Promoting de-institutionalization and advancing children’s rights in Cambodia has gained significant momentum, particularly in advocating for family-based alternative care. However, there remains a critical gap in focusing on permanency for children. The establishment of a robust domestic adoption system is still a work in progress, necessitating concerted efforts. Key challenges include the need to develop a system for recruiting prospective adoptive families, establishing a registry of children in need of permanent placement, funders leaving the sector, and national and sub-national government capacity.
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In response to these challenges, seven GHR partners came together to provide a platform for sharing and exchanging knowledge and experiences regarding family-based care and permanency planning programs, in Cambodia and across the region. The conference highlighted best practices in child protection relevant to the Cambodian context, including strategies for preventing and responding to children in conflict with the law.
 
The conference facilitated collaboration and networking among stakeholders involved in child protection and alternative care. It explored practical strategies and advocated for budgetary support at both national and sub-national levels. It also showcased diverse approaches adopted by various organizations to safeguard and support children in Cambodia, providing an opportunity for relevant ministries, particularly the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans, and Youth Rehabilitation (MoSVY), to share their progress and challenges in implementing alternative care policies.

​From ECFG: 

"In 2022, ECFG commissioned Degan Ali and her team to lead us through a decolonizing grantmaking journey that included learning webinars, collective learning and reflection, the identification of promising practices, and the development of a framework that funders could use to elevate equitable grantmaking. After developing an understanding of our network’s needs and goals, our decolonizing philanthropy working group engaged in deep partnership design with DA Global to create The Decolonizing Child and Youth Philanthropy Framework.

This framework recognizes that our members and partners are at different stages of their journey in tackling colonialism within their organizations and grantmaking. While there are universally relevant lessons gained from existing decolonization efforts in the philanthropic and charity sectors, this framework is designed to support the different types, sizes and needs of the funders who belong to this group. This is not a magic solution, but a tool in our decolonizing child and youth philanthropy toolbox. This tool is intentionally focused on supporting those who have embarked on a change process within their organizations, those who want to make additional adjustments, and those who are grappling with how to get started."

Download the framework here. 

From Devex:

"One area that was particularly difficult was family tracing, Lauer said. But he pointed to the 'real clear evidence' of the positive impact that Catholic nuns in East Africa, who GHR fund in Kenya, Uganda, Zambia, and Malawi, are having. Since 2019, they’ve helped nearly 4,000 children from more than 70 organizations reintegrate back into the community. 'They're having tremendous success. But it's taken three to five years to prepare them to be able to do work on the ground,' Lauer said. 'So we've invested in social work training for Catholic sisters to gain the technical skills, we've invested in child protection training and then, for a lot of the orphanage staff across those institutions, invested in the technical training for case management.'"

Read more. 

From AMECEA Social Communications:

"A Regional Portrait of Catholic Care for Children in Eastern Africa was officially launched on Tuesday, May 16 and it is designated as the first significant study of its kind that describes Catholic-sponsored care for children in the region using data collected from Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia.

The launch served as a watershed moment for the three-day Catholic Care for Children International Conference, which was organized to discuss child protection and safeguarding and ways to fortify families for better child care from the perspective of the Catholic church’s consortium and its partners.

In a speech preceding the actual launch, Sr. Niluka Perera, RGS, CCCI Coordinator of the Union of International Superiors General (UISG) in Rome, said, 'We women religious are at the forefront of taking care of children and therefore UISG felt the need to take up the area of care of children by the women religious as one of their main responsibility.'"

​Download and read the report here. 

From May 16-18, 2023, UISG Catholic Care for Children International and GHR convened episcopal leaders, government representatives and Catholic sisters from east Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. Highlights from the convening from Global Sisters Report:

"Catholic Care for Children International's mission is to support institutes of consecrated life ministering on child care to read the signs of the times, reduce the need for care in institutions, prevent family separation, and provide alternatives to enable children to grow up in a safe and loving family environment.

Religious sisters in four African nations — Uganda, Malawi, Zambia and Kenya — have been at the forefront of this effort.

Sr. Niluka Perera, the coordinator of Catholic Care for Children International, said the gathering has brought together episcopal leaders, government representatives, Catholic sisters, advocacy groups and policymakers from East Africa to "reflect upon and discern the Catholic Church's growing commitment to ensure all children are safe."

'We have converged here as stakeholders because we realized that the work of taking care of children is the responsibility of everyone,' Perera told Global Sisters Report in an interview at Boma Hotel in Nairobi. 'All the children belong to God. Therefore, everyone from parents, relatives, society, the church and the government is responsible for caring for them. Once children are born, they become our responsibility to bring them up in a loving environment.'

Perera, a member of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, applauded the efforts by the sisters from the East African region for the past few years since the Catholic Care for Children initiative launched in the region and urged other stakeholders to join the sisters and ensure every child grows up in a nurturing family environment. A Sri Lankan nun who is also a social worker, Perera said the initiative had decided to change the strategy and involve other stakeholders, including government representatives, civil society organizations, the community and parents, to ensure more children are placed in families instead of institutions.

'CCCI realized that the sisters were working alone and decided to bring other stakeholders so that sisters could share with them their ideas, experiences and challenges of bringing up children in a safe environment," said Perera, who was appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors in September 2022. "We also wanted to bring together sisters from various congregations and countries under one roof to exchange ideas and improve their pursuit of bringing up children in a loving environment.'

Kathleen Mahoney, a program officer of GHR Foundation, applauded the sisters from the four African countries for reintegrating nearly 4,000 children since 2019 from more than 70 charitable institutions. GHR provides funding in the four African countries for the training of sisters in social work, case management and child care programs and assisting in the transition from institutional to family care. (GHR Foundation and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation also fund Global Sisters Report.)"

Read more. 

From the Association for Catholic Information in Africa: 

"The moral requirement to safeguard children is not new, the Secretary of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors has said. In his Tuesday, May 16 address at the convention of stakeholders of the Catholic Care for Children International (CCCI) in the region of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) in Nairobi, Fr. Andrew Small also cautioned against the tendency to point fingers at others as perpetrators of child abuse.

'It was always wrong to abuse children; this is not a new moral requirement,' Fr. Small said. 

He added, 'The Ministry of Service, Ministry of Safeguarding is a core mission to respect and protect the dignity of human persons and proclaim the truth of God's love for us.'"

Read more.

From Association for Catholic Information in Africa: 

"'The Church is called upon to ensure all children are well taken care of and are exploiting their full potential,' Archbishop Kivuva said during the CCCI event that has been realized by the collaboration of the Association of Religious Sisters in Kenya (AOSK), Gerald and Henrietta Rauenhorst (GHR)  Foundation, and AMECEA.'"

Read more. 

Catholic sisters are champions of care reform. Working with governmental, civic, and church leaders, and within their local communities, they are leading efforts to transition from institutional care toward family- and community-based care. Their leadership, service and spiritual witness have advanced the common good through a profound commitment to working on behalf of the vulnerable and marginalized. 

From May 16-18, 2023, UISG Catholic Care for Children International and GHR are convening episcopal leaders, government representatives and Catholic sisters from east Africa in Nairobi, Kenya. The convening marks the launch of a collaborative effort between Catholic Care for Children International (CCCI), the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa (AMECEA), and GHR Foundation on the regional portrait, a first-of-its-kind foundational study on Catholic care. Focused on east Africa, the regional portrait offers data and information on care reform and the significant shifts and progress led by Catholic sisters in the region. It promises to have a significant impact on the sector writ large.

Download and read the regional portrait here.

Via our Global domain, GHR supports Catholic sisters and other key faith actors who are championing care reform. Learn more about our work here. 

UISG Catholic Care for Children International and GHR will host a convening in Nairobi, Kenya, from May 16-18, 2023, entitled "Reading the Signs of the Times Together: Catholic Care for Children.” This gathering will bring together episcopal leaders, government representatives and Catholic sisters from east Africa to reflect upon and discern the Catholic church’s growing commitment to ensure all children are safe. The centerpiece of the convening will be Catholic Care for Children, a sister-led, charism-driven movement to see that all children can grow up in safe, nurturing families. This will offer an opportunity to consider and collectively reflect upon the progress made in advancing family-based care, and the implications of national legal frameworks and policies in east Africa that now favor family-based care over institutionalization.
 
Grounded in GHR’s Catholic roots, with deepening appreciation for the role of faith in animating and shaping care, GHR partners with Catholic sisters—women whose leadership, service and spiritual witness have advanced the common good through a profound commitment to working on behalf of the vulnerable and marginalized. With the support of the Rome-based International Union of Superiors General and national associations of women religious, Catholic sisters are emerging as champions of care reform. Working with governmental, civic, and church leaders, and within their local communities, they are leading efforts to transition from institutional care toward family- and community-based care. 

From L to R: Yende Anderson, Pa Lor, Tarra McNally

As we strive to deepen the impact of Global programs, and build capacity to best to support our partners, we are thrilled to welcome some exceptional talent to the newly expanded GHR Global team.

Yende Anderson, Program Officer, joins us from the Minnesota Department of Health. She has a background in state and national policy, stakeholder engagement, program design and implementation, aimed at integrating immigrant international medical graduates into Minnesota’s healthcare delivery system and other strategies to increase access to primary care. She has also designed health programming for women in West Africa and her home country of Liberia. 

Pa Lor, Program Associate, joins us from Habitat for Humanity, where she oversaw operations for the Homeowner Development Team. She has a background in administration, planning, data management, and client service. Pa will operate as the central coordinator and grants administrator for the GHR Global team.

Tarra McNally, Program Officer, joins us from the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture. She has a background in research and community-centered program design and evaluation with a focus on global public health and faith, and experience working in Catholic and international spaces. She was a member of the external team that evaluated GHR’s Inter-religious Action initiative.