Save the Children is pleased to introduce this Field Guide to Separated Children Programs in Emergencies, as one of a series compiled through its Children and War Capacity Building Initiative. Through this initiative, Save the Children has made a clear institutional commitment to providing quality programs that support children’s well-being in emergencies and crises, and to ensuring that SC staff have the knowledge and skills they need to continue this important work.
After consultations with staff at both headquarters and in the field, it became clear that there was a need not only for a thematic overview on key protection concerns, but also a quick and practical reference for practitioners when facing new emergencies or designing new programs. With this in mind, the Emergencies and Protection Unit has designed this series of field guides as the basis for in-depth training sessions on priority subjects, while including quick implementation tools, such as checklists of key concerns, sample forms, and rapid guideline references in a portable format.
The field guides have been designed specifically for SC field, headquarters, and partner organization staff members who are involved in the design and management of children and war programs. As such, the series builds on Save the Children’s specific approach and programming principles while also bringing in best practices and examples from other agencies’ experience. At the same time, however, we hope that these field guides may prove useful to other organizations engaged in similar programming and contribute to the further development of child-focused emergency programs within the international community.
©Save the Children 2004
