Addressing critical child protection needs of displaced populations
Ethiopia
We work to protect children and their families affected by conflict.
Since November 2020, millions have fled ethnically motivated violence and forced displacement in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. The conflict and displacement has since spread to the neighboring regions of Amhara and Afar. Heavy fighting and restricted humanitarian access have led to families and individuals lacking basic services such as shelter, health care and regular access to food and water. Girls and women have limited avenues to cope with the stress resulting from conflict and are increasingly in need of mental health services, safe spaces and gender-based violence support.
What are we doing?
Through funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance, Plan is responding to this crisis by working with children, their families and their communities to rebuild a protective environment that allows children to heal and regain a sense of normalcy in Tigray, Amhara and Afar. This includes working in the following areas:
- Sexual and gender-based violence: Plan is working to reduce the risk of and respond to sexual and gender-based violence through providing dignity kits, socio-recreational activities and case management support to child and adolescent survivors.
- Children with disabilities: Plan is working with children with disabilities by developing child-friendly spaces that are accessible and supportive of their needs.
- Family tracing and reunification: Plan is working to identify, register and reunify unaccompanied children with their caregivers, in coordination with the International Committee of the Red Cross, and place them with foster families in the interim.
- Parenting skills: Plan is providing positive parenting and conflict resolution sessions to caregivers and foster parents to improve their well-being and resilience in coping with the psychosocial distress and trauma of conflict. This will in turn make them better able to support their children.
- Community child protection: Plan is working with communities to strengthen child protection initiatives through forming child protection committees and conducting awareness-raising campaigns to ensure children are safe during a time of displacement.
The project will last until December 2022. It has a budget of $3.45M to support children, adolescents and their families affected by conflict.
Project
stats and facts
- 12,500
- girls will benefit from dignity kits.
- 38,493
- individuals will participate in child protection activities.
- 2,565
- children will have access to child-friendly spaces.
Children displaced by conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia, play together in a displacement camp.
When fighting broke out near her home, Tigist and her two children fled to a displacement camp where they live in crowded conditions with other families.
Debaka lives in a displacement camp with her aunt. Food insecurity is a concern for many in the camps, and child malnutrition continues to rise.
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