Seoul, Republic of Korea – With the growth of the humanitarian sector in the Republic of Korea (ROK), humanitarian assistance provided by ROK actors in overseas emergencies has diversified over the past decade. Child protection, among many other topics, has been one of key interest areas among ROK NGOs due to a long tradition and accumulated expertise in child development programmes in development contexts in many leading ROK NGOs.  

To meet the diversified needs of ROK humanitarian professionals and help fill in the capacity gap in specialized humanitarian programming, particularly in child protection in emergencies (CPiE), the IOM ROK Mission, with the support of Save the Children, hosted the ‘Workshop on Child Protection in Emergencies’ on 18 to 19 February 2021.

In order to bolster ROK humanitarian professionals’ understanding of CPiE and enhance practical skills in assessing and addressing child protection risks and needs in emergency contexts, the workshop sought to provide participants with diverse topics including family engagement, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS), and community-level approach.

The training was attended by 20 practitioners from ROK NGOs engaged in humanitarian assistance and interested or experienced in child protection in crisis settings, and all completed the training.

David Bloomer, Asia Regional Child Protection Humanitarian Advisor of Save the Children International, led the workshop based on the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) as well as best practice examples from the field. Due to cross-border travel restrictions posed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the workshop combined online live lectures by the trainer combined with on-site group exercises among the attendees.

“To provide both short and long-term protection to children in emergency situations, not only effective and sustainable solutions but also mainstreaming and integrating the principles of child protection and promoting the Centrality of Protection community-inclusive approach in the whole project cycle are needed.” Bloomer said. “ I am very excited to collaborate and extend our partnership with IOM ROK and hope that this workshop will serve as a valuable learning opportunity for ROK humanitarian workers in this field.” he added.

The first day started with a session on principles on child protection in emergency, which included exploring a variety of child protection risks and concerns. Strengthening family and care-giving environments was highlighted by introducing ecological model and protective factors supporting child resilience. The participants closed the first day with group activities for child well-being and where psychological first aid fits into the MHPSS Intervention Pyramid.  

On day two, the workshop emphasized the community-level approach and delivered how to mainstream CPiE in developing humanitarian projects. Proposal development and CPiE programming exercises  provided ample opportunities to the participant to build up hands-on skills and knowledge.

Following the CPiE programming session with the country cases of IOM, the session expanded its scope to contemporary issues such as COVID-19 and CPiE. The results of discussion and the group practice were shared to stimulate knowledge exchange among practitioners.

Since 2015, IOM ROK has taken an important role in providing a wide range of capacity-building support for ROK humanitarian actors with funding support from US Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA). The workshop was organized as part of this capacity-building support program.

For more information please contact Eunice Jieun KIM, IOM Republic of Korea Mission, Tel.: +82 70 4820 0291, Email: jikim@iom.int.