The Child Support Grant (CSG) should be increased so that children have enough to eat, according to a recent research report commissioned by Black Sash. The report on children, social assistance and food security found that at current levels the grant is not enough.

Zambia has made significant strides in the past two decades to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes. The maternal mortality rate dropped nearly 300 per cent in 16 years - from 729 deaths for every 100,000 live births in 2002, to 278 deaths per 100,000 in 2018. What has been critical in this achievement is greater availability of skilled midwifery personnel. The number of births assisted by a skilled attendant more than doubled over the same period, from 42 per cent in 2002 to 80 per cent in 2018.

Her tiny mouth is constantly open, trying to suck in air. Adama Assan is four months old, but tips the scales at a pitiful 3.3 kilograms (7.3 pounds) -- not even the average weight at birth of a typical newborn in Europe. "Normally, a baby of her age would weigh six kilos," said Ousmane Ahmat Mahamat, a supervisor nurse at a ward in a hospital in N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, that specialises in infant malnutrition.

Young people who grew up in alternative care are uniting to support one another and push for changes that can help in their transition to an independent life.

This video summary accompanies the Readjusting to Parenthood: Peer Support Groups for Grandparents Assuming Care for Orphaned Children (Upendo Village, Kenya) practitioner learning video which is part of the Kenya Practitioner Learning Video Series.

यस अध्ययनले सातवटा केन्द्रित देशहरूमा २१ अर्ध-संरचित अन्तर्वार्ताहरू समावेश गरी गुणस्तरीय अनुसन्धान अध्ययन सञ्चालन गरेर निजी रूपमा सञ्चालित र वित्त पोषित आवासीय हेरचाह संस्थाहरूको सानो संख्यामा COVID-19 को प्रभावको अन्वेषण गर्दछ।

The UNICEF-Changing the Way We Care Regional Learning Platform for Eastern and Southern Africa held its first webinar of the year on Child Protection System Strengthening and Care Reform.

This webinar will provide an overview of child protection system strengthening and the linkages between this approach and care reform.  It will outline the ten components of a system strengthening approach to care reform and provide three examples of putting these components into practice. The examples will be presented by UNICEF country office staff, government agencies and their partners. They will focus on the development of the national care form strategy in Kenya, workforce strengthening for care reform in Rwanda, and care system assessment in Uganda.  

The goal is as simple as it is complicated to achieve: Shift the care of children from institutions like orphanages to a family or family-like environment. Catholic sisters in three African nations — Uganda, Zambia and Kenya — are leading the way in creating new models for caring for children. Their efforts are the core of the recent launch of Catholic Care for Children International (CCCI) under the auspices of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) — one of many faith groups leading policy reform and family-based alternatives to institutional care.

The Toolkit for Community Child Protection Volunteers and supplementary training manual aim to promote evidence-informed best practices when engaging community volunteers in child protection responses. This toolkit is based on the Community Engagement in Case Management study, which was commissioned by the Alliance and completed in 2020.