PRACTICE GUIDE FOR WORKING WITH CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS IN DISASTER SITUATIONS

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.