Queen Rania Family Child Center Child Safety Program

Queen Rania Family & Child Center/ Child Safety Program/ Jordan River Foundation

Queen Rania Family & Child Center (QRFCC) QRFCC is pioneering a new innovative approach to an Arab model of a community center, which provides integrated services and support to children and families.

QRFCC: An Ecological Model Society: NGO’s, & private sector, culture & legislation Local Community: community based services, schools Families Children & Youth

QRFCC Approach • • • Community Based Center Holistic Services Combating Child Abuse Strengthen Family Unit Comprehensive & Integrated Services Partners with Local Community

QRFCC Programs: Translating Child Rights into Practice

QRFCC Programs: Translating Child Rights into Practice • QRFCC ensures that children’s rights are secured during implementation measures, in accordance to the following core rights: • Survival and Development Rights • Protection Rights • Participation Rights

Survival & Development Rights • Delivering parenting programs that address various parenting needs and educate parents about children’s development. • Providing services and resources to families that ensure children’s full development. • Educating children about their rights. • Providing access to recreational activities for children.

Survival & Development Rights: Safe Learning Environments • QRFCC launched a national initiative, the “Safe Schools Project” to turn schools into safe environments for learning. • The Project aims to decrease abusive practices by combining awareness programs, parenting, children’s self- protection, and professional training to build and strengthen the skills of students, school staff and local community members.

Protection Rights • Empowering children & youth through interactive workshops. • Preventing abuse through parent education: programs equip parents with necessary skills that prevent child maltreatment. • Capacity building of professionals.

Participation Rights • Civic engagement & volunteerism • Planning & consulting with children and youth • Children advocating on the behalf of other children • Building the capacity of professionals in facilitating for the meaningful participation of children

Adherence to Guiding Principles • QRFCC adheres to the guiding principles offered in the CRC, as they provide the requirements for realizing the rights of children. • Non-discrimination and inclusion of marginalized groups is at the heart of QRFCC’s work: 1. Community Mobilization Unit 2. Advancing the Rights of Girls 3. Workshops for Differently-Abled persons.

Community Mobilization Unit: • The CMU establishes local community-based child safety committees across the Kingdom (lower socio-economic status). • The CMU aims to enhance the level of community awareness about child safety and activate the role of local communities in preventing child abuse.

Advancing the Rights of Girls: • Programs for Female Adolescents: Fit for Life, IT Training , Basic Life Skills, Reproductive Health, Arts & Puppet Making Workshop. • Safe Families Unit: a multi-disciplinary case management unit which serves domestic violence survivors and offenders.

Workshops for Differently-Abled persons: QRFCC involves differently-abled community members (children and mothers) in the center’s activities by tailoring the workshops to meet their needs.

Child Rights Advocacy & Training: • QRFCC shares its insights and supports advocacy efforts to improve the child protection system in Jordan by employing data collected during implementation of programs. • QRFCC trains and builds the capacity of professionals working in the area of Child Safety • QRFCC aims to expand enhance programbased partnerships with national organizations • QRFCC partners with various media outlets for advocacy efforts.

Designing programs that are rights-based while maintaining cultural relatedness: Community based interventions targeting children, youth, and parents Prevalent attitudes, concepts, and thus needs related to child safety are clear Positive attitudes/ supporting factors are utilized to negate negative attitudes and behaviors Piloting programs and amending according to community feedback Partnering with influential figures/ organizations based on different target groups (i. e. community and religious leaders)

Conclusions for Practice: • Strategies are developed in partnership with stakeholders ensuring maximum community participation. • Each program rises in response to a need that is identified through the implementation of programs or through an expressed need from the community. • Programs emerge from a genuine understanding of the community’s attitudes and conceptions, assimilating new concepts, and taking incremental steps towards promoting Child’s Rights.