Prevention

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Prevention Mission

The goal of the Alliance’s Prevention Initiative is to ensure prevention is understood and prioritised as a critical element of child protection across humanitarian action. Further investment in preventing harm to children, in addition to responsive actions, is needed for humanitarian to fulfill their ethical duty to prevent harm when possible, to uphold the best interest and rights of the child and to potentially be more cost-effective in our programming.

Objectives

Prevention is a strategic priority of the Alliance over 2021-2025. Over this period the Prevention Initiative will aim to:

  • Generate evidence on prevention as a cost-saving and life-saving intervention to protect children.
  • Grow knowledge, capacity, and understanding within the child protection sector on prevention strategies and approaches.
  • Engage with other sectors on incorporating child protection prevention strategies and approaches.

2021 Annual Meeting - Preventing Harm to Children

The theme of the Alliance’s 2021 Annual Meeting for Protection Children in was: Preventing Harm to Children. To find background papers, presentations and resources on prevention shared during the Meeting, click here. 

Video | What is Prevention?

 
 

Watch this short video series and learn about the importance of prevention for the protection of children in humanitarian action.

Further Resources to Support Strengths-Based
Approach in Prevention Strategies and Measurement

Prevention approaches seeks to increase child wellbeing in humanitarian settings, not only reduce risks. These core resources will support practitioners to develop a strong conceptual understanding to inform programming as well as participative tools to understand child well being in context.

Defining and Measuring Child Well-Being in Humanitarian Action: A Contextualization Guide

This package includes a guide to leading contextualisation of child well-being in humanitarian action and an accompanying training package and facilitator’s guide.

Latest News

Now Available in Turkish - Primary Prevention Framework Introductory Learning Package!

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The Alliance is excited to announce that the Primary Prevention Framework Introductory Learning Package is now available in Turkish! The package is designed to strengthen participants’ overall understanding of primary prevention in CPHA. The prevention learning package is designed to be implemented in a flexible way in diverse humanitarian and learning settings. It takes into account the...

Updated! Introductory Learning Package for the Primary Prevention Framework

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The CPHA Primary Prevention Introductory Learning Package has been updated and is now available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish. This package is designed to strengthen participants’ overall understanding of primary prevention in Child Protection in Humanitarian Action and is designed to be implemented in a flexible way in diverse humanitarian and learning settings. It takes into account the...

Key Tools

Primary Prevention Framework for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

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Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPHA) is “the prevention of and response to abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence against children in humanitarian action.” While significant effort and improvements have been made in the sector on responding when harm has already taken place, less focus has been placed on how we can prevent harm to children before it occurs.

The Primary Prevention

Resources

Primary Prevention for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action Focal Point Training

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Welcome to the Primary Prevention for CPHA Focal Points learning package. This course provides an in-depth exploration of the Primary Prevention Framework for CPHA, and includes activities which will enable participants to begin using the framework in context analysis, programme design and implementation. Participants are expected to be confident in CPHA programming realm and have some familiarity...

Learning Package | Prevention of Separation

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This introductory learning module has been developed by the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. The learning module is designed to strengthen participants' overall understanding of prevention related elements from the UASC Handbook and Toolkit and the ACE Toolkit within the three levels of prevention described in the CPHA Primary Prevention Framework. The decision to use this...

Mini Guide #5 | Child Protection in Outbreaks: Preventing Harm to Children in Infectious Disease Outbreaks

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This Mini-Guide is aimed at humanitarian personnel working in health and child protection as well as those specialising in mental health and psychosocial support and members of the social service workforce. This Mini-Guide is for use during the preparedness, response and recovery phases of an outbreak, in settings that are in crisis or that become a humanitarian setting. This Mini-Guide aims to...

Guidance Note | Qualitative Assessment Approaches for the Protection of Children with Disabilities Within Humanitarian Contexts

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Children with disabilities are particularly vulnerable in humanitarian settings, yet they are often not able to access the services and protection they need. While multiple factors create these barriers, a major cause is how data about children with disabilities is collected and mapped. Data collection processes often exclude or underrepresent the views of children with disabilities and thier...

Guidance Note | Primary Prevention of Family Separation

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In 2021, the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action published the Primary Prevention Framework for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (the Framework). This was developed due to the recognition that whilst there has been significant progress regarding response to harm against children, less emphasis has been placed on preventing abuse, neglect, violence and exploitation of...

Position Paper | From Theory to Practice: Towards a Framework for Primary Prevention in Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

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This position paper was developed as part of the Alliance-led Prevention Initiative. The objective of the Prevention Initiative is to develop key prevention focused resources to support child protection humanitarian practitioners in their efforts to prevent harm to children before it occurs. Recognizing the strategic importance of improving evidence-based approaches to preventing child protection...

Prevention Framework: Desk Review Synthesis

Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPHA) refers to “the prevention of and response to abuse, neglect, exploitation and violence against children (VAC) in humanitarian action.” Over the past decades, great efforts have been made to improve the capacity of the Child Protection sector to respond when harm occurs. Less has been done on the systematic prevention of harm to children in...

Evidence Brief | Why Identifying Risk and Protective Factors is a Critical Step in Prevention Programming: Implications for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

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Humanitarian crises, including natural disasters, conflict, and infectious disease outbreaks threaten the health, safety and well-being of children, families, and communities. Risks to children in humanitarian settings are multiple and may include: family separation, recruitment into armed forces or groups, involvement in hazardous labor, physical or sexual abuse, psychosocial distress, injury and...

Media

The Three Levels of Prevention

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Video | Primary Prevention Explained: Sarah's Story

Draft CPHA Prevention and Response Framework: Video overview

Webinars

Clinic Sessions on Primary Prevention

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What is Primary Prevention? Primary prevention seeks to prevent harm before it can occur by addressing the root causes of harm to children within a population or community. A successful primary preventive approach will reduce the strain on response services by reducing the number of families and children in need. As humanitarian actors, we have an ethical responsibility to prevent harm before it...

Webinar | Piloting the Primary Prevention Framework: Monitoring and Evaluation

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The Prevention Initiative of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action and PLAN International invites you to an insightful webinar on lessons learned from piloting the Primary Prevention Framework in South Sudan and Niger. This session will dive into the unique challenges and strategies for monitoring and evaluating prevention approaches in humanitarian contexts. Featured Speakers...

Webinar | Piloting the Primary Prevention Framework: Implementation Phase

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The Prevention Initiative of the Alliance and PLAN International are pleased to invite you to a webinar on lessons learned from the Primary Prevention Framework pilots in South Sudan and Niger. Speakers: From PLAN International Niger: Kovo Esul and Toumbe Ibrahim From PLAN International South Sudan: Malish Clemens and Anthony Onen Interpretation in French will be available. For further information...

Webinar | Primary Prevention: Preparedness, Needs Assessment, and Design

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The Prevention Initiative is pleased to invite you to a webinar Primary Prevention: Preparedness, Needs Assessment, and Design on 5 September 2023 from 3:00 - 4:30 pm CET. This webinar will focus on highlighting considerations, actions and learnings to take when planning primary prevention approaches. In particular, the webinar will explore the first three steps of the project cycle management...

Webinar | An Introduction to Prevention with the Child Protection Minimum Standards

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Join us for an engaging an interactive webinar on an Introduction to Prevention with the Child Protection Minimum Standards. This webinar will include guest speakers from the Alliance Child Labour and UASC Task Forces, as well as the prevention-expert, Alliance coordinator, Hani Mansourian. There will also be lots of examples and time for questions, activities and discussion! We look forward to...

Virtual Launch | Primary Prevention Framework for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

The Prevention Initiative of the Alliance is pleased to invite you to attend the virtual launch of the Primary Prevention Framework for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action. While significant effort and improvements have been made in the sector to respond after harm has already taken place, less of a focus has been placed on how to prevent harm to children before it occurs. To that end, the...

Prevention Initiative Focal Point