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In emergencies, girls and boys face increased risk to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation. The way in which humanitarian aid is delivered can further increase these risks. Children may be exposed to harm during the chaos of a distribution or at water points or experience abuse in cramped evacuation centres.
Sometimes harm is caused directly due to humanitarian workers’ actions or non-actions. Many threats to the safety and wellbeing of children can be mitigated or even eradicated through timely and sensitive provision of humanitarian aid across all sectors. All humanitarian actors have an important contribution to make to the protection and recovery of children.
To mainstream child protection means to ensure child protection considerations inform all aspects of humanitarian action. It also minimizes the risks of children being violated by programmes designed without proper consideration for children’s safety or wellbeing. Mainstreaming child protection is an essential part of compliance with the ‘do no harm’ principle that applies to all humanitarian action.
Going beyond mainstreaming, integrated programming allows for actions between two or more sectors to work together towards a common programme objective, based on an assessment of needs. Where integrated child protection programming is not possible, child protection mainstreaming is essential. This case studies series looks at both examples of integrated programming and mainstreaming and the CPMS mainstreaming standards are applicable for both.
Malawi hosts more than 36,000 asylum-seekers and refugees from a number of countries in the region, including Mozambican refugees who began arriving in July 2015. The vast majority of refugees from Mozambique are living in overcrowded conditions in an area about 100 km south of the capital Lilongwe. Most are in the village of Kapise, a spontaneous settlement approximately 5km from the border. UNHCR, who was leading the interagency response, and the government of Malawi2 agreed to relocate the Mozambican asylum-seekers to Luwani camp, where the refugees would stay for up to two days until they were relocated and provided with a plot of land, food, shelter materials and household items.
This case study describes how shelter actors realize the importance of conducting regular and ongoing consultation with communities to identify cultural practices and needs that can guide the design and allocation of shelter for displaced communities. In this case, concerted efforts involving shelter, child protection, protection and SGBV staff working in Luwani camp in Malawi ensured a protective environment for children, in particular girls, in and around shelters.
This case study is based on interviews with Rehema Miiro, UNHCR Emergency Services Protection Officer for SGBV and Fadela Novak-Irons, (then) UNHCR Senior Emergency Coordinator (Operations) in Malawi .