Save the Children Norway’s work in the Thematic Area of Violence Against and Sexual Abuse of Children

Background

SC Norway has introduced thematic evaluations as a method to evaluate global objectives being implemented in cooperation with a range of partners in all or most country programmes. Save the Children Norway initiated a thematic evaluation of its work on violence against and abuse of children in 2003. The evaluation covered ten country programmes. The context of these country programmes varies enormously in terms of socio-economic, political and cultural factors. The types of issues addressed is equally wide-ranging and encompasses sexual abuse, violence in the family and community, commercial sexual exploitation, corporal punishment, internet pornography, child-trafficking, sex tourism and harmful traditional practices.

Purpose/objective

The purpose was to enable programmes to learn from one another, to share experiences, common problems, solutions and good practices. It was also a way of enabling SCN to take stock of its work from a global perspective and to identify ways of moving ahead. The evaluation was carried out in parallel with a global evaluation on the thematic area of children affected by conflict and disaster in order to enhance learning between the two.

Methodology

In the present global thematic evaluation the successes, challenges and the possibilities of Save the Children Norway's work are portrayed. The evaluation covers ten country programmes in Albania, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nepal, Nicaragua, Norway, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Zimbabwe and one regional evaluation of the Save the Children Alliance South-East Europe Regional Anti Child Trafficking Response Programme. The evaluation was carried out by national evaluation teams and an independent evaluator writing the global report. Children and young people have been involved as respondents, advisors and interviewers.

Key findings

There are some inspiring examples of the ways programmes are changing the course of children's lives. In other places like programmes are impacting in the immediate term, e.g. giving much needed medical assistance to children. Some programmes can demonstrate a significant contribution to the change in national law and policies. In terms of achieving the most tangible impact, the evaluation shows that direct interventions providing intensive support to children who are victims or at risk of being victims are likely to have the most visible effects on children's lives.

SCN is working in some of the poorest countries in the world in situations of severe lack of capacity and resources that are often compounded by political and military instability. The external environment carries many risks of violence and abuse and offers little in the way of protection or recovery. Operating in such a climate, SCN has carried out some pioneering work to break the silence surrounding abuse and to offer support to victims.

The main strength of SCN is its participatory and inclusive relationship with partners, collaborators and communities. This is most evident in its model of implementation through local partners: an approach which fosters local capacity and helps ensure sustainable change. The findings of this evaluation suggest that the more intensive model yields more results in terms of impact on violence and sexual abuse and local capacity building.

Child participation is another area of expertise. Child participation has, at best, meant giving children real ownership in the management and running of projects. Children have been visibly empowered and have become confident enough to stand up for their own rights and the rights of others.

A number of programmes have experimented with community participation and mobilisation recognising that the setting up of such grassroots networks is perhaps the best and most sustainable way of protecting children from violence and sexual abuse. Relations with government partners and other Save the Children Alliance members are generally good across the board and have helped to facilitate SCN's work in this area.

Conversely, SCN's main weakness in this thematic area appears to lie in its lack of internal cohesion. At present, different parts of the organisation are not working together in a way that optimises their effectiveness. In some respects, head office appears out of tune with the needs of country programmes. In addition, there is a lack of integration between different thematic areas. SCN has the benefit of many very dedicated staff but a lack of capacity building and support is limiting their ability to make the most of their work.

More attention needs to be paid to strengthening internal systems and processes concerned with programme management. While there are some notable exceptions, country programmes are not habitually set up on the basis of a comprehensive situation analysis, conceptual understanding and overall thematic strategy. Monitoring and evaluation systems are generally poor and documentation is inadequate in most places. More strategic thinking is needed on how SCN can reach the most vulnerable under 18 year olds in a gender-balanced way, using rights-based approaches, and capitalising on local and indigenous value systems and support mechanisms.

Recommendations

The evaluation reports concludes with a long list of detailed recommendations covering the following areas:
o Programme initiation
o Programme implementation
o Monitoring and evaluation
o Impact
o Programme future