A consortium of Joining Forces agencies is working to reduce the levels of violence and exploitation that children and adolescents face across five African countries.
Protecting Children from Violence during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond
Children are the hidden victims of the health crisis caused by COVID-19, facing threats to their wellbeing and protection as a result of the increased risks of violence and abuse.
European Union policy makers have recognised the urgency to act on the current situation and approached Joining Forces to develop a project to address this problem.
‘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 three-year project is implemented with the financial support of the European Union by a consortium of Joining Forces member agencies. The project will strengthen local and national child protection systems while working with families, communities and institutions to raise awareness and improve capacity to protect children.
Child participation is core to the project, promoting child-led initiatives and campaigns. With a strong emphasis on learning and sharing of good practices, Joining Forces aims to gather and disseminate learning to improve programming and share with its broader network and partners.
Children and young people first
The overall objective of this project is that children and adolescents experience reduced levels of violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect. The specific objectives 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.
A unique approach
The global pandemic will continue and evolve, both in terms of disease prevalence as well as social and economic impacts. Although the negative impacts of COVID-19 are being felt by children and their families across the world, the experience is not uniform. Existing inequalities are being worsened. The most marginalised and deprived children are being hit the hardest. In the selected project target countries, the pre-existing child protection needs are severe, COVID-19 infection is present and already impacting children’s protection.
A complex crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic calls for joined efforts to mitigate the negative effects, especially on children in vulnerable environments. The JOFA project seeks to address the immediate protection needs of children and will regularly assess the evolving needs of the target populations and ensure implementation approaches are modified for maximum impact.
The unique collaboration of the Joining Forces agencies can achieve greater impact to strengthen government and community capacity to protect children from violence during COVID-19.
Where children are most in need
This action has been designed to respond rapidly to the needs of the most marginalised vulnerable population in five African countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Senegal and Uganda.
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.
Children targeted in this action are living in refugee and host communities – including those already fleeing conflict and hardship, Children in urban informal settlements, living on the streets or in transit border areas. For these children, practising social distancing is a challenge. The loss of their and their families’ livelihoods is increasing the risk of physical and sexual violence and exploitation.
Listening to children
The project started in August 2020 and will be implemented for a period of three years. 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.
Download and read the project flyer with key details of the project here in English or French.
Joining forces for all children
The JOFA project is implemented by a consortium of Joining Forces member agencies in Europe, the US and in the five implementing countries. It is led by Plan International Germany and is made up of the following entities: Plan International UK, ChildFund International USA, Fundación Educación y Cooperación (Educo)- Spain, World Vision Deutschland e. V., Save the Children Italy, Terre des Hommes Netherlands, SOS- Children’s Villages International- Austria.
In all target countries, two to three Joining Forces members are responsible for the implementation of the project. Amongst these agencies, in each country, one country-level lead organization has been selected to coordinate the implementation. In Kenya, Uganda and Senegal, the JOFA project builds on the strong existing collaboration between the Joining Forces’ agencies, which are already organized in a national Joining Forces platform. In Mali and Ethiopia, where the collaboration is more recent, country teams are supported to develop an equally strong platform.
