INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF EDUCATIVE COMMUNITIES
FICE International Projects
COVID-19 4P Log
FICE International is delighted to partner with our colleagues at the Institute for Inspiring Children’s Futures, University of Strathclyde, and with a range of other international partners, to help develop the COVID-19 4P Log – a smartphone App created especially for practitioners and policy makers who are working to support children’s wellbeing, to log their lived reality and experiences throughout this pandemic.
It is designed to help us to better understand the ways practitioners and policy makers protect children, provide for their unique needs, enable their participation in decisions that affect them, and prevent harm, at different stages of the current pandemic.
The COVID-19 4P Log will ask you one question a day about your experiences of working during the pandemic and will take up no more than two minutes of each day, for 8 weeks.
The experiences that you log in the App daily will inform regular Learning Reports, which will outline the emerging themes, to equip all of us with insights and evidence to help us to identify good practices and overcome the challenges in future stages of this pandemic, and in the event of future pandemics.
It will not ask you for any personal or identifiable information and the responses will be anonymous. It will function using Wi-Fi and not require data usage. All collected data will be stored and used in accordance with data protection laws.
The App will be available free to download on i-Tunes and Google Play free of charge.
For more information: https://inspiringchildrensfutures.org/log4p
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International inter-agency MOOC on Caring for Children Moving Alone: Protecting Unaccompanied and Separated Children
The course is about the care and protection of unaccompanied and separated refugee and migrant children who are moving across and between countries. The course provides an understanding of the risks and vulnerabilities these children face. It informs the improvement of policy, practice and delivery of support services that uphold children’s rights and meet their best interests. The course provides examples of promising practice. It stimulates the exchange of ideas and experience between learners around the world and is available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
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What topics are covered?
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Why unaccompanied and separated children are on the move, the risks they face and, how best to respond to their circumstances.
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Understanding the importance of offering a range of suitable alternative care options in a country and how this can offer protection to unaccompanied and separated children on the move.
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Illustrating examples of suitable alternative care and support for unaccompanied and separated children being practiced around the world.
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The skills those working with unaccompanied and separated children on the move should have.
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How to fully assess needs and vulnerabilities of unaccompanied and separated children and make decisions that are in their best interests.
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How to build coordination and cooperation between the humanitarian sector and alternative care professionals to improve responses to unaccompanied and separated children.
This course has been made possible by the Caring for Children Moving Alone MOOC Taskforce:
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Better Care Network
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CELCIS
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Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children
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Hope and Homes for Children (HHC)
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International Detention Coalition (IDC)
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International Federation of Educative Communities (FICE)
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IFRC
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International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW)
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International Organisation on Migration (IOM)
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International Social Service (ISS)
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Latin American Foster Care Network (RELAF)
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Save the Children
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SOS Children’s Villages International
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Terre des hommes (TdH)
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UNHCR
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UNICEF
See when the course will run again: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/caring-for-children-moving-alone
International inter-agency MOOC on Getting Care Right for All Children: Implementing the UN Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children
Taking the UN Guidelines as a framework, this free online course helps practitioners gain insight into how the unnecessary placement of a child in alternative care can be prevented; how alternative care can constitute a suitable, positive experience for a child when it is necessary; and how children and young people who are leaving care can best be supported. Learn with alternative care specialists from CELCIS, UNICEF and the UN.
What topics are covered?
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Week 1 - Introduction to the Guidelines, the Principles, and Gatekeeping
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Week 2 - Upholding the ‘necessity principle’: Supporting and Strengthening Families
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Week 3 - Upholding the ‘necessity principle’: High-Risk Children and Gatekeeping
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Week 4 - Upholding the ‘suitability principle’: Selecting from a Range of Formal Care Settings
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Week 5 - Upholding the ‘suitability principle’: Deinstitutionalisation
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Week 6 - Leaving Care
This course has been made possible by:
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Better Care Network
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CELCIS
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Hope and Homes for Children (HHC)
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International Federation of Educative Communities (FICE)
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International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW)
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International Social Service (ISS)
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Save the Children
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SOS Children’s Villages International
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UNICEF
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Latin American Foster Care Network (RELAF)
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OAK Foundation
Join course: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/alternative-care
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SAFE PARKS PROJECT
Safe Park Project for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon
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About 4 million people live in Lebanon. 1.5 million are Syrian refugees, including 53% children. Only 15% of them go to school. Because of the war most of them are highly traumatized. They grow up in a very uncertain environment, some of them are separated from their parents and do not have very good future prospects.
The International Social Service aims to provide protection and support for these children. Therefore the ISS initiated the “Safe parks” project in Lebanon – a project which has already been successfully implemented in partnership with FICE International several years ago in South Africa. FICE International together with the ISS realized project Safe parks for Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, as a result of which a group of refugee children received professional support, attention and a chance to feel children again.
“Safe Parks” pursue two main objectives:
•To provide psycho-social support to Syrian refugee children, who are in an extreme life situation
•To offer them activities and mobile playgrounds in a safe setting.
Safe Parks provide exactly this – safe places for children to play where they have access to adult supervision and can play in peace and safety. The key ingredient for the success of the model is the nurturing and exciting presence of child and youth care workers! Children like to play where adults are! They also like to play with adults, and get involved in structured activities. The Safe Park model offers the possibility of wholesome fun in the context of desperate lives – an essential ingredient for overcoming hardship
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BE THE CHANGE - INTERNATIONAL YOUTH EXCHANGE
53 young adults from 15 world countries worked together on changes for a better world with support and guidance of 20 professional adults. Young people who have been living in alternative care and are now in the transition to an independent life (care leavers) exchanged their experiences about challenges of life changes they are going through and, based on that, created concrete suggestions and a proposal for policy changes towards care leavers. The culmination of the event was a short presentation in the congress opening and a 90-minute workshop on their findings at the 33rd FICE Congress and 2nd CYC World Conference.
323 views.
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10 Standards developed by young care leavers(Brochure)
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In 2017 the international Youth Exchange: Be the change! was awarded with the Austrian Youth Award 2017 – Main prize in the category „Erasmus+: Jugend in Aktion“.
The award ceremony took place on 19th November 2017 in the City Hall of Vienna. Out of 151 projects, five projects in each of the categories „Your projects“, „National Youth Work“, „Erasmus+: Youth in Action“ were awarded with the recognition award and one project in the categories „National Youth Work“ and „Erasmus+: Youth in Action“ with the main prize.
The main award in the category „Erasmus+: Youth in Action“ went to the „International Youth Exchange: Be the change!“, coordinated by FICE Austria in Vienna in August 2016.
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QUALITY FOR CHILDREN
Quality4Children project is a common project of SOS Children’s Villages, IFCO and FICE.
Vision:
Each child and youth without parental care has to be given the chance to shape his/her future in order to become a self-reliant, self-responsible and participating member of society, through living in a supportive, protective and caring environment, which promotes his/her full potential.
Mission:
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To create a European network of stakeholders advocating children’s rights in out-of-home care.
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To develop international quality standards based on by using the experiences and good practices from people directly concerned.
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To promote the implementation and monitoring of the standards at European, national and local level.
Goals:
Based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the objective of the project is to assure and improve the chances of development of children and youth in out-of-home care by
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collecting good practices
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developing quality standards
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implementing quality standards
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setting up a European network of people working in the field, youth, representatives of the scientific / research community, representatives of social / youth welfare authorities and politicians.​​
Values:
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Qualiy4Children has five main equal values which were considered during the project. These are:
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Participation: People directly concerned by out-of-home child care have been actively involved in the project since 2004; these include children and young adults who have experiences in out-of-home care, families of origin, caregivers and social workers.
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Gender Mainstreaming and Diversity: Gender mainstreaming and the diversity of all those involved in out-of-home care are reflected in the processes.
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Partnership: People and organizations directly concerned by out-of-home child care have the opportunity to join the project at national and international level.
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Commitment: Q4C commits to the UN CRC.
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Accountability and Sustainability: Q4C is accountable to the 3 organizations that created the project. Its sustainability will be ensured through a European network steered by the 3 organizations, which will ensure the promotion of the standards and the development of partnerships to advocate the improvement of the situation and development chances of children in out-of-home care.​
Participation: 32 European countries