On the 25th of November, the 7th Meeting of the Convivencia network was carried out in the facilities of Hogar para sus Niños, in Quito, Ecuador, with support from RELAF and UNICEF Ecuador.
During the event, the final models of family support, foster care and institutional care were presented, and work was made in order to plan new strategies to achieve the Network's goals for 2017.
The Convivencia Network, created with the support of RELAF and UNICEF Ecuador, continues to strengthen and takes its first steps towards formalisation. As we discussed in our previous newsletter, the Coordinating Committee has already been created. During September and October, the identity of the organisation was worked on, and the formal name of ‘Red Convivencia’ (Convivencia Network), dedicated to promoting the Right to Family and Community Life in Ecuador, was chosen.
On October 27, we assisted in the conduction of the 6th Inter-sectorial Meeting of the Convivencia Network, held at the School of Psychology of the Central University of Ecuador. The contents and lessons learned in the 2016 RELAF Seminar and in the World Conference on Alternative Care of Geneva were shared and worked on. Strategies for the implementation of the objectives and short-term activities of the Network were also discussed and planned.
This meeting was preceded by the 5th Inter-sectorial Meeting of the Ecuadorian Network for the Right to Family and Community Life, in which the network voted to elect its formal name: Red Convivencia.
On that day, September 19, the corporate identity of the Network was worked on: its vision, mission, and future goals. The strengthening of institutional care was discussed from a deinstitutionalisation perspective, in order to continue the process of collective construction of the foster care and family support models, which will conclude during November. These models are tools for building public policies aimed at promoting the rights of all children and adolescents, with emphasis on the right to family and community life.
As part of the regular work of the Convivencia Network, on September 15, a working meeting with the Organising Committee of the Network, RELAF and UNICEF took place where the focus was on the development of advocacy and adequacy strategies for alternative care in the country.
In this sense, the Network worked during September and October with the Ecuadorian civil society. We met with the technical team of the Benemérita Sociedad Protectora de la Infancia at Hogar Inés Chambers on September 5 to work on alternative care models and on the strengthening of the activities of the Convivencia Network.
On the 9th, we organised the second day of work at the premises of SOS Children’s Villages Ecuador. Work focused on building the family component of the alternative report that will be submitted by the civil society to the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
We also organised two meetings with the Centro de la Niña Trabajadora (Working Girl Centre, CENIT) in Quito. On the 23rd, we gave a workshop for the technical and operational staff from CENIT and Danielle Children's Fund Ecuador (DCF). There, worked focused on UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (http://relaf.org/material.html), using a participatory group approach and case analysis.
Likewise, on the 30th, we conducted a participatory workshop with children and adolescents from CENIT. We discussed with them the contents of the document "Application of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. Your right to live in a family and to be cared for in all the situations of your life" through various activities.
In August, we continued with our agenda of technical cooperation between RELAF, UNICEF Ecuador and the Ecuadorian civil society.
In this regard and within the technical support we provide to the Network for the Right to Family and Community Life in Ecuador, on August 15, a work meeting was held at the premises of SOS Villages Ecuador to build the family component of the alternative report that the civil society will present before the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
Furthermore, we gave the first two workshops for the technical and operational staff at Hogar Para Sus Niños Fhc on the 24th and 31st of August, in Quito.
Both workshops revolved around the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (http://relaf.org/material.html), using a participatory (exhibition-discussion) and practical (analysis of cases) methodology.
On the afternoon of August 31, we held the first workshop for children aged between 3 and 6 years old at Hogar Para Sus Niños. For this workshop, we designed a specific methodology which included the use of puppets and playing material. This made it possible to address the issue of the right to family and community life with children of those ages.
Continuing our agenda with the civil society, on September 5 we met in Guayaquil with the technical team of the Meritorious Society for the Protection of Children (Benemérita Sociedad Protectora de la Infancia) at Hogar Inés Chambers, to work on models of alternative care as well as to strengthen the activities of the Ecuadorian Network for the Right to Family and Community Life.
As we mentioned in previous newsletters, the technical cooperation between RELAF y UNICEF Ecuador Ecuador seeks to strengthen the Network for the Right to Family and Community Life in Ecuador through a series of meetings and activities. The Network aims to be a space for the technical strengthening of member organisations, as well as a coordination nexus for the development of strategies to advocate for and improve alternative care.
In this sense, RELAF supported the conduction of the 4th Inter-sectorial Meeting of the Network for the Right to Family and Community Life in Ecuador, which took place at the premises of the School of Psychology of the Central University on July 29.
The event was attended by Lorena Chavez, consultant and member of RELAF’s Consultative Council, and included the participation of the Ecuadorian society civil.
The work agenda revolved around strengthening the collective construction of the models of family strengthening and foster care, and on reviewing the mechanisms for monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child within the Universal Human Rights System. More precisely, the event focused on obtaining the commitment of the participating organisations for preparing an alternative report that shall be submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child, namely a chapter on alternative care. This commitment was reached and a roadmap was drafted.
In June, we helped with and supported the organization of the Second and Third Cross-sectoral Meeting for the creation of a Network for the Right to Family and Community Life in Ecuador, both convened by RELAF and UNICEF Ecuador. The meetings aimed, among other things, the foundational documents for said Network, which wishes to be committed and proactive a social actor, in identifying and promoting good practices that guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in Ecuador.
The Second and Third Cross-sectoral Meeting for the creation of a Network for the Right to Family and Community Life in Ecuador took place on June 8th at the Psychology Hall of the Central University of Ecuador. The same was in charge of Matilde Luna and Maria Alejandra Almeida, coordinator of the project, and was attended by key government and nongovernment agencies and individuals. At this meeting the Practice guide for working with children and adolescents in disaster situations,document prepared jointly with UNICEF Ecuador, was presented.
On June 29th we supported the Third Intersectoral Meeting of the Network for the Right to family and community life with several Ecuadorian NGOs. It was conducted by Dr. Claudia León, a member of RELAF’s Latin American Consultative Council.
The meeting was held with the intention of creating two technical documents: A family support model, and a family foster care model, for Ecuador. RELAF and UNICEF Ecuador supported the drafting of early versions for both models, which were then presented, discussed and improved upon at the meeting.
The Network, united by an active commitment for improvements in the protection of children and families, manifested its opinions and concerns regarding the violations suffered by the right to family and community life in Ecuador brought upon by the April 16th earthquake. In that regard, the network offers its commitment and proactiveness in identifying and promoting good practices that help guarantee the rights of children and adolescents in Ecuador.
As mentioned in our previous newsletter, following the recent (April 16th) earthquake in Ecuador, RELAF has paused some aspects of the technical cooperation agenda being carried out with UNICEF Ecuador to focus on the creation of a practice guide for working with children and adolescents in both disaster situations and lack of parental care, in order to cooperate with organizations devoted to its populace, through humanitarian aid efforts in this time of need.
These guides seek to prevent the separation of children from their families and to ensure early reunification and the provision of alternative care from families in the community who have the ability to do so, thereby preventing the unnecessary institutionalization of children. They also intend to prevent the uprooting of children from their homelands when local institutions are overburdened, later making family reunification a difficult proposition.
June saw the continued work on the agenda we are sharing with UNICEF Ecuador, consisting of several activities together with counterparts from the government and the civil society. As part of this agenda, we carried out the Second Inter-sectoral Meeting for the creation of a Network for the Right to Family and Community Life in Ecuador, on June 8th, at the Psychology Faculty, in the Central University of Ecuador. The meeting, convened by RELAF and UNICEF Ecuador, same was in charge of Matilde Luna and Maria Alejandra Almeida, our local partner in the country, and was attended by key government and nongovernment actors.
As we already shared in the editorial, children and adolescents are part of the most vulnerable populations when it comes to natural disaster situations. Following the recent (April 16th) earthquake in Ecuador, the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion of Ecuador (MIES) is devoted to its populace in this time of need.
In this context, RELAF has paused some aspects of the technical cooperation agenda being carried out with UNICEF Ecuador to focus, on these critical days, on the promotion of appropriate interventions regarding children and adolescents who are without parental care because of natural disasters. To help do this, we have created a practice guide for working with children and adolescents in both disaster situations and lack of parental care. In the short term, we plan to perform a second instance to further develop these guides, and begin training the MIES staff as soon as possible.
We hope these guides are a valuable contribution to the public practices and strategies of Ecuador in times of natural disasters. They seek to prevent the separation of children from their families, ensure early reunification, and the provision of alternative care from families in the community who have the ability to do so, thereby preventing the unnecessary institutionalization of children. They also intend to prevent the uprooting of children from their homelands when local institutions are overburdened, later making family reunification a difficult proposition.
Matilde Luna, Director of RELAF, and Irene Salvo Agoglia, permanent link of the working group, traveled to Ecuador to meet with the focal points of RELAF's work in Ecuador, UNICEF Ecuador and authorities and technical teams from the Ecuadorian government, as part of the agenda that sees the beginning of our technical cooperation with that country, which started in late 2015.
On March 7th and 8th, fundamental work meetings were held with UNICEF Ecuador ,the technical team of the Secretariat on Special Protection from MIES - Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion - Ecuador, and Margarita Velasco, Director of the Social Observatory Ecuador, which is a central step in the joint creation of a public policy to guarantee the right to family and community life for the children and adolescents of Ecuador, as well as providing a clear signal of the will and commitment of the Ecuadorian government in this matter.
Moving on with the agenda scheduled to start this cooperation, on March 10th, RELAF and UNICEF Ecuador promoted the First Inter-sectoral Meeting: "Steps towards the creation of a network for the right to family and community life in Ecuador." There, regional experiences in the creation of inter-sectoral networks for the Right to Family and Community Life were shared in order to promote reflection, dialogue and exchange among key stakeholders from the government, civil society and academics. The meeting participants discussed the “possibility” conditions within the local context to promote the establishment of a network in Ecuador, highlighting a huge capacity for dialogue, compromise and collaboration towards this joint project.
These, as well as new actions committed to be developed throughout this year in cooperation, represent a key opportunity to influence and provide technical assistance in the creation of a state policy to help ensure this fundamental right.
Matilde Luna and Irene Agoglia, Technical Assistant from RELAF, visited Quito on December 7 and 8, and, working from the headquarters of UNICEF Ecuador, had two intensive days of meetings within the framework of the workshop "Analysis of the comprehensive protection system and the implementation of alternative care in Ecuador: current status and recommendations for their adaptation to international principles and standards".
Several local and regional players participated and presented their work experiences, such as authorities and representatives from the Secretariat of Special Protection MIES - Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion - Ecuador, and professionals from various organizations of civil society that are developing foster care programs: Danielle Children's Fund (Ambato, Tungurahua Province), Fundación Cristo de la Calle (Ibarra, Imbabura), Hogar de Niños Inés Chambers (Guayas Province), and SOS Children's Villages Ecuador
Together we conducted an analysis of the key principles and standards of human rights to build a comprehensive protection system and a sub-system of alternative care that can guarantee the right to family life, identifying critical points, lessons learned from other countries in the region, challenges, and opportunities to serve as references for the analysis of the situation in Ecuador, with the possibility of a technical cooperation between UNICEF, RELAF and MIES for 2016.
RELAF was invited by UNICEF Ecuador to take part in the 3rd Congress on Adoption, organised by the Directorate of Adoptions and Family Reintegration of the Sub-secretariat of Special Protection, which is under the authority of the Ministry of Social and Economic Inclusion. The event was carried out on July 30 and 31 at Eugenio Espejo Conventions Centre in Quito, Ecuador.
We were invited in order to contribute in the generation of appropriate conditions for the promotion of deinstitutionalisation processes in the country. In this sense, María Sánchez Brizuela, who participated on behalf of RELAF, made two interventions:
The need to improve and reform the national child protection system using a human rights approach is one of the main issues that arose during the Congress. In addition, the situation of 760 children aged under 4 who live in institutions is of special concern, as well as the poor work carried out towards family reintegration and the very incipient pilot test of foster care, which still does not resort to the experience gained and lessons learnt in the country in the previous years. We will continue to work with our local allies in order to keep boosting the necessary changes and to contribute in generating the conditions that shall make it possible to achieve a commitment towards the eradication of the institutionalisation of babies in the framework of the Call to Action.
On the 9th, 10th and 11th, technical cooperation activities were conducted in Quito, Ecuador. Matilde Luna and Daniel Moreira took part in the activities, some of which also included the participation of Lorena Chávez and Lilian Ortiz, RELAF's persons of reference in the country.
International Seminar: “Family and the guarantee of children's rights”
On June 9 and within the framework of the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Seminar entitled “Family and the guarantee of children's rights”, organised by Ecuador's National Council on Childhood and Adolescence (CNNA), was carried out at Hilton Colón Hotel, in Quito.
The seminar was attended by over 500 persons from all Ecuador, including representatives from cantonal councils on childhood, and had the participation of Jeannette Sánchez, Minister of Social Development Coordination of Ecuador. It also had the presence of: Sara Oviedo Fierro, CNNA's Executive Secretary; Fernando López, Executive Director of DNI Ecuador; and representatives from UNICEF and from other organisations that contribute in the construction of social policies in the country.
Matilde Luna presented information regarding the issue of families and foster care from a Latin American perspective. Daniel Moreira spoke about the role of social security in relation to families. Marisa Herrera and Magdalena Bustamente, from Argentina, and Paula Castro, from Chile, also spoke at the event. Intense debate followed these interventions, with high engagement from the audience.
This Seminar provided an important setting for discussion and exchange in the path towards the reform of childhood laws, policies and institutional approaches in Ecuador, from a rights-based perspective. Sara Oviedo defined the event as a starting point and a fundamental opportunity to show and reinforce the importance of families in the guarantee of Ecuadorian children's rights.
Work meeting at Instituto de la Niñez y la Familia (Institute for Childhood and Family)
In Quito, Matilde Luna and Daniel Moreira met with Merci Arandi and Henry Betancourty, the persons in charge of the Rights Protection Directorate of the Institute for Childhood and Family of Ecuador (INFA), the office responsible for planning and developing programmes aimed at children deprived of parental care. Lorena Chávez, advisor for the Minister of Social Development Coordination and one of the pioneers in the implementation of foster care with a rights-based approach in Ecuador, also took part.
INFA has seven children's residences that house over 300 children, and also has a great number of agreements with NGOs that manage institutions that house, in all, over 3,000 children. In the last few years, the Institute has been carrying out a diagnosis on the situation of institutional care with the aim of setting up different methodologies to promote deinstitutionalisation. In this line, it has been encouraging the practice of foster care as a care alternative, as per the Children's and Adolescent's Code; however, the Code does not provide the standards and guidelines for the practice of foster care, which can bring severe difficulties. The Institute acknowledges this unresolved matter and is planning to address it.
Work meeting at CONFIE
On June 10, Matilde Luna and Daniel Moreira made a visit to the offices of CONFIE, the Ecuadorian Syndicate of Non-governmental Organisations for the Strengthening of Families and Children. They were received by CONFIE's Director, Belén Carrillo, and by professional Carmen Carro. CONFIE is a group of NGOs that work with children and families who are in critical situations in order to guarantee the children's rights to family-life, to protection, and to live in the community and in the society. Providing and promoting foster care are two of the main activities that the syndicate’s organisations are engaged in.
CONFIE hereafter joins the RELAF network in hopes of coordinating actions and exchanging experiences and knowledge with other organisations and movements of Latin America.
Work meeting at the Central University of Ecuador
To close the work agenda, the RELAF representatives were received by the President of the Central University, Edgar Samaniego Rojas, and by the Dean of the University's School of Psychological Science, Pablo Picerno.
Another meeting was also held that included the participation of graduate and post-graduate teachers and professors from the University's Research Institute. Working from the Research Institute, Martha Acosta is organising a Master's in Comprehensive Child Protection, jointly with the National Council on Childhood and Adolescence and with support from UNICEF. The Master's is planned to begin this year, with Matilde Luna as Head Professor of the subject entitled 'Children and adolescents and their relationships with families'. Daniel Moreira will also collaborate in teaching this subject, being in charge of some specific topics. A cooperation agreement between RELAF and the University is currently being prepared.
This Master's represents a great opportunity to bring together, in an academic environment, diverse professionals who work in child protection entities in Ecuador and to train these professionals so that they can advocate for children's rights with a more profound background. Likewise, this Master's is expected to bolster the dialogue, coordination and interconnection among the children's institutions' staff that shall take the course, which shall improve the Ecuadorian comprehensive child protection system.
Quality standards for the care of children in Ecuador
The children’s rights specialist Lilian Ortiz is currently working in the search for quality standards for the alternative care of children both in institutional and family settings. Her task is carried out within the framework of the technical cooperation that the national office of UNICEF provides to the country’s childhood authorities.
Relaf celebrates this initiative and has committed to cooperate providing the standards that have already been established in other Latin American countries, as well as analysing and making recommendations for the production of the local standards currently under construction.
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