This report prepared for the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare (MGECW) with financial support from UNICEF Namibia assesses the country’s capacity to manage alternative care systems for children. As requested, the assessment concentrated on existing residential care facilities and standards. It was guided in part by the draft UN Guidelines for the Appropriate Use and Conditions of Alternative Care for Children.
Residential care provides a good entry point for assessing the systems of social protection that support the ideal situation of children living with their families in their communities, and the care and protection system that manages alternative care. This assessment report makes use of a child-sensitive social protection framework which was adapted for assessing both the capacity to manage and the use of alternative care. This framework describes social protection as a set of policies, social welfare services (including alternative care) and social transfers.
