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 ModelSociety:

NGO’s, GO’s, & private

sector, culture &

legislation

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 Unit2. Advancing the Rights of Girls3. 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 and enhance program-based 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

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.