Executive Summary
In 2013, UNICEF underwent a significant reorientation of its Child Protection Programme in response to an extensive mid-term review (MTR) and changes in the political and social context of Myanmar. The opening of the country in 2012 and the significant push for reform by the Government created the space for UNICEF to shift the focus of its Child Protection Programme to target a systems building strategy and approach, to best address the multiple challenges hindering the provision of protection for children.
With this backdrop, in August 2013, UNICEF began to support the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) to undertake child protection case work in 27 townships across all regions and states in the country. In 19 of these, UNICEF funded Save the Children to work with local NGO partners (RMO, KMSS and YKBWA) to support DSW with ‘non-statutory’ child protection cases: those in which children were in need, but did not necessarily meet the legal threshold for requiring immediate care and protection of the state under Section 32 of the Child Law (1993). UNICEF also funded the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) to deliver awareness raising on a simple reporting and referral channel for communities in 950 villages where the CMS was operative, and engaged in extensive advocacy and coordination with Government partners to ensure buy-in and support for the case management system at the national, regional, state and townships levels.
Purpose, Objectives and Intended Audience: In April 2016, UNICEF contracted Coram International to assess the merit and worth of UNICEF’s strategy and approach to child protection systems building, and in particular the development of the national, social work, case management system as a key entry point to protect children’s rights in Myanmar. The evaluation, which covers the period from mid-2013 to August 2016, was intended to: provide rapid-feedback on the programme’s strengths and weaknesses to improve the current programme; establish the evidence base needed to inform the design of a new five-year programme starting in 2018; and generate learning for advocacy on systems strengthening. Being a formative, learning-oriented, evaluation, the primary audience was the Child Protection section and senior management, within UNICEF. Other usersincluded the Government, particularly DSW, key development partners and child protection actors working in Myanmar.
