It Takes a Nation to End Child Neglect

WHAT'S THE SITUATION?

In Burundi, too many children are affected daily by neglect. This problem permeates the culture and customs of many families and takes many forms which directly and indirectly impact children's abilities to experience their rights: neglect in the form of poor hygiene or nutrition; neglect in the form of inappropriate or insufficient medical attention, emotional neglect, neglect of children's right to an education, neglect of their right to be registered. Together with our partners, we determined that for the well-being of children to improve in Burundi, we must address the underlying issue of neglect.

AREAS OF FOCUS

In the context of Burundi, the campaign seeks to address the following forms of child neglect:

HOW DID THE CAMPAIGN GET STARTED?

The campaign journey in Burundi started with the national level design workshop at the end of November 2016, which was supported by key actors drawn from government departments and institutions, UN Agencies, civil society, faith institutions and the media, in addition to experts from World Vision’s Global Center and Regional Offices.

The campaign that was endorsed from the onset by Mr. Martin Nivyabandi, the Minister of Human Rights, Social Affairs and Gender, has received an extensive participation and ownership from various partners. Currently, the campaign is chaired by the above-mentioned ministry through the Child and Family Department and Unicef with World Vision serving as the secretariat. Other key partners include: The Parliament, The Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Information and Telecommunications. The Faith Network for Maternal and Child Health and Family Welfare (RCRSS), Civil Society Network of Organizations working in Child Protection (FENADEB), Christian Aid, Save the Children, Amical des Musiciens Burundais, Miss Burundi, and key public and private media institutions.

WHAT IS WORLD VISION DOING?

In Burundi, we aim to achieve the Measurable and Sustainable Improvement of the Well-being of 2.8 million Children by 2020. The National Office (NO) strategy, strategic approaches and technical programmes focus on addressing the very root causes of social and community development problems in order to achieve lasting child well-being. Our teams, seek to promote mentality change, social transformation, social accountability, and local level advocacy.

With regard to child protection and child neglect, our programmes focus on strengthening child protection structures, the promotion of positive parenting methods, child participation in the processes of protection, the adoption of social norms that are sensitive and supportive to the promotion of boys’ and girls’ rights and support the change and implementation of child protection related policies. Our programmes use a number of approaches to address the root causes of child violence and neglect including: Channels of Hope (CoH) for Child Protection/Gender, Celebrating Families; Community Change; Citizen Voice and Action (CVA), Child Protection Advocacy (CPA) and Community Change (CC). Recently, we also began employing the Empowered World View approach which helps individuals, households and communities to achieve social transformation through a process of self-discovery, spiritual transformation and dependency reduction.

IS WHAT WORLD VISION DOING WORKING?

Yes! Our teams are accelerating local partnership with Faith-based organizations (FBOs) and Community Based Organizations (FBOs). A number of Memorandum of Understanding and joint action plans have been signed with organizations including several Catholic Dioceses and other faith communities. Collaboration with faith organizations and institutions is taking place. These organizations are involved in all of our programme processes, including planning, implementation and monitoring of current World Vision programs and projects. The campaign is therefore built on this foundation to promote community ownership of the campaign interventions.