Practitioners' and Policymakers' Successes, Challenges, Innovations, and Learning in Promoting Children's Well-being During COVID-19: Protocol for a Multinational Smartphone App Survey

Complexities of protecting children from violence during the COVID-19 pandemic: Providers' and policymakers' best practices, innovations and challenges in 12 countries

BACKGROUND

Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic has put children at an increased risk of neglect, violence and other human rights violations. Despite growing evidence of its impact on child protective services, there has been a dearth of research from low- and middle-income countries.

OBJECTIVE

This cross-sectional qualitative study explored service providers' and policymakers' views and experiences of children's protection, in real-time, in the last quarter of 2020.

METHODS

A smartphone app-based survey containing both open- and closed-ended questions was used. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Eighty-four respondents participated, including service providers, service managers and policymakers, mostly representing non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations (CSOs) and governments across 12 countries (predominantly Kenya, South Africa and the Philippines).

RESULTS

Most respondents reported their sectors had experienced challenges in protecting children from violence - particularly delays in reporting abuse and pursuing justice, and reaching those living in poor and/or rural areas. Good practices and innovations in children's protection during the pandemic were reported in several domains: advocacy and signposting; justice; health care; education and awareness-raising; children's visibility; and virtual service delivery. Community resources and involvement were also highlighted as vital. The ineffectiveness of child protection laws, policies and organizational responses, however, hindered the implementation of effective practices.

CONCLUSIONS

The COVID-19 pandemic has accentuated the complexities and interconnectivity of systems, processes and actors and their joint impact on children's protection and rights. Collectively, the findings reinforce the criticality of collaborative, urgent and child-centered responses.

“You cannot pour from an empty cup!”: child well-being service providers’ and policymakers’ professional supervision, coping and well-being during COVID-19

Purpose

This paper aims to present findings from 440 responses regarding the experiences of supervision, coping and well-being of 83 service providers and policymakers from eight countries working to support children’s well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

A smartphone survey hosted on a custom-built app was used. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The data were gathered in the last quarter of 2020.

Findings

While most respondents described the supervision they received as “useful” – both personally and professionally – and reported several characteristics of effective supervision practices, concerns about not receiving optimal support were also voiced. Respondents shared a range of stress management and other self-care practices they used but also revealed their difficulties optimally managing the stresses and anxieties during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, some respondents shared they were feeling helpless, unmotivated and unproductive. Yet, overall, responses were imbued with messages about hope, perseverance and self-compassion.

Originality/value

Using a bespoke smartphone app, rich and intimate insights were generated in real time from a wide range of professionals across high- and low- and middle-income countries – indicating the need to better support their well-being and service delivery.