Evaluation Learnings Search

Learning Description

Traditional Authorities (TA) as a structure is highly sustainable because it’s not dependent on external resources for its continuity. This is an important reason why TAs are crucially important for facilitating continued fight against CL at community level. This makes the TA model highly promising for service delivery at community level.

Learning Description

Vocational Training. Vocational training for out-of-school youth has met the criteria for being considered a good practice. The training has increased educational opportunities for at-risk children, and the community members who lead the training feel a sense of obligation to protect the children from being exploited. By attending the courses, children have less free time and fewer opportunities to engage in risky behaviors. For these reasons, and because of the earning potential, parents are very pleased with the activities and would like to see them continue or be expanded to further their children’s skills development and earning potential.Formal vocational training courses provided by government, NGO, or private-sector partners that are linked with buyers or retail chains to market and sell the goods produced by children are also a good practice for withdrawing children from the WFCL. In Bandung, children are trained in sewing and linked with a doll-making factory for distribution of their products. In Lampung, children receive training to make souvenir keychains that are sold to a local tourist shop. In Surabaya, a local university provides EXCEED children with entrepreneurship training based on demands from local businesses that fund the courses and provide apprenticeships. These approaches not only lead to skills development for transitioning out of ECL, but also provide an alternative source of income while children are involved in the training activities._x000D_

Learning Description

CECs. The CECs developed and piloted by the EXCEED project are another example of a good practice model. The CECs have increased opportunities for informal vocational training where none previously existed. In the Parindu subdistrict of the Sanggau district, the CEC has developed catfish cultivation ponds close to children’s homes in order to increase access and promote parental involvement. If they had to rely on a vocational training center to provide the training, access would be limited. The CEC also provides a good monitoring and implementation model as members are reputable, respected leaders in the community who have access to local resources and are in direct contact with employers and with the families of the beneficiaries. For example, some CECs have recruited PKK members (women from the housewives association) to identify CDWs and sensitize employers about labor laws and children’s rights. This has helped to reduce children’s working hours and allowed them to participate in vocational training activities. Housewives and members of social welfare organizations have also become involved in marketing the products produced by children under the EXCEED project. CECs further act as a community watch system. Some CECs have recruited teachers as members so that they are involved in the development of the Community Action Plan and in the implementation and monitoring of program activities. This facilitates tracking of beneficiaries and student retention. Finally, CECs are best positioned to identify the most culturally appropriate strategies for the targeted communities. For example, one CEC organizes community Koran readings to introduce messages on CSEC (e.g., why it is considered a WFCL) and to reinforce positive behaviors. It is organized for all community members as a way to reach a large audience. CECs have also taken on responsibility for ensuring that those at risk attend.

Learning Description

Using former CSEC as peer educators and role models. A common good practice is recruiting ex-CSEC to conduct outreach, peer counseling, or tutoring, and to serve as positive role models. One successful ex-CSEC who owns her own beauty salon has been working at a local NGO as a volunteer tutor teaching hairstyling for the past 13 years. She is considered a role model for newly withdrawn CSEC and was interviewed by Al-Jazeera to share her story. A NGO partner in Surabaya (Hotline Surya) is involving highly successful women survivors of sexual violence and exploitation in a children’s rights campaign to highlight the risks of CSEC, trafficking, and HIV/AIDS. These women survivors, who are now in successful leadership positions, will conduct speeches, interviews with the media, and one-on-one mentoring with current and exCSEC.

Learning Description

Using Media for Awareness-Raising Campaigns. One CEC member who was interviewed owns his own community radio station and has been using community radio talk shows and commercials to raise awareness about the risks of CSEC. Through radio programs, the project has disseminated information about educational options for out-of-school children, trainings, and events.

Learning Description

Involving parents. Carrying out project activities with parents is a good practice. Some NGOs hold forums with mothers of street children. Topics include how to help exploited children. Other NGOs have provided economic assistance to parents so that children may be relieved of the “breadwinner” burden and allowed to return to school.

Learning Description

CSEC centers. A good practice for long-term withdrawal of CSEC has been the use of permanent comprehensive care centers that provide short-term, medium-term, and long-term assistance. Such a center can be used as a shelter for immediate withdrawal and treatment, as an interim counseling/rehabilitation center to deconstruct and reconstruct the way CSEC think about themselves, and also as a drop-in center for individual or family therapy to rebuild the relationship between children and parents.

Learning Description

Public-private partnerships. Through a partnership with a local bank and MOSA, an NGO in Lampung provides scholarships through high school to street children who remain in school and out of work for one full year. The NGO obtains commitments from parents and children to stop working for one year prior to receiving the scholarship and imposes sanctions for those who violate the working policy (e.g., loss of the scholarship if the child returns to work).

Learning Description

High-paying jobs (that compete with the WFCL) require certificates or diplomas from formally recognized education institutions, as opposed to informal training, which require greater investment. (The Accenture project has taken this lesson into account.)

Learning Description

Changing the children’s environment and providing them with education is important for expanding their horizons. The learning centers and CSEC centers are effective ways to remove children from the negative influences on the street and to change their mind-set.