Malawi Case Study Plan Sweden

Integrating Childrens Participation and Community Responses with The National Child Protection System in Malawi
CaSe STudy
CONTeNTS
acknowledgements...............................................................................................4 acronyms................................................................................................................5 Summary................................................................................................................6 Main recommendations........................................................................................7 1. 2. 3. 4. Strengthen child centred approaches....................................................7 Support and security for community-owned child protection responses.......................................8 Support to formal child protection systems...........................................8 Strengthen the role of local and national civil society............................8
1. Introduction.....................................................................................................9 1.1. Aims........................................................................................................9 1.2. Methodology.........................................................................................10 1.3. Limitations.............................................................................................10
2. Violence against Children.............................................................................12 2.1. Internationally.......................................................................................12 2.2. In Malawi..............................................................................................12
3. International Frameworks for Child Protection...........................................15 3.1. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.....................................15 3.2. The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children..................16 3.3. The UN Study on Violence Against Children.........................................16
4. International trends in addressing Violence against Children....................17 4.1. Child protection systems.......................................................................18 4.2. Community based responses to child protection.................................19
5. Plans Child Protection Programme in Malawi.............................................19 5.1. The development by Plan of a multi-level systems approach...............20 5.2 Project activities....................................................................................22 5.3. Project achievements and challenges...................................................26
6. Lessons Learnt and Best Practices................................................................35 6.1. Preserving the best interests of the child.............................................35 6.2. Childrens participation.........................................................................35 6.3. Community child protection responses................................................37 6.4. A multi-level approach..........................................................................40
7. Conclusions and Recommendations.............................................................42 7.1. 7.2. 7.3. 7.4. Strengthen child centred approaches...............................................42 Support and security for communityowned child protection responses....................................................43 Support to formal child protection systems......................................44 Strengthen the role of local and national civil society......................45
appendix: 1 Notes on the child protection organisational structures shown in the diagram........................................................................46
acknowledgements
The author would like to sincerely thank all those who made the writing of this case study possible. First, Id like to acknowledge the strength and courage of the children and community members who collaborate with Plan Malawi, and who work to improve the wellbeing of children in their communities, often in the face of great difficulties. They contributed invaluably to the baseline study, to the evaluation of the child protection project and to the project visit that was conducted in preparation for the writing of this case study. The staff of Plan Malawi and its partners, particularly Plans Kasungu Programme Unit and the members of the Kasungu District Child Protection Committee, also gave of their valuable time to discuss their child protection activities. The participants in the workshop that was conducted in Lilongwe also contributed greatly to the review of the status of Malawis national child protection systems. The whole process was very ably overseen by MacDonald Mumba, Child Rights Adviser, Plan Malawi and Vera Gahm, Child Protection Adviser, Plan Sweden, who provided their own insights and great support. Finally, Akinboro Bolaji, Country Director of Plan Malawi and Anna Hgg-Sjquist, National Director of Plan Sweden, gave their full backing to the project without which it could not have been realised.
4 | Case Study MALAWI
acronyms
ACRWC CRC INGO NGO SIDA UDHR UNICEF VAC VSU African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children Convention on the Rights of the Child International non-government organisation Non-governmental organisation Swedish International Development Agency Universal Declaration on Human Rights United Nations Childrens Fund Violence Against Children Victim Support Unit
Case Study MALAWI |5
Summary
Considerable efforts have been made by government and civil society in Malawi to strengthen and coordinate responses to violence against children. As a part of this endeavour, between 2008 and 2010 Plan Malawi implemented the project Strengthening District Child Protection Systems, with funding from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The project built on the experience that Plan Malawi had gained since 2002 in supporting community child protection responses. The evaluation of the project has been used as an opportunity to produce this analytical case study. The case study is based on: a review of recent literature on national child protection systems; a 2006 review by Plan of child protection in Malawi which served as the base-line study for the project; the external evaluation of the project; and a project visit to Malawi, which included a workshop with staff from Plan and its partners to review the status of Malawis child protection system. The international human rights treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACRWC), are unequivocal in upholding childrens right to protection against all forms of violence. However, the UN Study on Violence Against Children (VAC) concluded that violence against children constitutes a serious global problem. Recent studies in Malawi also confirm that violence is a common childhood experience that has considerable social acceptance. Initial child protection efforts in developing countries focused mainly on children at particular risk, such as child labourers and street children. This neglected the violence experienced by children in their own homes, schools and communities. The recommendations of the UN Study gave impetus to the work of international NGOs to support governments to create comprehensive national child protection systems that aim to address the violence experienced by all children. Recent work on the adaptation of national child protection systems to the social, cultural and economic contexts of developing countries have resulted in some consensus on the key components of those systems. The key components were used as a reference for this case study. Plan Malawis child protection project adopted a multi-level approach, a key component being the facilitation of childrens participation and the opening of opportunities for children to interact with decision-makers at the community, district and national levels.
The project consisted of support to the following main areas of activity: The promotion of childrens participation Support to community child protection structures and responses Strengthening district child protection structures and responses Development of an enabling national environment for child protection
Many gains were made in these areas of activity, resulting in considerable recognition within Malawi of the approach adopted by Plan and its partners. The environment in Malawi remains challenging, however, particularly in terms of cultural attitudes towards children, the lack of scale and reach of child protection services, scarce human and financial resources, the absence of unifying national child protection policies, and the overlapping mandates of the many ministries with responsibility towards children which makes coordination and policy-making difficult. Due to Plan Malawis long and consistent history of work on child protection and its willingness to reflect on its experience, many lessons learnt were identified as a result of the project experience. These have been used to formulate the following a set of recommendations.
Main recommendations
These recommendations are aimed primarily at Plan management and programme staff, but are also of relevance to other civil society organisatioins and government organisations working on child protection.
1.
Strengthen child centred approaches
Child centred approaches require sustained support over a period of years to allow necessary changes in attitudes and practices to be adopted and sustained. Practical mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that the best interests of children are preserved in child protection responses. These include: building responses based on the results of quality participatory research with children; promoting childrens participation at all levels; and ensuring that their views are given due weight in child protection initiatives. Child-friendly protection practices should be adopted, including community based psychosocial support. The outcomes of child protection activities, including the reporting and management of cases, should be monitored for their impact on children, and used to improve child protection processes.
2.
Support and security for community-owned child protection responses
Community based responses to violence against children are necessary for its prevention, and for support to children and their families. The capacity of the formal child protection service and of civil society should be built to provide sustained support to community-based responses that encourage community ownership through voluntarism. Positive non-violent attitudes and behaviour that build on existing positive traditional practices towards children should be promoted. Primary justice systems, which tend to make decisions that are prejudicial to vulnerable groups, should be transformed to enable decisionmaking that is in the best interests of women and children. Attention should be given to the security of adult and childrens groups through active collaboration with traditional leaders and community police.
3.
Support to formal child protection systems
Community based child protection responses need to be balanced by the development of formal child protection systems. Formal child protection systems are necessary to support community efforts, to raise the general publics awareness of child protection, to enhance prevention and to ensure an adequate response to reported cases. The experience of Malawi points in particular to the value and necessity of multi-disciplinary coordination bodies at national and district levels for the development of effective child protection systems. International NGOs can play an active role in promoting coordination and supporting children, communities, civil society and the government to work together to build effective responses to violence against children.
4.
Strengthen the role of local and national civil society
International NGOs have a particular responsibility to nurture the capacity of local and national civil society to support child protection responses by communities and by government. Plan is unusual as an INGO to have a presence close to communities and also at the district and national levels. This enables it to adopt multi-level approaches that are sensitive to the realities of childrens lives. However, Plan should be the facilitator of this process, rather than the principle actor. It should build the capacity of local and national civil society to provide effective support to community responses to violence against children, and to lobby government for improved and enforced legislation and service delivery.
1. Introduction
In the two decades since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), increasing attention has been given to childrens right to protection. Initially this was focused on specific categories of children who were thought to be particularly vulnerable to violence and were in special need of protection, such as street children, child labourers and child soldiers. By the middle of the last decade, awareness was growing that the root causes of violence against these different groups of children were similar, as were the actions required to address them, and that a more holistic and comprehensive approach to protecting children was needed. In addition, working with children on a group by group basis led to the neglect of those who were less visible, such as children in abusive home situations. The 2006 UN Study on Violence Against Children (VAC) found that violence against children is prevalent in every society and that it takes place most frequently in childrens homes, schools and communities. It called for governments to develop multi-faceted and systematic frameworks to respond to violence against children. This has given impetus to the work of governments and non-government organisations to develop national child protection systems that can respond to the protection rights of all children. Over the last few years, considerable efforts have been made by government and civil society in Malawi to strengthen and coordinate responses to violence against children. As part of this endeavour, over the last two years Plan Malawi has been working with funding from the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) to support the development of district child protection systems in Malawi. The project built on the experience that Plan Malawi had gained since 2002 in supporting community child protection responses. The project used a multi-level approach in which childrens participation and the integration of community responses with the formal child protection system were key. The evaluation of the project has been used as an opportunity to produce this analytical case study. Some first steps have been taken towards mapping the status of Malawis child protection systems and the role of civil society in promoting coordinated responses to violence against children.
1.1. aims
This case study analyses the achievements and challenges of Plan Malawis project Strengthening District Child Protection Systems, setting it in the context of Malawis national child protection system, and drawing out some recommendations based on this experience.
The aim of the case study is to: 1. 2. 3. To contribute to the body of evidence on child protection practice. To provide examples of lessons learnt and best practices that can be used to exchange experiences and build alliances within Plans global organisation and with government and non-government partners within Malawi and elsewhere. To provide evidence that will strengthen Plans approach to violence against children and childrens participation, including its advocacy work and collaboration with the UN Special Representative on Violence against Children.
1.2. Methodology
Several sources and activities have contributed to the development of this case study. The literature on violence against children was reviewed, particularly as it relates to national child protection systems. The study drew on the 2006 review of child protection in Malawi conducted by Plan as a base line for the SIDA-funded project, Strengthening District Child Protection Systems. This project was implemented from 2008 to 2010. The case study includes insights from the external evaluation of the project carried out in early 2010 1. A project visit was conducted by the main author of this case study, together with Plan Swedens Child Protection Adviser. This visit consisted of consultations with children, community members, partners and Plan staff in Kasungu District, and meetings with national partners. As part of the project visit, a one-day workshop was held to review the status of Malawis national child protection system. The participants were representatives from Plan staff, its civil society partner organisations and the Malawi Human Rights Commission. Discussions on Malawis child protection system was based on key compenents (see section 4.1 for components of a national child protection system).
1.3. Limitations
This case study sets Plan Malawis child protection project in the context of Malawis fledgling national child protection system. The status of the national child protection system was reviewed from the literature and during a brief one day workshop with representatives from Plan and some of its national partners. There has not yet been a thorough and systematic review of Malawis national child protection system.
1 The evaluation was conducted by Browne and Greenwood Ltd. of Lilongwe.
Participants at work at the one-day workshop on Malawis national child protection system
The main methodology used to consult with children and communities during the baseline survey, the evaluation and the case study visit were focus group discussions. More rigorous qualitative and quantitative approaches to the evaluation of child protection programmes need to be developed by Plan. Most of the examples and quotations contained in this study are from Plans work in Kasungu District. This is because the project visits conducted as part of the 2006 review of child protection took place in Kasungu. The author returned to Kasungu for the visit conducted for this case study for comparative purposes. Plan is also implementing the child protection project in Lilongwe, Mulanje and Mzuzu Districts.
2.
Violence against Children
2.1. Internationally
The UN VAC study concluded that violence against children exists in all societies and is widespread, constituting a grave global problem 2. The prevalence of violence against children is difficult to determine because it is under-reported. This is due to fear, social tolerance and the lack of safe systems for reporting. A series of recent studies at local and international levels have indicated that: 80-98% of children suffer physical punishment in their homes, with a third of them experiencing severe physical punishment with the use of implements 3. the first sexual experience of up to 48% of adolescent girls and up to 32% of boys is forced 4. 218 million children worldwide are in child labour, of whom 126 million are in hazardous work 5.
Violence has serious immediate and long term consequences for children in terms of their physical, mental, emotional, social and economic wellbeing and development.
2.2. In Malawi
In Malawi, studies confirm that violence against children is very common: 24% of Malawian school children aged 9 to 18 years report having been forced to have sex against their will. This happens most frequently at home and at school 6. 37% of children aged 5 to 17 years are engaged in child labour (work that is detrimental to their health, safety and education) 7.
Although girls experience violence in school more frequently than boys, bullying, physical and sexual violence is common among boys as well.
2 UN Secretary General. (2006). Report of the independent expert for the United Nations Study on Violence Against Children. UN General Assembly. 3 ibid. 4 Krug E. et al. (2002). World Report on Violence and Health. WHO 5 ILO. (2006). The end of child labour: within reach. Global report under the follow up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Report of the Director General. ILO Geneva. 6 Burton, P. (2005) Suffering at School. Results of the Malawi Gender-based Violence in Schools Survey. Crime and Justice Statistics Division. National Statistics Office. 7 National Statistics Office, Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. (2004). National Child Labour.
It is estimated that there are over 1 million children in Malawi who have lost one or both parents, half of these being due to AIDS 8. Children who have lost parents are particularly at risk of abuse, neglect and exploitation, and being forced into risky coping strategies such as transactional sex and working in exploitative situations 9. Traditional cultural practices are wide-spread throughout Malawi, some of them being associated with violence against the children involved 10, such as: child marriage practices involving sexual abuse and early, unsafe sexual activity female genital cutting using unsafe and unhygienic practices
There is considerable social acceptance of violence against children. One study showed that children report only 60% of incidents of violence in schools to someone else (friend, parent or teacher). Of these, action is only taken in about half of the cases, most frequently through the issue of a warning. Only a very small number of sexual abuse cases, around 3%, is reported to the police 11. Discussions with children and community members provided deeper insights into forms and trends of violence that children experience. The table below shows the most common forms of violence mentioned by children and community members during group discussions conducted by Plan in Lilongwe and Kasungu districts during the baseline study of 2006.
8 Government of Malawi. (2005). National Plan of Action for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children 2005-2009. 9 Munthali, A., Mvula, P., Mandere, G. (2006). Child Protection in Malawi: A Review of the Literature. 10 Malawi Human Rights Commission. (2006) Cultural Practices and their Impact on the Enjoyment of Human Rights, particularly the Rights of Women and Children in Malawi. 11 Burton, P. (2005) Suffering at School. Results of the Malawi Gender-based Violence in Schools Survey. Crime and Justice Statistics Division. National Statistics Office.
Types of violence experienced by children Consultations with children in Kasungu and Lilongwe in 2006
Harsh and harmful punishment Beatings Heavy work Made to sleep outside Denied food Not allowed to go to school exploitation Inappropriately heavy work at home and at school Child labour at home, in tea and tobacco estates Child trafficking
Sexual abuse at home and at school Rape Sexual harassment Teachers having affairs with students Sexual molestation in dormitories and when girls sleep in huts alone Neglect 12 Discrimination - girls and orphans Not sending children to school Not providing basic necessities (soap, clothes, food) Neglect of a child when the woman becomes pregnant again Leaving children on their own during the hungry season Neglect of children of the very poor, those living alone and with elderly guardians
Harmful traditional practices Early and forced marriage Masked dancing 13 Initiation practices
The manifestations of violence against children change over time. In recent consultations with children, the problem of being forced to participate in witchcraft emerged as a frequent concern. The consequences of this include emotional stress, sleep deprivation and dropping out of school.
12 The WHO study on Violence and Health states that neglect can occur only when there the parent or caretaker has reasonable resources to enable adequate care of the child, thus distinguishing it from poverty. Perhaps the situation of children from the poorest families could be viewed as neglect by society, governments and the international community, that fail to create the conditions in which these children can access their right to a reasonable standard of living. 13 Traditional masked dancers frighten children and mean that they do not attend school on the days that the ceremonies take place.
3.
International Frameworks for Child Protection
Children should enjoy all the rights set out in the international human rights framework. These protect the dignity, worth and security of person of all human beings. The right to protection was first laid down as a human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). For example, Article 5 of the UDHR guarantees the right to freedom from torture and from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Other conventions and human rights instruments further elaborate the right to protection. For example, the protection of women against discrimination provided by the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has been expanded by the CEDAW Committees General Recommendation 19 to include gender-based violence.
3.1. The uN Convention on the Rights of the Child

The UN CRC provides additional protection to children due to their position of dependence and vulnerability. It is unequivocal in upholding childrens right to protection against all forms of violence, and has consistently challenged States Parties to prohibit violence against children, however light 14. Article 19 obliges States Parties to take all appropriate measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse. Other articles of the CRC and its two Optional Protocols refer to specific protection issues. These include: illicit use, production and trafficking of narcotic drugs; protection from sale, trafficking and abduction; torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, punishment or school discipline; traditional practices prejudicial to health; and effects of armed conflict. Many other articles are also relevant to childrens protection from violence (such as the childs right not to be separated from parents unless it is in his or her best interests; Article 9).
14 Hodgkin, R., Newell, P. (2007). Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF
3.2. The african Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children

The African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children (ACRWC), which entered into force in 1999, and which was ratified by Malawi in 1999, obliges States Parties to take specific legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, and especially physical or mental injury or abuse, neglect or maltreatment including sexual abuse. The ACRWC covers similar ground to the CRC in terms of childrens protection rights, being stronger in certain aspects and weaker in others. Legally, children are guaranteed whichever provision is stronger in terms of the realisation of their rights. The particular strength of the ACRWC is that it expressly proclaims its supremacy over any custom, tradition, cultural or religious practice that is inconsistent with the rights, duties or obligations contained in the charter 15.
3.3. The uN Study on Violence against Children

The UN Secretary Generals Study on Violence Against Children was presented to the UN General Assembly in October 2006. The conduct of the study included a series of national and regional consultations in which children played a significant role. The study examined violence at home and in the family; in school and educational settings; within care and justice institutions; at places of work; and within the community. The study challenged the acceptance of violence against children, its key message being: No violence against children is justifiable; all violence against children is preventable. The study made twelve overarching recommendations and specific recommendations for addressing violence in each setting. The first recommendation was that all States develop a multi-faceted and systematic framework to respond to violence against children which is integrated into national planning processes. This recommendation has stimulated government and non-government organisations to examine how they can work towards the development of comprehensive national child protection systems, rather than addressing violence against children on an issue-by-issue basis.
15 Chirwa, D.M., (2002). The merits and demerits of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. International Journal of Childrens Rights. 10: 157-177. 2002.
In 2009 the UN Special Representative on Violence against Children was appointed as an independent voice and global advocate to promote action on the findings of the study, and learning on best practices. In addition, the CRC Committee has now started to question States Parties about their response to the studys findings and recommendations.
4.
International trends in addressing Violence against Children
It is only recently that the widespread and diverse nature of violence against children has been fully appreciated, and responses to it are still in their infancy. Child protection is therefore a relatively new sector compared with those of health and education, and a solid base of evidence on which strategies can be securely founded still needs to be developed. Approaches to child protection evolved from programmes of work with Children in Difficult Circumstances and Children in Special Need of Protection in the 1980s and 90s. Child protection efforts were focused on particular groups of children who were thought to be most at risk, such as children in the worst forms of child labour, street children and children in conflict with the law. Although the knowledge and skills needed to respond to particular child protection violations are important for quality care, the focus on specific categories of children led to a fragmented approach which was inefficient, and which did not respond to the violence experienced by many children. In particular it failed to acknowledge and address the widespread nature of violence against children in their homes, schools and communities. This type of narrow focus on specific categories of children also fails to recognise the dynamic and changing nature of childrens lives as they struggle to find safety and security. Many children belong to more than one category or move between them over time. For example, during a participatory study with a group of children working on the tobacco estates in Malawi, the majority of the group were found to have lost parents to AIDS16. Thus, these children are not only working in exploitative situations, but are also grappling with the devastating consequences of AIDS on their families.
16 Clacherty, G. (2008). Hard work, long hours and little pay. Participatory research with children working on tobacco farms in Malawi. Plan
By the early 00s, it was appreciated that more holistic approaches to child protection were necessary. In 2002, UNICEF adopted an integrated approach to child protection called the protective environment. This approach acknowledges that similar actions are needed to protect children from all the different types of violence against them, such as passing adequate legislation, providing essential services and building childrens life-skills.
4.1. Child protection systems

The first overarching recommendation of the UN VAC Study was that all States should develop a multifaceted and systematic framework to respond to violence against children. Some international organisations, such as Save the Children and UNICEF, are now focussing their support to child protection on the development of comprehensive and holistic national child protection systems 17. Understanding how child protection systems in developing countries can be formed in a manner appropriate to their context, rather than replicating Western child protection systems, is at an early stage. Research has indicated that they need to be adapted to the national economic, social, political and cultural context, and flexible enough to respond to change, such as the occurrence of emergency situations 18. Childrens participation in child protection systems is critical to ensure that they adequately acknowledge and address childrens protection issues and work in the childs best interests. Public awareness and support for child protection services also need to be generated. Child protection systems include non-formal responses by families and communities to violence against children, as well as formal responses by government institutions. The boundaries between child protection and other systems that promote childhood wellbeing, such as health and education, need to be delineated, and close collaboration developed between them. National child protection systems should provide effective preventive and responsive services. The necessary structures, functions, capacities and accountability systems to support these services need to be in place at all levels. As a result of the inter-agency work that has been done, there is growing consensus around the key components of a national child protection system, though, as noted above, the precise form will depend on the context.
17 Wulezyn, F et al. (2009). Adapting a Systems Approach to Child Protection: Key Concepts and Considerations. Chapin Hall, University of Chicago. 18 ibid.
Components of a national child protection system 19 National child protection laws, policies and programmes Coordination within the child protection system and with other sectors Childrens participation Public awareness and support Effective child protection services Effective regulation and quality standards Knowledge and data generation and management Human and financial resources
4.2. Community based responses to child protection

Community responses to violence against children are essential components of a national child protection system. Within a resource-poor country such as Malawi, they enable larger numbers of children to be reached at lower cost, and facilitate the link between families and formal child protection services. Many INGOs support community based responses as part of their child protection programmes in developing countries. Currently, however, there is a lack of robust evidence about the best strategies to promote their effectiveness, cost, scalability and sustainability, though research is being conducted to clarify this 20. A desk study found that there are several factors that influence the effectiveness of community based child protection groups. These are: community ownership, building on existing resources, support from leaders, child participation, and the inclusion of vulnerable groups in decision-making.
5.
Plans child protection programme in Malawi
In 2002 Plan Malawi started working with community committees and childrens groups to raise awareness and to facilitate community responses to violence against children. As the issue began to be discussed more openly and cases emerged, efforts were made to link communities to area and district child protection services 21. These services, however, were weak and poorly developed and provided little support to community efforts.
19 Drawn mainly from SCF. Undated draft. A Rough Guide to Child Protection Systems. 20 Wessels, M. (2009). What are we learning about protecting children in the community? An interagency review of the evidence on community based child protection mechanisms in humanitarian and develop ment settings. Save the Children. 21 The Village, Area and District are the administrative levels of Malawis local government system. There are 28 districts in the three regions of the country.
In 2006, a review of child protection in Malawi was conducted by Plan to form the basis for further developing its child protection work 22. This drew on the study conducted in Malawi as part of the UN VAC study 23, but also included findings from visits and consultations with stakeholders at the national, district and community level. The review found that there were many gaps in legislation, there was no national child protection policy or programme, and child protection structures and services at all levels were weak or non-existent. However, through the efforts of the multidisciplinary National Technical Working Group on Child Protection, considerable thought and energy were being devoted to coordinating government and nongovern-mental work on child protection, using the protective environment concept. In 2006, the members of the National Technical Working Group had reached agreements about the child protection structures that should be in place at the area and district levels, their relationship to the national system of local government and how they should coordinate with, and support, community based child protection groups. There was also consensus on the training curricula that should be used for different levels of community volunteer and worker. This work provided an important foundation for the subsequent development of Plan Malawis child protection work through the SIDA funded project.
5.1. The development by Plan of a multi-level, systems approach

Due to the weakness of the child protection system at all levels, and the need for this to be improved if community responses and childrens participation were to flourish, Plan developed a multi-level approach to child protection. The project, funded by SIDA between 2008 and 2010, involved strengthening child protection structures and responses at the village, area and district levels in the four districts in which Plan works (namely, Kasungu, Lilongwe, Mulanje and Mzuzu) whilst also contributing to the development of a favourable environment for child protection at the national level. Plan sought to build structures and to open opportunities for children to participate at each level.
22 Plan. (2007). Community Child Protection Programme. Review of progress and recommendations. 23 Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services. (2005). Study on Violence against Children in Malawi. Government of Malawi.
The project at a glance

Goal Safeguard childrens right to protection from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation
Objectives Promote childrens right to participation in community and district decision-making processes Facilitate the creation of community structures to monitor and follow up child protection issues Strengthen the institutional child protection framework in four districts Assist in the creation of a good national policy and legal environment for child protection activities Childrens participation - Establishment and support to community, area and district Child Advocacy Groups - Support to Malawis National Childrens Parliament - Opportunities for children to dialogue with policy makers and service providers at all levels - - - - - - Community child protection structures and response Establishment and support of community and area Child Protection Committees District child protection structures and response Strengthening the District Child Protection Committees Collaboration on district child protection activities An enabling national environment for child protection Strengthening civil society to advocate for effective legislation, policy and programmes Strengthening civil society to monitor and report on child protection issues Collaboration on national child protection activities
Plans main partners in the planning and implementation of the project were: Ministry of Gender, Child Development and Community Development Malawi Human Rights Commission UNICEF National Technical Working Group on Child Protection District Child Protection and Child Labour Committees Several national and local civil society organisations 24
24 Plan Malawis civil society partners on child protection are: the Human Rights Consultative Committee, REFORD, Youth Watch Society, Centre for Youth and Children Affairs, the Malawi Human Rights Youth Network; and Biwi Youth Organisation.
5.2. Project activities

Childrens Participation
Plan worked with its NGO partners to form Rights of the Child groups within schools, and Childrens Advocacy Groups at the village, area and district levels. These childrens groups are facilitated by teachers and paracivic educators 25. Young people who previously participated in the childrens activities also support the childrens groups. The children participate in raising awareness of childrens rights in their school and community through different media, such as theatre, dance and radio. They identify children with problems, offer support, and raise concerns with adult members of the Community Child Protection Committee. Children are also represented on the Village Development Committees. Children take up those issues that have not been adequately addressed at community level to the relevant authorities at district level. They may request for a childrens forum with policy and decision makers at district level, during which they follow up on the difficult issues they have identified.
Children and youth from a Child Advocacy Group in Kasungu district
Village, area and district assemblies were conducted with the participation of children, parents, service providers and representatives of local government, to
25 A para-civic educator is a community volunteer who has been equipped with knowledge and skills to undertake community awareness raising on child rights in general and child protection in particular. He or she focuses much of his or her attention on community awareness.raising.
enable children to interact with duty bearers. Child representatives also took part in debates, and lobbied policy makers at local and national events celebrating the commemoration of anniversary days such as the Day of the African Child. During such national days, children select representatives to present petitions to relevant authorities such as the Minister for Gender, Children and Community Development. Children from District Child Advocacy Groups were selected and prepared to represent their constituencies in the annual National Childrens Parliament (supported by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development, UNICEF and Plan). The Social and Community Affairs Parliamentary Committee is tasked with ensuring that the resolutions of the children are acknowledged and acted upon by the adult parliament, though it is not yet clear how they will undertake this responsibility. There is the need for civil society to monitor progress on this, and to lobby for effective action. Community child protection structures and response
Village and Area Child Protection Commitees were etablished and trained. The committees consist of men and women volunteers chosen by their communities, who are provided with a basic training on childrens rights and child abuse.
Members from the Child Protection Commitee from Kawiya village in Kasungu district
One member of each committee received a more intense training as a para-civic educator.
Responsibilities of the Para-Civic educators and Community Child Protection Committee members Raising awareness in the community of childrens rights, gender and human rights Identifying and follow up on child protection problems in the community Conducting parenting classes Supporting and facilitating childrens groups Encouraging cultural practices promote the wellbeing of children; discouraging participation in those that are against the best interests of children Helping to mediate child protection issues (civil cases) Advising people where to get help, and helping to report criminal actions
Paracivic educator from Kawiya villlage in Kasungu district
The para-civic educators and child protection committee members facilitate and work hand in hand with childrens groups. They raise awareness of child protection issues, and conduct parenting classes during which they discuss positive methods of raising and disciplining children. They facilitate the mediation of less serious child abuse cases (civil cases), and advise and support families in cases that need to be reported to the authorities. They also help children and their families access the services of the police, health centres and magistrates court at the area levels.
The para-civic educators and child protection committees report to the Village and Area Development Committees, working in collaboration with the traditional authorities, community policing volunteers and schools. district child protection structures and response
Plan has strengthened the District Child Protection and Child Labour Committees in the districts where it works through training, and through encouraging the coordination of the activities of different government offices and NGOs working on child protection. Opportunities for the committees and representatives of the district government to interact with children and their parents were provided by organising district child assemblies. In Kasungu, the members of the District Child Protection Committee, with the support of Plan, extended Community Child Protection Committees and Childrens Advocacy Groups into areas that were not included in Plans original project. an enabling national environment for child protection
Plan has worked in collaboration with civil society, other INGOs, UNICEF and government as a member of various groups and coalitions to achieve a more favourable national child protection environment. For example, the National Technical Working Group on Child Protection put together a paper for consideration at the national constitutional review conference in 2008. Civil society organisations have also provided inputs to the drafting of adequate child protection legislation and lobbied for its passage. In 2008, Plan supported the Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC), an umbrella body for NGOs, to produce an alternative report to the second periodic report on the Convention on the Rights of the Child prepared by the Malawian government. The alternative report was presented to the Committee on the Rights of the Child during its proceedings to consider the State report. Plan commissioned the conduct of participatory research to explore childrens experiences of working on the tobacco estates. The research was presented at a national conference on child labour in 2009 as a means of stimulating and coordinating action by the main government and non-government actors to combat child labour.
How the organisational structures for child protection fit together
The diagram below and the accompanying table shows how the childrens groups and child protection committees supported by Plan and its partners relate to the district and national bodies that are responsible for child protection.
Childrens Participation structures in Malawis Child Protection System (Plan areas)

Social & Community Parliamentary Committee National Steering Committee on Gender & Child Development National Technical Group on Child Protection National Networks (child labour, trafficking, street children) District Child Advocacy Group Area Child Advocacy Group Village Child Advocacy Group District Child Protection Committee Area Child Protection Committee Village Child Protection Committee
Childrens Parliament
See appendix 1. - for an explanation of each actor shown in the diagram.
5.3. Project achievements and challenges

Increased opportunities for childrens participation
The project has facilitated the creation of childrens groups and increased opportunities for children to participate at the village, area, district and national levels. Further study of these groups would be of great interest. This could be used to clarify the numbers of children actively involved, how the groups function, the relationships between the groups at different levels, and the impact of childrens participation on decision-making 26.
26 For a framework for measuring childrens participation see: Lansdown, G. (2009). A Framework for Measuring the Participation of Children and Adolescents. UNICEF MENA Regional Office
From the consultations conducted during the evaluation and the case study visit, there was anecdotal evidence to suggest that childrens participation had had a positive impact. Children were reported and were observed to be more articulate, confident and pro-active than at the time of the baseline study in 2006. For example, one group of children actively seeks help from their local Village Support Units (VSUs). As the one of policemen told us: the children come and talk to us and ask us to visit their communities to discuss their problems. Village child advocacy groups in three communities in Kasungu have been able to facilitate the reporting of several cases to police, some of them involving issues of witchcraft. In Kasungu there appeared to be a growing acceptance of the importance of childrens participation by communities and the authorities. As one of the District Child Labour Officers said: Childrens participation is now a given in all our projects and activities. There is also a growing realisation by the partners in the project that when children express their views, those views need to be given due weight in the decision-making process. Challenges to childrens participation
There are, however, many challenges to progress. NGO workers feel that, in order to gain adults acceptance of childrens right to participate, it is necessary to emphasise childrens responsibilities as well as their rights. For cultural and economic reasons, adults fear that children will become too demanding. Some children are discouraged by parents and other children to become involved in child protection activities. There are forms of abuse of which children are aware, but which are difficult to discuss, such as children being taught witchcraft, and the abuse of children by relatives. One child told us: Abuse by relatives cannot be revealed, otherwise the child will be driven out of the house. Efforts are made to include children from marginalised groups, such as those with disabilities and working children. Although this is challenging, there are instances of children from these groups holding leadership roles. Many groups of vulnerable children, such as those working on the tobacco estates, do not have the time or the basic resources (food, soap, clothing) to attend community groups, and many live away from their homes and communities. There is a tendency for the community to discriminate against these children. Nationally, it is only the districts in which Plan is working that have a systematic process for selecting members of the Childrens Parliament. There are also problems in ensuring that the resolutions of the Childrens Parliament are given
due weight by the government. Although a parliamentary committee has been assigned to take responsibility to follow up the resolutions of the Childrens Parliament and ensure that they are acted upon, their mandate and method of working is not yet clear.
One of the topics discussed at the 6th Malawi Childrens Parliament in 2007... ...was the organisation of the Childrens Parliament. Whilst acknowledging the many successes of the Childrens Parliament, several concerns were noted. These included the lack of an effective democratic election system at the district, regional and national levels. The formation by Plan and its partners of the childrens groups at the community, area and district levels responds directly to this concern, but these structures and processes are lacking in districts where Plan is not present.
The outcomes of community based responses
Consultations with children and communities as part of the evaluation revealed some consistently reported positive changes resulting from the work of the community committees and volunteers. It was noted that parents are paying more attention to their childrens welfare and hygiene, and were more likely to send them to school. It was also felt that there had been a reduction in child marriages and in child abuse in the communities, particularly violent sex abuse cases. Respondents thought that fewer parents were subjecting their children to harmful traditional practices that keep them out of school, such as confining a girl during her first menstruation even during school hours. In addition, some traditional practices had been modified to eliminate their harmful effects on children.
Transforming traditional practices in the best interests of children The tradition of masked dancers who frighten children away from school has now been transformed in some communities into an event that encourages children to attend school. The masks are no longer frightening, and the dancers accompany children to school.
There was increased reporting of child abuse cases, and in a few cases there have been some successful prosecutions. For example, two cases of defilement were reported from Nkanda Traditional Authority of Mulanje. The culprits were sentenced to ten years imprisonment with hard labour. The reporting and prosecu
tion of cases has made people more aware of the issue, and civic educators felt that possible perpetrators are now afraid of the consequences of their actions. The committees play an important role in facilitating childrens advocacy groups and providing support to children. The conclusion of the participatory research on child workers in the tobacco industry was that the para-civic educators represent an important resource for vulnerable children. The researcher observed how an informal group of child workers, many of whom were orphans, had formed around one of the para-civic educators who provided kindness and support, and thought that there was potential for the formation of peer groups of child workers under the guidance of para-civic educators 27. The work of para-civic educators and child protection committees is appreciated by many community members. One committee told us that people come, not just from within their own community, but from a distance to discuss problems. The parenting classes are particularly popular because they help parents understand how they can behave differently towards their children. Volunteers feel that the inclusion of traditional leaders as members of the committee and as para-civic educators has increased community recognition of their work. As the group of para-civic educators in Kasungu told us: The para-civic educators who are village head men lend authority to our work. It reinforces what we do. It is important for people to hear the village headmen speaking the same language as us. The sustainability and reach of community based responses
The community response to child protection has been promoted by the volunteerism of civic educators and committee members, which has added to the sense of community ownership. Some of the community child protection committees have been in existence for several years with minimal material support. As members have dropped out, new ones have taken their place. However, sustainability is challenging. There has been a drop out rate of around one third of the para-civic educators who have been trained in Kasungu since 2003. Similarly, around one third of the Community Child Protection Committees trained in Plans working area in Kasungu have become inactive. Those who continue to work do so in the face of substantial difficulties, one of the most critical being the lack of resources to pursue their work (such as means of transport and communication) and to provide support to children who need it.
The child protection services provided to communities by the area police stations, health clinics and magistrates courts are very limited in terms of quality and reach. When cases are reported, prosecution seldom takes place due to pressure on the child and their family to withdraw the case, or due to the mishandling of the case by the authorities. The lack of prosecution is de-motivating for the volunteers, and can also be dangerous (perpetrators are free to return to the village and may threaten them). On one occasion, the grandson of one of the para-civic educators was physically assaulted when she tried to help a woman who was the victim of domestic violence. Despite this, she and the committee in her community are still active. Asked what kept them going, they replied: It is our own children we are trying to protect. We want to try to help develop the area for their future. Plan and its partners have played a large role in providing encouragement and technical support to committees and in linking them with area and district services. Ultimately this should be the responsibility of the District Social Welfare Offices, but they lack the human and financial resources. The number of communities that receive support on child protection is still very small and heavily dependent on NGOs. In Kasungu, community committees and childrens groups have been established and trained in only 13 out of 30 areas within the district. Plan initiated the activity in the five areas in which it works. It was then scaled up in an additional eight areas through a joint project with the District Child Protection Committee. Improvements to the district response to violence against children
There has been a marked increase in the collaboration between the different government and civil society child protection actors in the districts in which Plan works, particularly in Kasungu and Lilongwe. Preventive and responsive child protection activities are now jointly planned and implemented, thereby maximising the use of resources, and contributing to capacity building. The Kasungu and Lilongwe District Child Protection Committees act as models of success and receive visits from representatives of other districts. A joint project to scale up community child protection committees and childrens groups in Kasungu was implemented through a method of financial support to local government that was new for Plan Malawi. Plan provided a fund that was managed by each committee to extend the formation and support of child protection committees to the additional eight areas. This generated a sense of committee ownership and achievement.
Child protection is being given greater priority at the district level. As a result of increased community awareness, some areas are now including child protection concerns in the development plans they submit to the District. This makes it easier for the District Social Welfare Officer to lobby for the inclusion of child protection activities in district development plans and budgets. The difficulties faced by the district Social Welfare Offices
Despite the advances made, social work has a low priority in the districts due to the lack of recognition of the importance of social issues, and to the relatively weak and under-funded position of the District Social Work Offices. District child protection bodies lack sufficient funds to monitor the situation of children within the district, to supervise and support community committees and volunteers, and to assist the children that come to them for help. In addition, there is no uniform system for reporting and monitoring the outcome of child protection cases, making it difficult to follow trends. There are difficulties prosecuting the perpetrators of violence against children. There are several reasons for this. Cases are often mishandled by the police and judiciary. Cases may also be withdrawn when they take too long or when the child is dependent on the perpetrator. As described above, this is demoralising for communities and can pose threats to the safety of both the child and those involved in reporting the cases. At the district, area and community levels, child protection coordinating bodies are anchored in Malawis decentralised system of local government. However, Malawi is still in a state of transition to the decentralised system, which is not yet fully functional. The existence and degree of functionality of these structures varies between districts and localities and depends on the support of NGOs. Steps forward in improving the national child protection system
Plan, together with other actors, has contributed to progress in many components of Malawis national child protection system. For example, some of the National Technical Working Group on Child Protections recommendations to the constitutional review were agreed and will be reflected in the newly drafted constitution. These include the harmonization of the age of the child with the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Following improvements to the previous political deadlock in parliament, there is now movement on some of the child focused legislation to which civil society
has contributed. The National Registration Bill, which makes birth registration compulsory, was finally passed by the National Assembly in November 2009. The verification of childrens ages facilitates the prosecution of child abuse cases. The Child Care, Protection and Justice Bill that provides greater protection for children was passed in June, 2010. The production of a shadow report on the CRC by the Human Rights Consultative Committee provided valuable additional information to the Committee on the CRC; this information was included in its Concluding Observations to the Malawian Government. These Concluding Observations will form the basis for future advocacy to government on child protection. The participatory child labour research 28 and the national conference on child labour resulted in the reconvening of the National Technical Working Group on Child Labour and the approval of a national policy on child labour. The National Labour Office also produced a national reporting framework on child labour.
a good example of a coordinated national effort on child protection In response to the UN VAC study, in 2007, the National Technical Working Group on Child Protection initiated a multi-year Stop Child Abuse Campaign. This campaign was implemented every year for three years. The aim of the Campaign was to break the silence on child abuse and to provide opportunities for open discussions on issues such as child labour, sexual abuse, child trafficking, early marriages and other harmful cultural practices. The Stop Child Abuse campaign has targeted policy makers, service providers and the general public through radio and television messages, billboards, leaflets, fact sheets, posters and handbooks. The results of this campaign are currently being compiled.
a national environment that remains very challenging
Despite these steps forward, the national environment for child protection remains challenging. Although, as mentioned above, there have been improvements in legislation, there are many policy and operational problems.
Coordination is impeded by the overlapping mandates of the many Ministries that have responsibility for child welfare. For example, there are separate Ministries for Children with Disabilities and for Youth, as well as the usual ministries of health, education, home affairs, justice, and labour. This means that there are difficulties in achieving coordination and developing a unified approach to childrens issues. This lack of coordination makes the development of a comprehensive child protection policy or a national plan of action difficult, and the absence of a unifying agenda further impedes coordination. The National Technical Working Group was very active between 2005 and 2007 while UNICEF provided direct financial support to the meetings. Since this was withdrawn, the number of meetings and attendance rates have diminished. The momentum that was gained in coordination and gaining consensus on the shape of the national child protection system has been lost. The Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development has difficulty in taking the lead, and government departments and NGOs are not working effectively together, resulting in an inefficient use of resources. Services to respond to cases of violence against children are present in some areas, but they are largely reactive, and coverage and quality is limited. Newly introduced child protection service models also lack scale. For example, there are Childrens Courts only in 4 districts, the Ombudsman is only physically represented in 3 districts, and there are only 34 victim support units (VSUs) 29 in police stations nationwide. Different ministries, such as the National Labour Office have their own data management systems and there is no comprehensive, unifying national database on child protection, which makes it difficult to track trends and outcomes. Although ministry funding for child protection has declined recently, there are difficulties in absorbing and spending available resources due to a lack of human resources and problems of political will.
Police staff in a VSU in Kasungu district police station from the Kaluluma area
29 Victim Support Units are located within police stations and provide support to women and children who are victims of violence. The staff are trained to deal with children in an appropriate, child friendly manner and offer counselling and mediation services and facilitate referral to other services. Recently they received training in play therapy.
Taking the temperature - progress towards a national child protection system in Malawi
The table summarises the situation in Malawi in relation to the essential components of a national child protection system. The summary was drawn mainly from the results of a one-day workshop with staff from Plan and its partner organisations..
Component
National child protection legislation, policy and programmes Coordination within the child protection system and with other sectors
Status
Recent passage of legislation in line with the CRC, such as the Registration Act, but many aspects of legislation still not in line with the CRC. Recent adoption of a national child labour policy, but a lack of unifying national policies and strategic plans for other aspects of child protection. Ministry of Gender takes the lead on child protection, but responsibility for children is spread over many ministries with overlapping mandates, making coordination difficult. Functioning multidisciplinary National Technical Working Group on Child Protection, coordinates national level child protection work, but the level of its activity has declined over the last 3 years. Inadequate mainstreaming of child protection by line ministries. Joint activities implemented, such as the Stop Child Abuse Campaign. Multi disciplinary District Child Protection Committees functional in some districts, but this varies and depends on NGO support. Insufficient support from the national to the district level. Very limited support from the district child protection services to community child protec tion responses. Childrens participation initiatives implemented by NGOs, but there is a lack of opportunity for children to articulate their issues in many districts. Functioning National Childrens Parliament, which is well respected. In many districts there is no clear process for the selection and preparation of delegates to the Childrens Parliament. Little follow up of the issues that the children raise. Progress has been made in generating public support for child protection through the celebration of anniversary days, media campaigns, such as the Stop Child Abuse Campaign, and radio programmes such as Plans Timveni project. The attitude of the public towards childrens rights is still very challenging. NGO workers feel that it is necessary to include the concept of childrens responsibilities, as well as their rights, to gain cultural acceptance. New child protection services being developed and piloted, such Child Courts in 4 districts. Limited coverage and quality of child protection services. There are some standards and guidelines in place. Limited support and supervision from national to district and district to area. A national child protection database is lacking. Different ministries, such as the National Labour Office, have their own data management systems. Lack of coordination of data gathering at the district level. Ministry funding for child protection has declined recently. The ministry has difficulty in absorbing and spending resources. There is a real shortage of resources at district level. Both the ministry and the districts operate mainly on project funding, which makes it difficult to build coherent services. Communities have not been able to mobilise adequate resources for their own child protection activities. Lack of skilled human resources at all levels. Social workers trained to a lower level than peers in other ministries which makes it difficult for them get priority for child protection.
Childrens participation
Public awareness and support
effective child protection services effective quality standards Knowledge and data generation and management Financial and human resources
6.
Lessons Learnt and Best Practices
6.1. Preserving the best interests of the child

The CRC stipulates that the best interests of the child should be the primary consideration in all actions concerning the child. Determining what is in the best interests of the child in relation to violations of their right to protection is frequently challenging, particularly in very resource poor environments such as Malawi, where the lack of resources limits the options that are available. The consequences of reporting cases of abuse to the authorities may be deeply traumatising to the child and to his or her family. If the family is dependent for their livelihood on the perpetrator, conviction and incarceration puts the whole family at risk. If cases are reported but the perpetrator is released, he may seek revenge and threaten the child and those who have helped him or her. The child may be re-victimised or subject to solutions agreed by the families and traditional authorities that are prejudicial, such as marriage to a defiler. Due to the District Authorities lack of resources, children who are withdrawn from child labour have been left without support and without the means of returning home. This clearly leaves them open to further exploitation. The current lack of a uniform reporting system makes the monitoring of reported cases and the tracking of outcomes difficult. It is the responsibility of all organisations working on child protection to ensure that their actions do not result in children being placed in a worse situation after reporting their cases than before. For example, the Kasungu District Social Welfare Office is looking at alternatives to the incarceration of perpetrators who have dependent families, such as some form of community service. The current law allows for this provision but there are difficulties in monitoring and enforcing compliance. Practical steps aimed at preserving the best interests of the child are listed in section 7.1.
6.2. Childrens Participation

The experience in Malawi demonstrates that progress on childrens participation can be achieved in even the most difficult and unpromising cultural situations, but that it is a learning process for both children and adults that requires sustained effort over a period of time. Some particular insights in relation to childrens participation that emerged from the project are discussed in the sections below.
Quality participatory research with and by children to inform responses to violence against children
Participatory research with children is an essential tool for understanding childrens experiences and perspectives. It frequently challenges the assumptions made by adults about how children think and perceive their situation. For example, the research conducted by Plan with a group of child workers from the tobacco estates demonstrated that the majority of children were working of their own accord, because they wanted to contribute to the survival of their very poor families and to pay for their own education 30. The clear implications of the research was that, while families in Malawi remain extremely poor, ways should be found that enable children to continue working in improved conditions, whilst being able to go to school. This would necessitate the development of flexible forms of schooling that can accommodate working children. The participation of marginalised groups
The participation of marginalised groups is challenging, particularly in the very poor circumstances of Malawian villages. Nevertheless, the awareness of children and adults to the situation and rights of these groups needs to be raised, and mechanisms found to promote their inclusion. Children with disabilities can be encouraged to join community-based groups. Other groups, such as children working on the tobacco estates, who are often living away from home, may benefit from their own groups for mutual support and to present a united voice to their employers. Childrens participation as the backbone of formal and non-formal child protection systems
Plan has striven to open spaces for childrens participation through the formation of childrens groups and the facilitation of childrens participation at village, area and district levels. This has enabled children from poor rural and urban communities to have a dialogue with service providers and policy makers at all levels, leading to greater acknowledgement of their right to participate and the value of their participation, as well as some progress towards the institutionalisation of childrens participation through their participation in Village Development Committees.
30 Exploitation of children for their labour is regarded by the CRC as a protection issue and by the UN Study on Violence Against Children as one form of violence. Plan has been encouraging the District Child Labour and Child Protection Committees to work in close collaboration. In Kasungu and Lilongwe Districts they act as one body.
The formation of childrens groups has also allowed children from the districts in which Plan works to be represented in a more authentic manner in the National Childrens Parliament, and given opportunities for elected child delegates to gain confidence and experience as they progress through each level. ensuring that childrens views are given due weight in decision-making
Once opportunities have been opened for children to participate, there is the need to ensure their views are taken into consideration and inform decisionmaking. For example, when a girl asked for the child protection project to be extended to her area during a district assembly in Kasungu, Plan and the District Child Protection Committee felt that they needed to take this request seriously. This led to the scaling up of the Community Child Protection Committees and Childrens Advocacy Groups by the District Child Protection Committee to an additional eight areas in the district. The Childrens Parliament is an initiative that is well regarded, but there are difficulties in ensuring that the views expressed by the children are considered and acted upon by the government. The Social and Community Parliamentary Affairs Committee has been given the task of following up on the recommendations of the Childrens Parliament, but how it should go about this in practice is not yet clear.
6.3. Community child protection responses

Promoting non-formal responses to violence against children that are in their best interests is critical, particularly in resource-poor environments where progress towards quality and coverage by formal child protection systems is slow. Promoting positive, non-violent behaviours
Child protection work has tended to focus on the response to violence against children. The balance needs to be redressed towards prevention, research and action on the root causes of violence towards both girls and boys. There are many aspects to the prevention of violence against children, one of which is the promotion of positive attitudes and behaviours towards children. The most popular service that the civic educators provide is the parenting classes. These help parents to listen to their children, and give them ideas about positive methods of discipline. Working with parents and communities to develop positive alternatives to authoritarian and violent ways of raising children is critical; without this, adults do not have the tools with which to change their behaviour.
Even in cultures in which corporal punishment is an accepted norm, well designed, participatory parenting classes can lead to resolutions by parents to abandon corporal punishment and to require school teachers to do the same. Building community child protection responses on existing practices and capacities
Research on community child protection responses indicates that they are most effective when they build on existing resources and capacities, and involve community leaders 31. The project experience bears this out. Civic educators felt that training village chiefs as civic educators increases support for their work within the community. On the other hand, when the village leaders fail to support them, they are vulnerable to threats from perpetrators. The involvement of village chiefs in community child protection responses also facilitates the abandonment of harmful traditional practices or their transformation to forms that preserve the best interests of children. In Malawi, the vast majority of disputes are still resolved through a primary justice system presided over by village chiefs, using customary law. Customary law in Malawi is restorative and oriented towards preserving social harmony. It therefore tends to preserve social norms that discriminate against the vulnerable, and are frequently prejudicial to women and children 32. The DFID-funded Malawi Security and Access to Juvenile Justice programme sought to develop the primary justice system in Malawi to include a broader range of actors, including CBOs, NGOs, faith based organisations and service providers, and thus improve its responsiveness and accountability towards vulnerable groups. The relationship between community based child protection responses and the existing primary justice systems is clearly a critical one, and further work needs to be done to clarify it. Importance of voluntarism and adequate support to volunteers
The importance of voluntarism by the members of the Child Protection Committees is illustrated by the difficulties experienced in the district of Mulanje where
31 Wessels, M. (2009). What are we learning about protecting children in the community? An interagency review of the evidence on community based child protection mechanisms in humanitarian and develop ment settings. Save the Children. 32 Wilfried Schrf et al. (Undated). Access to justice for the poor of Malawi? An appraisal of access to justice provided to the poor of Malawi by the lower subordinate courts and the customary justice forums. www.gsdrc.org/docs/open/SSAJ99.pdf
a number of NGOs were providing financial incentives to volunteers. This undermined the sense of community ownership of development activities and led to difficulties in sustaining the community response. In the other districts in which the project was implemented, there was a substantial drop out, but many of the trained civic educators and child protection committees have remained active and committed over several years. This is despite many difficulties and challenges, including threats to their personal safety and a lack of means to do their work. These experiences underline the need to develop clear policies that uphold the value of volunteerism, but make adequate provision for the training, support and security that volunteers need to fulfil their roles. Due to the District Social Welfare Offices lack of resources, long-term sustainable solutions to supporting the work of community volunteers are not easy to develop, and will depend on civil society for some time to come. Agencies need to think creatively about this. The core group of civic educators in Kasungu has now been working together for several years. They hold their own monthly meetings to discuss their work, and invite resource people to come to talk to them. Plan could consider developing groups such as these as CBOs that can handle their own funds, and are supported to develop the capacity to access funds from other sources. Security for community and childrens groups engaged with violence against children
Addressing violence against children challenges taboos and power relations between men, women, and girls and boys. Perpetrators often use their personal wealth and status to bribe officials and traditional leaders to avoid prosecution, and they may seek revenge against their victims and those who have assisted them. There is, therefore, a real need to consider the security, not only of the victims of violence, but also of the members of the childrens groups and the adult volunteers who work on the issue. Although the police are included in the multi-disciplinary coordination bodies at national and district levels, within communities there has often been competition rather than collaboration between community policing and child protection volunteers. Community policing volunteers are not trained to deal with child victims of violence and are therefore of limited assistance to child protection volunteers.
There is a need for greater collaboration between organisations working on child protection and the police at all levels, including the community level, with training for the police and policing volunteers. The involvement of traditional authorities as discussed previously is also crucial. One of the dangers of greater involvement of the police and traditional leaders in child protection may be the abuse of their authority. Adequate training, and balancing their involvement with that of children, community members and civil society organisations, should help to guard against this risk.
6.4. a multi-level approach

achieving a balance between empowering children and communities, and supporting and advocating for the building of formal child protection services
Malawi is making progress, though slowly, in developing the legislation, policies, structures and processes that are necessary to put an effective national child protection system in place. There are many impediments to progress, given the social, economic and political challenges that the country faces. Formal child protection services are currently only able to reach a fraction of the population. Community based approaches to child protection have the potential to empower children and communities to identify and address their own child protection issues. They can contribute to changing social norms, re-orientating peoples behaviour and reducing violence against children in a more immediate, costeffective and culturally sensitive manner than the long-term effort of generating systemic change. However, as awareness of child protection issues is raised, people expect and demand that the authorities take appropriate action. The children concerned, their families and community volunteers are deeply de-motivated by the authorities inaction and the mishandling of cases which results in perpetrators being freed. The successful prosecution of just one case sends powerful signals that such behaviour is not to be tolerated. Progress therefore needs to be made on both fronts, the efforts linked and supported by media campaigns in order to take advantage of synergies and maximise impact. The importance of coordination mechanisms
The national experience in Malawi illustrates the importance of effective coordination mechanisms in the development of effective child protection systems.
As previously stated, between 2005 and 2007, the National Technical Working Group on Child Protection was very active, and much was achieved in terms of the development of a vision for child protection, and the coordination of effort between government and non-government organisations. However, as UNICEF reduced its direct support to the activities of the National Technical Working Group, frequency of meetings and attendance dwindled, and the Ministry of Gender was unable to fill the vacuum. By 2010, there was a palpable loss of leadership on child protection, and civil society representatives reported that different actors were working independently, leading to duplication of effort and the development of parallel structures. Future progress in building a coherent, holistic national child protection system depends on continued efforts to develop and sustain coordination mechanisms. Civil society needs to discuss with the Ministry of Gender how this can be achieved. Currently civil society itself also lacks a national coordinating body for organisations working on childrens rights. There is a consensus that this vacuum needs to be filled in order to unite efforts and strengthen their collective voice. Coordination mechanisms are equally important at the district level. Where the District Child Protection Committees are functioning well, advances are being made in raising the profile of child protection and developing district level child protection services. and joint planning and implementation
In the Malawian context, government is currently unable to meet its responsibilities to fulfil childrens right to protection. The intervention of civil society is necessary to work with children and communities to empower them to identify and address their own child protection issues, and to lobby government for the support and services that they need. Civil society also has a role to play in developing models of good practice and strengthening government to meet their obligations. Experience in Malawi indicates that the building of coherent child protection systems is best achieved through joint planning and implementation between civil society and local and national government. This promotes coordination and collaboration and helps to raise the capacity of government staff and departments. It builds their sense of accountability for their responsibilities, rather than bypassing and alienating them.
7.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The experience of Plan Malawi on working to combat violence against children through its multi-level approach has been rich in learning. It has worked on this issue in a sustained manner for over eight years and has taken steps to review its performance and the outcomes of its efforts. These conclusions and recommendations are drawn from the Plan Malawi experience, and are based on the findings of the literature review, the project evaluation, and the project visit and workshop. They are largely orientated towards Plan, its management and programme staff, but are of relevance to civil society actors in Malawi and in other countries. They are also of relevance to the wider child protection movement, which is striving to establish a secure evidence base on which strategies and ways of working can be grounded.
7.1. Strengthen child centred approaches

The experience of Plan and its partners in Malawi indicates the value of, and the need for, a child centred approach to child protection programming at all levels. A child centred approach means putting in place practical mechanisms to ensure that what is done is in the best interests of girls and boys. It also means that childrens right to be heard is respected and that their views are given due weight in child protection initiatives at all levels, and that these initiatives are inclusive of all children and work to reduce the stigma that children affected by violence often face. Child centred approaches require support over a period of years to allow the profound changes that are necessary in attitudes and behaviour towards children to be adopted and sustained. Practical steps towards a child centred approach include: Quality participatory research with children to inform policy and practice. Establishing responses to the situation of children that are based on their life circumstances and realities. Childrens participation as a key component of formal and non-formal child protection systems, with participatory structures institutionalised at all levels. Promoting the participation of marginalised groups of children. Addressing the gender dimension of violence against children. Ensuring that childrens views are given due weight and acted upon in decision-making. Working on prevention and promoting positive changes in attitudes and behaviour towards children. Promoting the transformation of traditional methods of conflict resolution so that the decisions made are in the best interests of children.
Training service providers and establishing child friendly formal child protection procedures. Developing community-based psychosocial support for children who have experienced violence. Monitoring the outcomes of reported cases and using the information gained to improve formal and non-formal processes for resolving cases of violence against children.
7.2.
Support and security for community-owned child protection responses
Community based responses are essential for the prevention of violence against children, and as a means of re-orientating adult attitudes and behaviours to respect the dignity, worth and personal integrity of children. Community ownership and building responses on existing positive practices is necessary for sustained effort by community groups. To function adequately, these groups need sufficient support from formal child protection services (or civil society in its absence). In view of the sensitive nature of child protection and the way that it challenges social norms and power structures, attention also needs to be paid to the security of adult and childrens groups against perpetrators who may seek revenge. Analysis of the child protection work of Plan Malawi suggests that the following actions are necessary to build safe, secure and sustained community owned child protection responses. Promoting positive behaviours to children through such means as parenting classes. Involving traditional leaders in child protection training and community groups. Re-orientating harmful traditional practices to be supportive of children. Promoting the transformation of primary justice systems to make decisions in the best interests of children. Establishing clear volunteer policies, but supporting volunteer groups to manage their own funds and to access resources from diverse sources. Building the capacity of local formal child protection systems to provide support to volunteers in the handling and mediation of cases and/or strengthening civil society capacity to provide support. Working in collaboration with the local and community police, and traditional and community leaders to secure the safety of volunteers. Support improvements in the formal child protection system to ensure that reported cases are handled appropriately.
7.3. Support to formal child protection systems

While the expansion of sustainable community based child protection responses is essential to building local environments in which families can raise their children with love, care, and with the support of their neighbours and community leaders, this needs to be balanced by the development of formal child protection systems. These are necessary to support community efforts and to ensure an adequate response to the cases that are reported as a result of raised community awareness. The table, Taking the Temperature at the end of Section 5.4. summarises the status of child protection systems in Malawi, the progress that has been made and the gaps that exist. Filling those gaps will require sustained effort over the long term. The experience of Malawi points in particular to the value and necessity of multidisciplinary coordination bodies at national and district levels. When and where these are working well, the sector has been rejuvenated and there has been increased motivation and collaborative working to good effect. When these coordinating bodies become less active, the bigger picture is lost and organisations begin to work alone with a loss of synergy and overall impact. This case study points to the following means by which INGOs can support the development of child protection systems. Supporting civil society to lobby for legislation, policies and programmes that are in accordance with the CRC and other international instruments. Facilitating meaningful child participation in child protection systems. Supporting civil society to monitor and report on violence against children. Support coordination by government and civil society at all levels. Support to joint planning and implementation by government and civil society. Leveraging increased political will, and increased resources from govern ment and donors, by highlighting the extent and nature of the issues that children face. Supporting campaigns of public awareness on violence against children. Support to the development of coherent data and knowledge manage ment systems. Support to human resource development.
7.4. Strengthening the role of local and national civil society

Plan is unusual as an INGO to have a presence close to communities as well as at district and at national levels. This has allowed it to adopt a linked multi-level approach to violence against children that enables the daily realities of childrens lives to be brought to bear in policy discussions at national and international levels. There is the danger, however, of organisations like Plan taking up spaces that should be occupied by local and national NGOs. Plan in Malawi is now shifting its emphasis from direct implementation to working through local and national NGOs. This is key to developing a strong, sustainable civil society that is able to effectively support community responses to violence against children and lobby government for improved service delivery. Plan should nurture the development of grass roots movements and local and national civil society through: building the capacity of community groups and local NGOs to manage their own activities and funds, and to seek resources from elsewhere. Facilitating joint planning and implementation by NGOs and local and national government. supporting national NGOs to work in areas that they otherwise would not be able to reach. supporting umbrella groups of NGOs to monitor and report on the child rights situation. supporting NGOs to lobby government for the needed changes in legisla tion and its enforcement, policy and service delivery.
appendix: 1
Notes on the organisational child protection structures shown in the diagram in section 5.2
Social and Community Parliamentary Committee This parliamentary committee has the task of ensuring that the views expressed by the delegates to the National Childrens Parliament are given due weight by the adult Parliament. It is not yet clear how the committee will perform this task.
National Childrens Parliament
The National Childrens Parliament was established in 2001 with the support of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Community Development, UNICEF and Plan. Delegates are selected to attend the National Childrens Parliament from each constituency. It is only in the districts in which Plan works that there is a transparent process by which the dele gates are selected by children themselves. Its aim is to institutionalise childrens participation in the legislation and policy-making process at the national level.
Child advocacy Groups
Child Advocacy Groups are community based childrens groups that have been formed at the village, area and district levels to work on child rights and child protection issues. Children are selected by their peers in the Village Child Advocacy Groups to participate in the groups at the area and district levels. The District Advocacy Group selects delegates to represent their constituencies in the National Childrens Parliament. The groups are facilitated by the civic educators and work in close collaboration with the adultled Child Protection Committees.
National Steering Committee on Gender and Child development The National Steering Committee on Gender and Child Development is a high-level policy-making body consisting, convened by the Ministry of Gender, Child Development and Community Development. It consists of the Principle Secretaries and Directors of ministries with responsibility for children and the Heads of Mission of relevant UN organisations. National Technical Working Group on Child Protection
The National Technical Working Group is a multidisciplinary group of government and non-government organisations, convened by the Ministry of Gender, Child Development and Community Development. Other ministries and government bodies dealing with the welfare and protection of children are represented, such as the ministries of health, edu cation and justice, and the police. The National Technical Working Group reports to the National Steering Committee on Gender and Child Development.
The district Child Protection Committee Village and area Child Protection Committees
District Child Protection and Child Labour Committees are multi-disciplinary groups convened by the District Social Welfare Office and the District Child Labour Office respectively. They include representation from the district health and education offices, from local government and the police. In Kasungu they function as one committee addressing all child protection issues.
Child Protection Committees consisting of adult volunteers and trained para-civic educators have been formed at the village and area levels. The committees work in close collaboration .
Written by
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: dr Patricia Ray
: : : : : Vanessa Jones Dick Smits / Plan Sverige Elanders AB Alf Berg / Plan International Vera Gahm / Plan Sverige

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Integrating Childrens Participation and Community Responses with The National Child Protection System in Malawi

4 | Case Study MALAWI

Case Study MALAWI |5

6 | Case Study MALAWI

Strengthen child centred approaches

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Support and security for community-owned child protection responses

Support to formal child protection systems

Strengthen the role of local and national civil society

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1 The evaluation was conducted by Browne and Greenwood Ltd. of Lilongwe.

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Violence against Children

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International Frameworks for Child Protection

3.1. The uN Convention on the Rights of the Child

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3.2. The african Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children

3.3. The uN Study on Violence against Children

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International trends in addressing Violence against Children

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4.1. Child protection systems

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4.2. Community based responses to child protection

Plans child protection programme in Malawi

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5.1. The development by Plan of a multi-level, systems approach

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The project at a glance

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5.2. Project activities

Children and youth from a Child Advocacy Group in Kasungu district

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Paracivic educator from Kawiya villlage in Kasungu district

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How the organisational structures for child protection fit together

Childrens Participation structures in Malawis Child Protection System (Plan areas)

See appendix 1. - for an explanation of each actor shown in the diagram.

5.3. Project achievements and challenges

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The outcomes of community based responses

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a national environment that remains very challenging

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Public awareness and support

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Lessons Learnt and Best Practices

6.1. Preserving the best interests of the child

6.2. Childrens Participation

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6.3. Community child protection responses