture, Defense, Health and Human Services, Labor, and State, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Peace Corps— the goal of the U.S. Government Action Plan on Children in Adversity is to achieve a world in which all children grow up within protective family care and free from deprivation, exploitation, and danger.

This synthesis discussion paper is part of a study commissioned by UNICEF to document the evolution of national responses for children affected by HIV and AIDS (CABA) and the lessons learned in addressing the challenges to scaling up services for them.

This document, a draft awaiting publication, provides an overview of the social service workforce (SSW) in Africa.  The first section describes the need for a strong SSW, defines the workforce broadly, and describes the functions that it provides. The next section examines the current status of the workforce, including stock and distribution. It also includes performance data (to the extent it exists) and provides examples of workforce-strengthening initiatives underway to strengthen certain cadres in select countries.

Save the Children Federation Inc was recently awarded a five-year Zambia Orphans and Vulnerable Children System Strengthening (ZOVSS) Project funded by USAID through PEPFAR.

Oxford Policy Management and Jimat Development Consultants were engaged by the Ministry of Labour and Social Services (MoLSS) to carry out a Capacity and Institutional Assessment of the Ministry’s Department of Social Services (DSS). The purpose of the assignment is to assess the Department’s human resources and institutional capacity, identify gaps in its ability to carry out its statutory mandate of child care and protection, and draft recommendations for action.

This UNICEF paper is designed to pinpoint the main activities and tasks that should be undertaken by social work professionals within the overall juvenile justice framework. To do so, the paper first briefly reviews experience of social work in the Central and Eastern European/Commonwealth of Independent States (CEE/CIS) region since it is against this background that the realization of the potential of social work in conjunction with the justice system will have to be set.

This document presents results from an assessment that was conducted in 2013 to better understand the current status of the public sector social service workforce in Ethiopia.  The assessment process entailed gathering basic information from six selected regions, documenting common social services being provided, estimating level of social work professional skills and knowledge in public sector workers, determining the social service sector’s capacity to respond to stated social protection needs, and suggesting ways to address workforce gaps.

This report outlines the global context that ESAR is operating in with respect to child protection, highlights the programming that has been undertaken to date on child protection systems, outlines lessons learned from the support being provided by Maestral International to map and assess child protection systems in ESAR, and proposes the way forward for the region (that should inform global efforts on systems that are occurring outside of ESAR as well).

This report is on the mapping and assessment of the child protection system that was undertaken by the Government of Malawi. UNICEF and the other United Nations agencies are committed to supporting the Government of Malawi in achieving its goals stated in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II (2012-16) of operationalizing the national child protection system to protect children from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect. This report constitutes the foundations upon which the Malawi child protection system will be strengthened.