This document highlights examples of good practices in parenting and family strengthening interventions based on evaluations of programs and initiatives throughout Africa.

This chapter first traces the etymology of the definition of “orphan” and its attendant “crises.” Then, using examples from Guatemala and Uganda, the authors consider how the idea of an “orphan crisis” has traveled from development to charitable responses and what effects this has on local child protection systems.

In this short video, Amanda Thorsteinsson documents the proliferation of orphanages in Uganda and the role of well-intentioned Westerners in contributing to this problem. 

Published jointly with UNICEF, this new BCN Working Paper focuses on the role of gatekeeping in strengthening family-based care and reforming alternative care systems. This Working Paper reviews different approaches to gatekeeping in five countries--Brazil, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Moldova, and Rwanda--to consider what has and has not worked, to analyze lessons learned from practice, and to reflect on the implications for improving policy and programs in this area.

Many children in Uganda are taken to Europe and the United States for adoption every year by guardians who pay local law firms and agencies between four to nine million shillings. The law firms and agencies have consequently turned adopt

This article recounts the story of two children who spent the first five years of their lives in Rwanda’s largest and oldest orphanage, the Noel Orphanage. With support from the Ishema Mu Muryango (“Pride for the Family”) program in Rwanda, the children have been reunited with their older sister. Ishema Mu Muryango receives support from USAID’s Displaced Children and Orphans Fund and aims to reintegrate children from institutions into their families or communities.

This report presents findings of two components of a Rapid Assessment of Catholic Care for Children in Uganda. The objective of the assessment was to examine the emerging legal framework pertaining to child protection and its implications for Catholic sisters and brothers who work with vulnerable children and their families.

The case study is part of a UNICEF global initiative, undertaken in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada to document national child protection frameworks in five core programming countries: Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Senegal and the United Republic of Tanzania.

This report looks at the adaptation of Retrak’s Family Reintegration Standard Operating Procedures in the context of children in temporary youth detention institutions, known as remand homes, in Uganda. 

This study sought to inform improvements in service delivery of Retrak’s Independent Living programme by listening to and documenting the voices of participants.