Rationale for the booklet
As the only formal entity at the commune level responsible for women and children in Cambodia, commune committees for women and children (CCWCs) play an important role in protecting children in community. This handbook highlights the role CCWCs can play in support for the implementing the Action Plan for improving child care, which is being carried out in five priority provinces -- Phnom Penh, Battambang, Siem Reap, Kandal and Preah Sihanouk. The Action Plan intends to safely return 30 per cent of children in residential care to their families by the end of 2018, as well as establish effective preventive and gatekeeping mechanisms to prevent unnecessary family separation.
The Action Plan was launched in April 2017 by the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY) and UNICEF; implementation is being led by MoSVY and relevant government institutions with technical and financial support of USAID, UNICEF and the Partnership Programme for the Protection of Children (3PC), a network of 10 NGOs headed by Friends-International. It is in line with the 2006 Alternative Care Policy, the 2011 Prakas Procedures for the Implementation of Alternative Care Policy, sub-decrees 199 on the Management of Residential Care Institution and other regulatory frameworks related to alternative care. As such, the roles of CCWC in this Handbook was the compilation from these existing Action Plans, policies and regulatory frameworks.
This handbook is useful in strengthening CCWCs’ roles and enhancing their knowledge and capacity to protect children in their communes.
