WHAT: A set of standards and indicators to guide staff and agencies in the provision of a minimum standard of care for children. The standards apply across a range of care settings and cover the delivery and administration of child care services, staff and caregiver competence, and the quality of care children should expect to receive.
These standards are based on work carried out in east and central Africa, and have been piloted across a range of agencies in the region. Please refer to document Applying the Standards - Improving Quality Childcare Provision in East and Central Africa, for an overview of lessons learnt.
WHO: Policy makers, social and community workers and managers responsible for care service provision, training child care providers, and inspecting child care placements.
WHERE: This document presents the results of work carried out by Save the Children UK in East and Central Africa, however it has global relevance. For adaptation into national standards, the indicators would need to be further contextualized, baselines established, and additional sections added e.g. on implementation activities and verification.
WHY: These standards are basic enough to be applied in emergency and conflict settings also. Each standard is helpfully accompanied by indicators, the legal basis for the standard, and the practice implications.
N.B. This document focuses on the provision of alternative care rather than preventative family support services.
This resource is accompanied by the document (included in this toolkit) Applying the Standards, Save the Children Fund, 2006
