Training activity: “UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children. Strategies for their application.” in Lima, Peru.

In the framework of the Sub-regional consultation meeting of the Study on the situation of institutionalised children in Latin America held in Lima, RELAF and UNICEF carried out a training activity on the Guidelines, in which the friendly version for adults and the child-friendly version that were produced by RELAF as part of a cooperation agreement with UNICEF-TACRO were presented. The activity included the participation of key actors of the rights protection system of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

The workshop, which lasted four hours, was opened by Nadine Perrault (UNICEF) and Matilde Luna, who presented the document of the Guidelines, its principles and directions in relation with policy and practice.

María Sánchez Brizuela, who is RELAF's Management Benchmark, presented the friendly version for the personnel of public and private institutions, a guide of standards that provides orientation to their work with children and their families in the different moments and situations in which they have to intervene. She explained the process of production, validation and the contents of the guide, and also presented two first training experiences that were carried out with personnel of children’s institutions for the application of the material.

Likewise, Federico Kapustianky, who is RELAF's Cooperation Benchmark, presented the process of production, validation and the contents of the child-friendly version and an experience of its application with a group of adolescents.

After the presentation, the participants carried out discussion activities in groups, using working guidelines that allowed for the identification of the obstacles and facilitators for the application of the Guidelines in their countries. In this framework, the friendly versions were valued by the participants as important tools for the implementation of the UN document at national and local level.

A similar activity will be carried out by the RELAF team and UNICEF in the framework of the Consultation meeting for Central America.

• Workshops with children and with the personnel of public and private entities.

The RELAF working team has previously carried out experiences of application of the friendly versions with the YMCA, the Ieladeinu Programme, Familias de la esperanza NGO, Soles en el camino NGO and La Casona de los Barriletes.

We would like to thank Nora Schulman, Executive Director of the Argentine Committee for the Monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, who facilitated the contact with some organisations, and Henry Chiroque, Coordinator for Save the Children Argentina, with whom we are planning the conduction of similar workshops.

• The friendly versions and the guides for their application are available at www.relaf.org