Webinar | The Need for Governments to Consult CP Advisors when Loosening Lockdown Restrictions
Channel: The Alliance
Date: 22/07/2020

In this episode, Christopher Cooper and the Advocacy Working Group hosts a discussion on the need for governments to consult child protection advisors when loosening COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, drawing from Spain as a case study. This webinar features Ricardo, Catalina, Sara, and Macarena as they share their experiences working for international and non-governmental in Spain as they responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. The later portion of this webinar consist of a questions and answer period between the panelist and participants.


List of Speakers:
Christopher Cooper from Child Fund Alliance
Ricardo Ibarra from Plataforma de Infancia
Catalina Alcaraz Escribano from Cruz Roja
Sara Collantes from UNICEF Spain
Macarena Cespedes from Educo


Main Points:
0:10 Christopher begins the webinar with opening remarks and  introduces Spain as the specific case country example that will be featured in this webinar.
4:35 Ricardo beings his presentation by introducing Plataforma de Infancia and sharing how they have responded to COVID-19, including actively following-up on measures were being taken in congress and if they focused on child rights.
8:04 Ricardo discusses the importance of involving the voices of children in this process, which was achieved through surveys and is used when following-up with congress.
9:37 Catalina begins her presentation by giving a background of the Spanish Red Cross and their the launching of the Red Cross Respond initiative.
12:21 Catalina shares the concerns for children in Spain during the COVID-19 lockdown, including physical and mental health support and increased risk of violence and neglect in the home.
14:06 Catalina shares the actions taken by the Spanish Red Cross, including providing psychosocial support and providing telematics school support. This concludes Catalina’s presentation.
16:23 Sara begins her presentation by giving an overview of the context of child protection policy issues in Spain due to COVID-19, as IOs and NGOs played a large role in strengthening child protection policies.
22:10 Sara shares UNICEF’s advocacy efforts, including identifying stakeholders and engaging them in joint actions and drafting joint letters for authorities. This concludes Sara’s presentation.
23:26 Macarena begins her presentation by  discussing NGO’s and their ability to adapt quickly and be more flexibile than public administrations and institutions. 
28:11 Macarena shares how Educo has provided essential care to children and families by interacting with public administrations to coordinate and manage policy solutions.
32:02 – Macarena shares how this pandemic has highlighted the responsibility that we have to one another to protect the interests of the most vulnerable. This concludes Macarena's presentation.
33:31 Christopher begins the Q&A session.
33:39 Q1: How critical that child protection organizations monitor public policy developments for child safeguarding issues and when should they be brought into the policy development process?
36:44 Q2: How should civil society organizations translate child perspectives into policy reform proposals?
39:00 Q3: How can humanitarian actors prepare their relationships with government officials prior to a crisis like COVID-19 so that they can be useful resource for governments when a crisis hits.
41:26 Q4: How can humanitarian actors and civil society organizations engaged UNICEF to help build relationships where government officials see them as a critical resource to consult well before taking actions?
45:28 Q5: How do we overcome the “invisibility” of children and how do we get government officials to understand the importance of children when they cannot speak for themselves?
48:54 Q6: How do we try to articulate the rights of children and the duties we owe to them individually without offending parents in raising issues where parents may be the source of the child protection issue?
52:52 Q7: How did UNICEF establish bi-monthly meetings with government officials and was that a result of relationship built prior to the crisis?
55:36 Q8: In follow-up, would you say is it somewhat a transactional relationship where civil society organization can provide information to policy makers in return for being involved in the creation of that policy?
56:42 Q9: Do you have any advice for what the Spanish Red Cross has done with in regard to telematic responses and how that might be translated in situations where the government controls more of the media?
59:27 Q10: Do you have any advice for how to translate the ask for child protection social service actors as essential workers taken to governments and how we can then use the essential nature of those service workers?
1:04:08 Christopher gives closing remarks and concludes the webinar.


Important Links: 

The Alliance COVID-19 Resource Hub: https://alliancecpha.org/en/series-of-child-protection-materials/protection-children-during-covid-19-pandemic