Global CP AoR Annual retreatKampala, 9 September 2017

D.R.Congo: Child Protection Working Group

Sabrina Cajoly, national CPWG coordinatorAndré Moussa, sub-national CPWG coordinator

Photo Credit: UNICEF DRC/Vockel

1. The DRC CPWG in a nutshell

• 1 national CPWG in Kinshasa

• 24 sub-national CPWGs including 1 newCPWG in Kasai and 2 CPWGs in Kwiluprovinces

• > 40 leads and co-leads, incl. 22 (50%national co-leads among whom 8 co-governmental co-leads and 14 NNGOs

• A national SAG

• Some 2/3 of the country affected byemergencies

• Crises in Tanganyika and in Eastern DRC

• The impact of the Kasai crisis extends to9 provinces + Angola

• Nearly 4 million IDPs, the highestnumber in Africa, including on average60,5 % child IDPs, hence over 2 millionIDP children

2. KASAI: A child Protection Crisis

Photo Credit: UNICEF DRC/Vockel

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Child Protection Working Group (CPWG)

Crisis in the Greater Kasaï

Kasai

Lualaba

Kwilu

Sankuru

Haut-Lomami

Lomami

Kasai

Central

Kasai

Oriental

CHILD PROTECTION NEEDS

Between 40% and 60% of militia members arechildren, often younger than 15, which constitutes awar crime. Over 1,000 children used as combatants orhuman shields have been registered.

At least 7,000 children have been separated from their familiesin the Kasai and Central Kasai provinces alone: they areparticularly vulnerable to being recruited by militias and tobeing victims of violence and abuse.

Over 1,400 cases of sexual violence havebeen registered between August 2016 andJuly 2017 in the three provinces of Kasai,Central Kasaï and Eastern Kasaï. Children,the vast majority of whom are adolescentgirls aged 12 to 17, account for 68% ofsurvivors of sexual violence.

The population and children in particular live in astate of deep shock and panic. Children show signsof psychosocial distress and are often afraid toleave their parents, even shortly.

At least 100 children have been killedbetween January and March 2017. Numerouscases of summary and extra- judicialexecutions have been reported, affecting inparticular children allegedly associated withthe militias.

Over 400 children have been arrestedsince August 2016. The living conditions in the cells are extremely precarious. Several children have been reported to be victims of torture.

More than 400 schools attacked verified, out of which more than 260 destroyed (affecting more than 100,000 children).More than 210 attacked health centers and nearly 400 attacks onhealth personnel.

Given the extension of the impact of the conflict to nineprovinces and the emergence of new protection needs, thefinancial gap remains significant.

This document is based on a secondary data matrix compiled by the global Child Protection

Area of Responsibility (CP AoR) using the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in

Humanitarian Action as an analysis framework. All data points have been compared,

interpreted and updated, but not triangulated and verified.- August 2017.

Contact: Sabrina Cajoly, Coordinator of the CPWG DRC, scajoly@unicef.org

Kwango

Child protection response capacity and gaps

Capacities: Early warning/alerts of violations; much presence of local(development) actors, UN and international NGOs scaling steadily up.

Gaps: Insufficient capacity of qualified child protection actors whocan quickly scale up; while scaling up localisation is key.

Challenges: Access is still low due to ongoing fighting; needs areexpected to skyrocket as areas become more accessible over the nextmonths; needs will massively exceed available financial resources.

Opportunities: Innovative integrated CP-Education-Mine Actionapproach to respond over 400 attacks on schools.

3. Working at the subnational level:

The CPWG in Eastern DRC

Goma: Zonal Office/Zonal CPWG

4 Offices at Provincial Level/Provincial CPWG

10 offices at territorial and local level

The CPWG in the East DRC and the Localization

Achievements

Information Management System

• 1,675 CP alerts Received from the field in thefirst semester 2017, Updated 3 W Matrix ( Whodoes What and where); MRM 1612 UN SC ongrave violations of children’s rights in conflictsetting, Monthly data consolidation and sharedthrough sitrep and analytical notes to UNICEF,MONUSCO CP, Monthly meeting held foranalyzing alert’s trends and taken actions.

Child Protection Strategy

• Consultation held at Protection Cluster andOCHA levels for providing contributions to theCP Strategy at national and provincial levels

• Contributions for Need AssessmentFramework/HNO

• Provide support for determining priorities forthe use of Humanitarian Common Funds ( HCF);

National capacity strengtheningTraining of CP Team Members on various subjectrelated to CP in emergency such as:- Child DDR operational framework- Protective communities approach;- Minimum standards on CP- legal framework of CP- Practical Guide for RECOPE etc…Co-Leadership to Government ( Division of SocialAffairs)

Monitoring and evaluationContributions du MRM1612:Contribution to Mid-Year and End-Year review ofHAP.Contribution to humanitarian assessment missionswith inter clusterFamiliarization and Ownership of HACT activities ofQuality Assurance ( Spotchecks, Programmatic Visits,Microevaluation and Audit)

Achievements (cont’d)

Key figures as per semester 1, 2017

• Child recruitment: 1,493 Children

• Attacks against schools/Hospitals: 23

• SVGB: 208

• Killing and Maiming: 50

• Abduction: 648

• Restrictions of Humanitarian access : 3

Advocacy

• The CPWG raises cases related to CP to several forum for advocacy ( Clusters, SMGP-P, GTTC, RRMP,

Key figures

Reintegration support

Challenges/Opportunities

- Capacities: Shortage of funds for CP concerns ;

weak capacities of actors, the role of the

provider of Last resort is limited or

questioned.

- Security: Limiting access to vulnerable or

disadvantaged children ( equity)

- Physical accessibility: poor infrastructures

limiting access.

- Chronical instability: due to ongoing military

interventions against armed groups. ( +70

Armed Groups active in East DRC)

- Difficult coordination between members ( Big

Vs small, Well funded and underfunded etc.)

- Regional dimension: Cross border CP

- The existence of Humanitarian funds

- Stronger and resilient community dynamics;

(CP Community Networks, Foster families, etc)

- The logistic support of MONUSCO;

Good Practices &Perspectives

• Increased Community ownership of CP ( CP community Networks, Foster Families, referralMechanisms, Grassroots level Coordinations etc);

• Erection of Child DDR verification centres at community level playing multiple functions of CP(Support to birth registration, referral of SGVB victims, vocational training for Vulnerablechildren etc).

• Coordination with other emergency coordination mechanisms ( RRMP, Clusters, etc)

• Introduction of Capoeira in Transit Centre for Child DDR as a tool for psychosocial support,among others.

• Continuous stakeholder’s capacity building Refining/adjusting the CP Strategy against thechanging humanitarian contexts;

• Continuous mainstreaming/Joint programming.

• Continuous advocacy for raising CP concerns in strategic fora of discussions.

• Optimize the linkage between CPiE and Development Programmes, Transition etc…-Strategies for optimizing coordination of resources in a context of shortage of funds.

Thank You

Merci

Aksante

Mwe bale nyo

Girl living in a host family in Kikwit with her mother and 4 brother and sisters. She lost one 22

year old brother.(Photo Credit: UNICEF DRC/Vockel)