Attachments
Increasingly complex emergencies pose new risks to the well-being of affected children. These risks emphasize the need to place protection at the centre of all humanitarian response. Child protection risks are closely linked with the work of other sectors because children have needs that fall under all sectors. For example, a lack of education or family livelihood can increase risks of child marriage or child labour. Multisectoral approaches reflect the interconnected needs of children and emphasize all humanitarian actors’ collective responsibility to protect children and their families. All humanitarian actors have the obligation to engage in multisectoral child protection activities. Such activities are important under the ‘Centrality of Protection’, which recognizes that protection is the purpose and intended outcome of humanitarian action and must be at the centre of all preparedness and response actions. Sectoral programming that fails to account for child protection risks can lead to:
- Inefficient use of resources;
- Additional harm or increased risks; and
- Reduced results for children.
On the other hand, multisectoral programming that intentionally includes and addresses child protection considerations (such as children’s particular risks, vulnerabilities, developmental stages, etc.) contributes to higher-quality impacts. Protection mainstreaming and integrated approaches can take different shapes depending on the context, but key aspects of these approaches are outlined below.