Protecting children after Malawi cyclone

Following the recent devastating cyclones in the region, Viva’s Kezia M’Clelland is leading a ‘Child Protection in Emergencies’ workshop on 9 & 10 May in Malawi with our partners, Integral Alliance. In the country, 869,000 people, including almost 500,000 children were affected by Cyclone Idai, with about 100,000 people displaced by flood, which has exacerbated […]

“We trust you”: the power of relationship

BY KEZIA M’CLELLAND This Spring, Eastern Ghouta, 10km from the centre of Damascus, saw seven weeks of intense bombardment and destruction, in which at least 301 children lost their lives. It’s easy to feel helpless as we watch situations like this unfold and, as the fighting continues outside the headlines, it can be hard to […]

Training changes perspectives

Hong Kong is an international city with well-developed law and education systems. However, behind the prosperity, children are not as happy as the city’s success portrays. Children are placed under tremendous pressure to succeed and have little control over their lives. As a result, many parents who genuinely believe the choices they make are the […]

Robust measures are required to keep children safe

OPINION: MARYAM EHSANI All children have a right to protection from abuse and violence. Yet children are abused in every country in the world and shockingly a child dies every five minutes as a result of violence. The world’s most vulnerable children are the most at risk, such as those fleeing conflict or natural disasters, […]

Safety nets and skills training

Victoria Price looks back on a year full of child protection projects by our partner network CRANE in Uganda, highlighting three exciting ways in which children’s lives have been transformed. Many children in the city of Kampala do not receive the level of protection they should have. Due to widespread poverty and inequality, children are […]

Champions!

BY KEZIA M’CLELLAND The impact of equipping childcare leaders with the skills and resources to train others is hugely valuable. Kezia M’Clelland writes about how this approach is working effectively in the Middle East, in spite of ongoing instability. The risks for children living in the Middle East were starkly spelt out in February when […]

Teaching Teachers to Play

BY JANET GAUKROGER Janet Gaukroger has been working with our partner network CRANE in Uganda for over 10 years. On her most recent visit last month, she helped lead a learning retreat for ten young women who are training to be early childhood teachers. She tells of her experience meeting the group of soon-to-be teachers […]

Protecting at risk children in Lusaka

BY VICTORIA PRICE Children in Zambia are in greater danger of social exclusion and exploitation than ever before, with the risks of abuse numerous and looming heavily within local communities. The Samalani Children At Risk Network (SCAR) formed in September 2017 and, very excitingly, is the newest network to partner with Viva. Today (Thursday 7 […]