We are proud to highlight the work of PUSKAPA, the Center on Child Protection & Well-Being at the University of Indonesia, which has successfully completed some critical work and evolved as an organization in the past year. PUSKAPA works to help policy makers improve children's access to health, education, justice, and social care in Indonesia.  This core affiliate of the CPC Learning Network continued to establish the child well-being longitudinal study to explore how to help children and families to escape from adversity.  PUSKAPA has also been leading, in collaboration with UNICEF and the Government of Indonesia, a learning series on ending childhood violence, a key priority for the Government as a pathfinder country in the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children.

Under the leadership of Santi Kusumaningrum and her growing team, PUSKAPA continues to be a global leader on the issue of legal identity, civil registration, and vital statistics, a woefully overlooked area of public health and sustainable development that has served as core area of work for the Center.  PUSKAPA supported the government in finalizing technical guidelines, standard operating procedures (SOPs), and policy documents that, once adopted, can open even bigger and more inclusive access to population registration services and facilitate cross-sectoral vital data sharing and interoperability for more appropriate planning and budgeting. Additionally, PUSKAPA helped the government in finalizing a roadmap towards inclusive healthcare services and contributed to the formulation of national regulations to protect children from violence and to uphold the rights of people with disabilities.

PUSKAPA excels in making sure that the evidence that it generates translates directly into action.  Through collaboration with local civil society organizations, PUSKAPA supported the registration of birth, marriage, death, and biodata of over fifty thousand individuals in sixteen districts of Indonesia. Of those applications, over forty thousand legal identify documents were issued. PUSKAPA conducted thorough research and held public discussions throughout last year highlighting the latest evidence on the state of Indonesia's younger populations and future implications.

As a final update, PUSKAPA is undertaking major advocacy around Indonesia’s penal code with the hope of delaying the code’s formalization, expected by the middle of this year.  As Santi Kusumaningrum writes: “Criminalization is the crudest form of exclusion. Indonesia's penal code bill as it stands today is in that exclusionary spirit. It criminalizes sexual behaviors out of wedlock, putting tens of millions young people and adults in risk of losing access to safe and appropriate reproductive health services. It criminalizes couples without legal marriage [despite that] over half of couples in poorer households do not own a marriage certificate. It ups incentives for child marriage as a rational option to avoid jail. It will throw girls out of school and kill those who have no option but to take care of their unwanted pregnancy on their own.”  Once passed, the penal code could affect the peace, security, and well-being of Indonesians’ lives across differences of age, gender, religion, ethnicity, and class. PUSKAPA is advocating at the highest levels to ensure that the code does not undermine evidence, negatively impact marginalized groups, or block the government's priorities to reach its health, education, and welfare targets.

Read more about PUSKAPA's critical work here. 

Building resilience in people affected by war is a priority for humanitarian workers, but there is no established measure to help assess the strengths that young people in the Middle East have in adversity. This gap makes it difficult to assess the nature of resilience and to track changes over time. This article in the Journal of Child Development by faculty affiliate Alastair Ager and fellow researchers, in partnership with humanitarian organizations working on the Syrian-Jordanian border, details findings from a newly developed survey tool used to measure resilience in children and adolescents displaced by the conflict in Syria. The survey tool, Child and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-12 and CYRM-28), is designed to help researchers and service providers to craft effective interventions that bolster people's strengths, and it will help humanitarian organizations evaluate their programs for young people and their families. 

Access the article here, or contact Dr. Ager here. 

Despite government interest in promoting birth registration, more than a third of Indonesian children do not have a birth certificate, affecting the realization of both their human and citizen rights. While barriers to registering children's birth in Indonesia have been assessed, there is limited research on how communities perceive the importance of having a birth certificate. This article, recently published in Children & Society by CPC director Lindsay Stark and colleagues at PUSKAPA , used focus group discussions to explore parental motivations around birth registration. The results of a thematic analysis found that perceived use of birth certificates, perceived control over the application process, and social norms related to certificate ownership affect the intention to apply. 

Access the article here, or contact Dr. Stark here. 

Learning on how effective social work supervision can strengthen the social service workforce is especially limited in low- and middle income countries. To address this gap, CPC faculty affiliate Bree Akesson and co-director Mark Canavera recently published an article in the European Journal of Social Work drawing from a global study examining practices and approaches to effectively strengthen the social service workforce. Using a Delphi consensus methodology, the study provided a highly structured means to distil key lessons learned by experts across a range of practice and geographical settings. The findings indicate that most experts strongly agree that access to quality supervision is important. There is also agreement related to the ways in which supervision should be carried out including: individual and group supervision, role-playing, constructive feedback on practice, and flexibility in the supervisor-supervisee relationship. However, there is still indecision as to whether supervision should be non-hierarchical and egalitarian or, alternatively, directive and regulative. Finally, there was disagreement as to whether supervision should be incentivized. The diversity of participants’ examples suggests that the concept of ‘supervision’ is likely to be subject to highly localized variations that will challenge attempts at creating universally applicable paradigms.

Access the article here, or contact Dr. Akesson here. 

Evidence suggests adolescent self-esteem is influenced by beliefs of how individuals in their reference group perceive them. However, few studies examine how gender- and violence-related social norms affect self-esteem among refugee populations. This recently published article in Global Mental Health, by CPC director Lindsay Stark and colleagues, explores relationships between gender inequitable and victim-blaming social norms, personal attitudes, and self-esteem among adolescents girls participating in a life skills program in three Ethiopian refugee camps. The study finds that, while a girl's personal attitudes supporting gender inequitable roles have no effect on her self-esteem, the collective attitudes of her peers (collective peer norms) are significantly associated with lower self-esteem. In other words, a girl's agreement with gender inequitable statement did not translate to a diminished concept of self; in contrast, being surrounded by peers who adhere to norms that devalue girls resulted in lower self-esteem.

Access the article here, or contact Dr. Stark here. 

Adolescent depression and anxiety in refugee settings is known to be a significant public health concern, yet there is very limited literature from humanitarian settings focusing on the relationship between caregiver mental health and adolescent mental health. In the context of a larger study on child protection outcomes in refugee settings, CPC faculty affiliate Sarah Meyer, director Lindsay Stark, and colleagues, explored the relationship between caregiver depression and adolescent mental health in two refugee settlements, Kiryandongo and Adjumani, in Uganda. The paper published in BMC Psychiatry reveals that adolescent well-being is significantly affected by caregiver mental health in this refugee context. Child protection interventions in humanitarian contexts do not adequately address the influence of caregivers' mental health, and there are opportunities to integrate child protection programming with prevention and treatment of caregivers' mental health symptoms.

Access the article here, or contact Dr. Meyer here. 

The Government of Liberia has rightly put much effort into strengthening a healthcare system that faces significant challenges. In its post-conflict, post-Ebola health strategy, Liberia has prioritized the Reproductive, Maternal, New-Born, Child, and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) agenda. The primary goal of its current Health Investment Plan is "improved maternal health status of the Liberian population." This past summer, the Open Society Foundations commissioned the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University to conduct an end-of-project evaluation of the Big Belly Business pilot program, which promoted healthy pregnancies and sought to combat Liberia's high maternal and neonatal mortality rates. The evaluation team led by CPC faculty affiliate Cassie Landers and co-director Mark Canavera completed the assessment and published findings in a final report. 

Access the report here, or contact Dr. Landers here. 

We would like to welcome a returning member to our team, Cyril Bennouna, as a new Senior Research Associate. Cyril has worked on several CPC Learning Network projects, including a global study on the ethics of child participation in emergency-related assessments and research as well as a study exploring the relationship between natural disasters and household violence in Haiti. For two years, Cyril was the Technical Lead for Research at PUSKAPA, the Center on Child Protection and Well-Being at the University of Indonesia, whose updates you can read above. Cyril earned his Master's Degree in Public Health from Columbia University with a focus on forced migration and humanitarian assistance. 

Read Cyril's bio here. 

We would like to bid farewell to Beth Rubenstein, who has served as a Senior Research Associate for the past three years. She is moving on to a new position with the Earth Institute at Columbia University. Thank you for all your work, Beth, and best of luck in your future endeavors! 

We also bid adieu to Khudejha Asghar, who worked as a Senior Research Associate with the CPC Learning Network for over two years.  Khudejha will continue to commit herself to reducing family violence in a new position at the International Rescue Committee.  Thanks for all that you do and have done!

This webinar, featuring Eric Hershberg and Dennis Stinchcomb of American University's Center for Latin American & Latino Studies (CLALS) and law professors Jayesh Rathod and Elissa Steglich, discussed the mass exodus of unaccompanied children and families from the Northern Triangle countries of Central America: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Topics included country conditions driving continued migration, the dangers encountered while journeying through Mexico, detention practices on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and challenges to securing protection in the U.S. The webinar is of particular interest for advocates and others working on behalf of these new arrivals but also for those advocating for children in areas around the world.  The webinar was originally recorded on November 2, 2017 and moderated by CPC co-director Mark Canavera.

 Access the recording of the webinar and presentation slides here.

This webinar presented the INSPIRE document and a summary of key evidence for each of the seven areas. INSPIRE is a resource to help countries and communities intensify their focus on violence prevention programs and services and to ensure that their interventions are evidence-based. The seven strategies are: Implementation and enforcement of laws; Norms and values; Safe environments; Parent and caregiver support; Income and economic strengthening; Response and support services; and Education and life skills. It featured Alex Butchart of the World Health Organization, Sabine Rakotomalala of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children, and Mark Canavera and Beth Rubenstein of the CPC Learning Network.  The webinar was originally recorded on December 1, 2017.

Access the recording of the webinar here. 

The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) invites all child maltreatment professionals to share experiences, knowledge, and research with colleagues from all over the world at the XXII International Congress held in Prague on September 2-5, 2018. The theme of this year's Congress is Child Protection in the Changing World. The deadline for abstract submission is February 14, 2018. 

Learn more and submit abstracts here. 

Elevate Children Funders Group, a network of philantropic organizations committed to advancing philanthropy that supports children and youth facing adversity, recently revamped its website. It now has a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section as well as an informational online brochure. You can also find the group's new strategic plan on the website.

Check out the new ECFG website here!

The 3rd Biennial International Conference (BICON), organized by Udayan Care with support from Amity University and in partnership with UNICEF, is for everyone involved in the care of children and youth in out of home care in South Asia. It will bring together national and international experts, individuals and organizations working on child protection and alternative care, and civil society representatives from South Asian countries. The conference will take place on March 16-17, 2018 at Amity University, Delhi NCR, India, and the theme is Evolving Trends in Alternative Care for Children and Youth (with a Focus on South Asia).

CPC Learning Network Sri Lanka will participate at the 3rd BICON and is looking forward to learn from the South Asian experience and to share their work and experiences. 

Read more and reigster here.