The world has seen an increase in funding for child protection but the gaps still remain wide with the increase in need at an alarming rate. The funding allocations for child protection were not on track for meeting the needs, according to a new global report.
The children in need of protective interventions have increased significantly in 2020 with Covid 19 pandemic, said the report “Unprotected: Crisis in Humanitarian Funding for Child Protection”.
Margot Thierry from Save the Children, Norway, wrote the report in collaboration with the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, the Child Protection Area of Responsibility and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The report is based on analysis of funding in 2019 and 2020. Apart from this, the funding streams related to refugee contexts have also been taken into account. .
The report points out that funding allocation for child protection reported on the Financial Tracking System (FTS) as of September 2020 were not on track to meet the requirements. It notes that 12 out of 19 Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs) have received less than 20 per cent of the requested funding.
Findings
- Though 19 HRPs and Refugee Response Plans (2019) were funded at 67 per cent, Child Protection was only funded at 47 per cent
- Funding is unpredictable with significant disparities between years for individual responses, which made planning difficult.
- Funding requests for Child Protection interventions do not match the actual needs.
- Funding available per child falls far short of what is needed to meet the Child Protection Minimum Standards.
- FTS system has improved but needs a system for adequately tracking all interventions, including from other sectors
Recommendations to donors
- Fully fund appeals for Child Protection across Humanitarian Response Plans and Refugee Response Plans.
- Reaffirm and promote Centrality of Protection in Humanitarian Action – and step up overall humanitarian funding across sectors
- Invest and advocate building the capacity and capabilities of the humanitarian Child Protection sector
- Make funding available for multi-sector programming that recognizes both the Centrality of Protection and the need for specialized Child Protection programmes.
- Ensure that Humanitarian Needs Overviews, Humanitarian Response Plans and Regional Response Plans clearly outline how Child Protection interventions meet identified needs, adhere to the Child Protection Minimum Standards
- Recognise the gap between Child Protection needs and capacity to deliver and advocate for increased investment in systems building, including capacity building of national authorities and civil society organisations;
- Strengthen the analysis of Child Protection needs, estimates of people in need of Child Protection services and targeting of interventions based on need;
- Allocate enough funds to allow humanitarian Child Protection actors to provide essential services
- Estimate the cost-per-child, in context, for delivery of key Child Protection interventions in line with the Child Protection Minimum Standards, and use the findings to advocate for increased resources
- Strengthen the focus on the integration and mainstreaming of Child Protection across sectors in line with the Centrality of Protection in Humanitarian Action and the Child Protection Minimum Standards
- Mobilise new sources of funding for Child Protection