The ‘Joining Forces for Africa (JOFA) – Protecting Children from Violence during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond’ has the objective that children and adolescents experience reduced levels of violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect.
The project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a consortium of Joining Forces member agencies. The project works with families, communities and institutions to raise awareness and improve capacity to protect children.
The project started on 06/08/2020 and it will be finished on 05/08/2023 affecting 438,812 child beneficiaries, 3,305 service providers and 28,199 parents and caregivers
The specific objectives of the project are:
- Strengthened national and local protection and response systems.
- Improved protection for children in resilient families, communities and institutions in the context of COVID-19 and during recovery phase.
- Increased capacity and agency of children to prevent and respond to violence against them during COVID-19 crisis and recovery phase.
- Increased learning and sharing of knowledge and best practices related to child protection approaches.
Learn more About JOFA.
The implementing countries were selected based on a high risk of negative impacts due to the COVID-19 crisis as well as high needs for child protection.
Furthermore, the long-term presence of Joining Forces agencies in the project countries is an opportunity for strong collaboration and joint activities.
Within the countries, locations were chosen based on high pre-existing needs and on children’s vulnerability to multiple forms of violence.
Lean more about the JOFA project in:
All five JOFA countries are putting in place innovative practices and strategies to support positive parenting, implementing different models and methodologies according to the specificities of each context.
All these initiatives share a common goal: to put children at the center through active participation and to support parents and caregivers build strong relationships with their own children or those under their care, by enabling them to resolve problems together.
Learn more about JOFA’s transnational campaign to advocate for positive parenting.
Throughout the project 438,812 children will benefit from direct participation in project activities, over 3,305 child protection service providers and 28,199 parents and caregivers will be supported, and 4,745 teachers will receive training.
The implementation method for this project has been designed to respond to the needs of children in a holistic way and is built on evidence-based best practices in the child protection sector. The project adopts a child protection system strengthening approach, which recognizes that a range of people, processes, laws, institutions, capacities and behaviours are involved in protecting children. As the situation changes rapidly so do children’s needs, for this reason listening to children and involving them in identifying problems and solutions is a key element of the project. JOFA works with existing child clubs and child participation platforms to support child led initiatives and advocacy campaigns.
Across all five countries, the JOFA project contributes to the key objectives of the Joining Forces Initiative, to secure children’s rights and end violence against them, by using the collective power of six child-focused agencies to accelerate change. It is based on the joint theory of change and a global results framework, which allows for a common framework for systematic measurement and learning across diverse interventions and agencies.
LATEST UPDATES FROM JOFA
- Engagement des réseaux dirigéspar des enfants au Sénégal
Lors du lancement du projet JOFA à Diourbel, au Sénégal, en décembre 2020, les enfants ont eu l’occasion de s’exprimer et de partager leurs expériences de la violence et des abus. Les enfants ont demandé que l’on prête attention à la protection des enfants pendant cette pandémie, d’autant plus que leurs parents ont des difficultés économiques à satisfaire leurs besoins et sont stressés, ce qui peut entraîner un comportement violent envers les enfants. […]Read More… from Engagement des réseaux dirigéspar des enfants au Sénégal
- The parenthood school
In 2021, Joining Forces for Africa (JOFA) Project introduced the Parenting without Violence (PwV) approach in Bungoma County. The program aims to equip parents and caregivers with the necessary skills to solve problems in partnership with their children, in order to prevent physical and humiliating punishments in households. The PwV sessions involve children, fathers, mothers, caregivers, and communities in an effort to transform gender norms, power dynamics, and culturally accepted practices that contribute to violence in the home. […] - PlanZ: empowering children to end violence
Abiya is among 210 children from Korogocho in Nairobi, Kenya, who have been enrolled in PlanZ – a child participation model implemented by the JOFA Project. PlanZ a Human-Centered Design methodology that empowers children and equips them as active agents of change to come up with solution and ideas to ending violence against children. […]
LATEST PUBLICATIONS FROM JOFA
Project flyer in English and in French
Joining Forces for Africa: Learning series on child participation
Needs assessment report: Protecting children during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond
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Contact JOFA Global Project Manager or with the JOFA Consortium Managers in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mali, and Senegal.
This publication was produced with the financial support of the European Union.
Its contents are the sole responsibility of Joining Forces and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union