TRAININGS AND FIRST MEETING OF THE NETWORK OF CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS

During November, we carried out the third and fourth training sessions on foster care organised by RELAF and Hope & Homes For Children, along with UNICEF Mexico, Maestral and DIF Tabasco. The third training session took place on November 8 and included the participation of the DIF Tabasco team. It focused on the practice of foster care in emergency situations and on the foster care provided to children with disabilities.

The fourth training session with DIF Tabasco was carried out on November 28. From the revision of the case management, the participants were trained on the importance of having individualised working plans and prepared an initial work schedule for the implementation of a pilot foster care programme.

Likewise, we organised two training sessions with the DIF Mexico City team on monitoring and evaluation of the pilot foster care project. Carolina Bascuñán, RELAF's consultant, made a presentation on the importance of producing a model to monitor and evaluate the project. The urgent issue of having indicators with a rights-based approach was addressed and the team prepared an initial set of them.

On December 8, the First Meeting of the Network of Civil Society Organisations was carried out in order to reactivate the efforts regarding the guarantee of the right to family and community life of children deprived of parental care or at risk of losing it.

Along with RELAF members, more than 15 representatives were present at the event from other NGOs, such as the Network for the Rights of Children in Mexico (Red por los Derechos de la Infancia en México - REDIM), Save the Children Mexico, SOS Children's Villages Mexico, Back2Back Mexico and the Quiera Foundation.  The goal of the meeting was to move forward in the development of concrete deinstitutionalisation experiencies by resuming the efforts made by the Mexican civil society in 2012. These efforts intended to form a group of organisations and entities with the aim of advocating for the adaptation of the comprehensive child protection systems in the Mexican states. In this sense, the current situation and the advances achieved in the last years were analysed and the lines of action to work on as a Network were agreed on. In order to do so, experiences developed by networks from other countries were examined along with their reach and impact on the local and national deinstitutionalisation processes.