Child Protection: from Emergency Response to a Sustainable Mechanism

There is a lot of talk about “Child Protection” these days and an increased awareness of the vulnerability of children who are separated from their parents or who have lost them due to the Haiti earthquake   But what exactly does “Child Protection” mean?  What does a child protection system look like on the ground?  How can child protection mechanisms be set up during an emergency phase, and how can they be turned into a sustainable mechanism post-crisis? .... Continue reading this post....

---------------

Related posts on Wait... What?:

Children in Emergencies - Applying what we already know to the crisis in Haiti

Ushahadi in Haiti:  What's Needed Now

Breaking it Down:  Violence Against Children

It’s not a black and white photo

Before I went to El Salvador in 1991 (read why in my earlier post here), I had never traveled outside the US. I had read lots of articles about the country’s Civil War and intense poverty in the LA Weekly, a lefty newspaper in Los Angeles where I went to school.  I imagined El Salvador as a somber, high contrast black and white photo, with some thick red paint dripping down it to represent the bloodshed and suffering of a noble people being crushed by US Imperialism.  (yeah, pretty dramatic)

To my surprise, El Salvador was more of a bright, animated 3-D movie with endless layers of depth and detail.  Continue reading ....

Related posts on Wait... What:
The real story involves anti-social entrepreneurs and anthropology

Burani!

Today we actually made it out to the community. Yay! The kids went around and did several interviews and filmed background shots. They covered the topics of disabilities and traditional beliefs linked to them, dance traditions and their links to marriage and development issues, and started stories on the town cleaners (the group that helps keep the town clean), and economic activities in the community.

We visited the office of the Community Based Organization (CBO) where the Chairman (who's participating in the workshop) is heading up the work of some 64 organized groups, including women's groups, youth groups, and others. I hadn't realized the extent of the work that he's managing. Pretty major thing.

I spent a little time hanging out in front of a house where a lady has a little sewing shop. The kids were playing out front and it was cool to see that they played similar games to other places -- dodge ball, marbles, etc. Pretty universal I guess.

The power was out in the afternoon so the youth worked on storyboards to use during editing, and started some storyboards for tomorrow. I'm excited to see how the edited films come out!