United States private voluntary organizations and non-governmental organizations, and international NGOs are invited to submit applications to World Learning for sub-grants under the DCOF-funded SPANS/GSM Program. Two to four subgrants of up to $2,500,000 (for a three-year program) will be made to programs for projects to improve the safety, well being and development of highly vulnerable children.

Interested organizations may submit applications under either the “Strengthening Systems of Child Protection” Strategy or the “Improving Family-Level Assets and Income Generation Opportunities Through Economic Strengthening Activities” Strategy. Further details on these strategies and the RFA will be available from January 8 through World Learning’s website (link below). The deadline for questions on the RFA is January 15, and applications must be received by February 12 (Update: Feb. 26 – see below).

NOTICE: January 22, 2010

APPLICATION DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR RESPONSES TO WL SPANS/GSM RFA #5

THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT APPLICATIONS IN RESPONSE TO THE SPANS/GSM RFA #5 RELEASED BY WORLD LEARNING ON JANUARY 8, 2010 ON BEHALF OF USAID HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2010 AT 1 P.M EST. AMENDMENTS TO THE RFA WILL BE POSTED BY WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2010 ON WORLD LEARNING’S SPANS/GSM WEB SITE

Please join the Washington Network on Children and Armed Conflict for a discussion on the forthcoming report, “What Are We Learning About Community-Based Child Protection Mechanisms? An Inter-Agency Review of the Evidence From Humanitarian and Development Settings.”

As the first global review of its kind, this report aims to strengthen practice and policy by providing evidence of the effectiveness, cost, scalability and sustainability of externally initiated community-based child protection groups. Our guest speaker and the lead consultant of the report, Michael Wessells, will discuss the methodology and key findings of the report as well as recommendations for practitioners and donors.

Please join us Thursday, December 10th at Search for Common Ground as we host the lead consultant of the study, Michael Wessells for an eye-opening conversation on the development of the community-based child protection approach.

GUEST SPEAKER:
WNCAC Guest Speaker: Michael Wessells, PhD.
Lead Consultant for the Inter-Agency Report

Michael Wessells, PhD, is a professor at Columbia University in the Program on Forced Migration and Health as well as a professor of psychology at Randolph-Macon College. In these capacities, he has conducted extensive research on the impact of armed conflict and forced migration on children. In addition, he served as co-chair of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task Force on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings which developed the first consensus guidelines in the field. Dr. Wessells regularly advises UN agencies, donors, and governments on the situation of children in armed conflict and issues regarding child protection and well-being. In countries throughout Asia and Africa, Dr. Wessells helps to develop community-based, culturally grounded programs that assist children, families, and communities affected emergencies. For his contributions to the field, Dr. Wessells was awarded the 2009 American Psychological Association International Humanitarian Award.

Please send your RSVP to wncac@sfcg.org to attend this event.

This report provides a summary of key findings from evaluations of four programs, two in Kenya and two in Tanzania, supporting orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC). This study was conducted by MEASURE Evaluation in 2006-2007 and funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The overall aim of these evaluations was to ascertain the extent to which program interventions are effective in improving the well-being of OVC and their families, and the interventions’ cost-effectiveness in achieving key outcomes.

The report findings include affirmation that initiatives extending beyond OVC to include guardians and the general community were found to be associated with some positive outcomes for guardians, as well as for the children under their care. For instance, support group participation of OVC guardians was associated with positive psychosocial outcomes for guardians as well as less household abuse and more prosocial behavior of the children in their household. Further, two interventions that provided guardians with an opportunity to supplement family income were associated with reduced household food insecurity and achieved such success at a low cost per beneficiary. Additionally, study findings highlight the importance of involving guardians in the development of interventions targeting children

This AED Knowledge Series event examines the effects of economic strengthening on children, featuring Mike Field (ACDI/VOCA), Margie Brand (AED), Jason Wolfe (USAID), and Michele Akpo (AED) discussing experiences from the field.

For more information, please contact Jennine Carmichael at jcarmichael@aed.org.

Development Marketplace (DM) is a competitive grant program administered by the World Bank and supported by various partners that identifies and funds innovative, early-stage projects with high potential for development impact. This year’s theme is Youth Developing Opportunity: Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Sustainability, in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.

This competition recognizes innovation across this spectrum, and will reward projects that focus on reducing poverty, enriching lives and generating productive, healthy citizens. A central focus of this competition will therefore be on ideas that have the potential to create employment for young people and bring associated benefits to communities and society at large.

The awardees will have programs that are youth-led and/or youth-focused in the following areas:

• The commercialization of locally produced biodiversity and agricultural products without degrading source habitats.
• Innovative approaches to income generating opportunities for young people living in poor urban areas that are “hot spots” of crime and violence
• Social and economic initiatives that contribute to the well-being of vulnerable groups

Since the goal is to fund innovation in youth-focused development, grants will be given to projects in either the pilot stage (5,000-15,000 dollars), or the scale-up stage (20,000-35,000 dollars). Find out more about eligibility and the DM by following the link below.

Finalists for this grant competition will present at the LAC Development Marketplace & Knowledge Exchange Forum, an event meant to showcase exemplary projects and provide a forum for networking and sharing knowledge.

In 2007, UNICEF and Save the Children UK convened a meeting entitled Advancing Policy Relevant Research Around Social Welfare Services. In response to the 2007 meeting, UNICEF Child Protection section commissioned three reviews examining the relationship between cash transfers and social welfare services.

In April 2009, social welfare and cash transfer experts gathered in Carmona, Spain to examine the results of the reviews. Meeting delegates explored the findings with a specific focus on integration of social welfare services and cash transfers in Ghana, Chile, Zimbabwe, Malawi and Kenya.

The reviews examined evidence which summarized the following:

• the efficacy of cash transfer initiatives on child outcomes including child protection outcomes;
• the potential contact opportunities within cash transfer programmes for linkages with social welfare services;
• common barriers and challenges faced by beneficiaries across a range of cash transfer programmes;
• the role of the education sector in providing social welfare services where school attendance is an explicit outcome objective in the provision of cash.

The participants determined that There is good evidence on the efficacy of cash transfers on child outcomes, yet it is clear that cash transfers are not enough on their own to respond to child poverty. This and other findings were compiled into a joint communiqué issued by the meeting participants, which can be downloaded by following the link below.

The systematic reviews, alongside advocacy briefs on what the findings mean for policy, practice and future research, will be published in a special issue of the Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies journal later this year.

Following the introduction in the US Senate of the Global Food Security Act, USAID and development implementers will soon be faced with new policy and program choices.

On November 3rd, at the outset of the SEEP Annual Conference, AED and the USAID FIELD-Support Program will host a day of workshops, panel presentations and debate on food security, livelihoods, and economic strengthening. FIELD Day will include a track of sessions on how the topic affects child and youth well-being.

At the close of FIELD Day, please join the Children, Youth and Economic Strengthening Network for a reception celebrating the first anniversary of the CYES Learning Platform.

Registration for FIELD Day and the SEEP Annual Conference is open at the link below.

Please contact Jennine Carmichael at jcarmichael@aed.org for more information about the CYES reception.

The occupation of Palestine and the conflict and violence that have attended it has had devastating implications for protection and livelihoods in the West Bank and Gaza. This Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Working Paper analyzes the relationship between protection and livelihoods in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. It explores:

• how threats to people’s protection are linked to their livelihoods,
• the impact of these threats on particular groups in the West Bank and Gaza, including youth and children (which account for over half of the populations in Gaza) and
• the strategies they employ in response.

The study analyzes the efforts of humanitarian organizations to link protection and livelihoods in their work, with recommendations on how this work could be expanded in the occupied Palestinian territory and elsewhere. Among other concerns, the report identifies persistent pyschological trauma in children, poverty caused by vioence and constricted movement, and lack of education due to poor people in the Palestinian territories withdrawing their children from school in order to increase the productive capacity of their households.

This report, published by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and UNICEF, is the third in a series of regional thematic reports produced for a study on social protection and children in West Central Africa. It focuses specifically on one kind of social protection mechanism – social assistance in the form of cash transfers – and explores how this can contribute to addressing specific risks and vulnerabilities faced by children in the region. There are still very few cash transfer programs in West Central Africa: those that exist are recent and often small-scale pilot schemes. Interest in this type of social protection is growing among policymakers in the region, however, partly as a result of positive experiences in other parts of Africa and elsewhere in the developing world.

The role of cash transfers is explored in relation to the following areas:

• Increase in monetary income
• Human capital development
• Enhanced household productivity and multiplier effects
• Reduction in child rights violations
• Reduction in inequality
• Strengthened evidence for support and sustainability

The report also highlights the specific regional challenges of implementing cash transfers to address childhood poverty.

After more than 21 years of civil war, relative peace returned in 2005 to Southern Sudan with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM). The treaty has brought a fragile peace, but development efforts in Southern Sudan have been hampered by significant delays in making operational some of the vital commissions called for by the peace accord. As a result, Southern Sudan continues to struggle against the devastation caused by the civil war and remains one of the poorest areas in the world, with an estimated 90 percent of the population earning less than $1 per day. The war destroyed infrastructure, institutions and physical capital, crippling economic growth and livelihoods at all levels.

Within this context, ACDI/VOCA implements the Agricultural Market and Enterprise Development (AMED) program to improve the environment for increasing private sector employment opportunities in Juba, Yei and Wau. The project accomplishes this through small business development, skills and asset building, improved governance, and increased business productivity.

AMED is a three-year USAID-funded project implemented in collaboration with four other U.S. private voluntary organizations under the Volunteers in Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA). Despite the enormous challenges and difficult operating environment, the fragile peace under the CPA presents an unprecedented opportunity to turn the years of war, displacement and underdevelopment into a new era of peace and prosperity. AMED works in partnership with local government authorities and civil society, responding to requests for assistance to build programs and markets and to provide services in response to needs of emerging private enterprises.

ACDI/VOCA builds capacity for the development of agricultural markets, particularly the establishment and growth of marketing associations and cooperatives. By using international and regional volunteer consultants and in-house expertise, ACDI/VOCA provides technical assistance to various entities, including government, farmers and development organizations, on the market-oriented development of specific agricultural sectors as well as general agricultural markets. ACDI/VOCA has provided technical assistance to 175 government extension officers and 1,045 farmers through FaaB (Farming as a Business) training. ACDI/VOCA is also supporting the reintegration of displaced populations by providing livelihoods training primarily for youth, ex-combats and women to ensure sustainable income generation and increase employment opportunities.

Alex Gebrehiwot
agebrehiwot@acdivoca.org

Sept 2004 – Sept 2008