Niamey – Between 25 and 29 November, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), in cooperation with the national Child Protection Sub Cluster in Niamey, organized a training on the protection of unaccompanied and separated children for close to 30 participants from various national and international organizations.

The inter-agency training, the second of its kind after the pilot training in Ethiopia in September, included participants from the government, ICRC, IRC, UNICEF, UNHCR, World Vision International, as well as local NGOs working on the topic of child protection in Niger.

Most of the participants were members of the Unaccompanied and Separated Children Inter-Agency Task Force (UASC IATF) of the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action, established in 1995 and which IOM is chairing since 2017. Its main objective is to bring together key organizations with field experience on issues concerning unaccompanied and separated children (UASC) to create guidance for field practitioners.

“I think such training sessions are of paramount importance seeing as the theme of child protection is key for Niger,” expressed Ramatou Albade, Head of the Division of National Child Protection with the Ministry for the Promotion of Women and Child Protection in Niger (MPFPE). “It was very helpful to have such a variety of participants, coming from different structures and working in various contexts.”

In humanitarian emergencies, either as a result of conflict or natural disaster, the task force supports the coordination of agencies and government actors and ensures a harmonized response. The task force updates relevant policies, addresses capacity gaps, develops joint advocacy messages and facilitates remote or on the ground technical support.

In 2016, the inter-agency task force on UASC published two reference publications on UASC: Field Handbook and the Toolkit on Unaccompanied and Separated Children. Both publications provide operational guidance for child protection staff and other actors working on prevention and response to family separation in emergencies.

To complement these publications, the task force has organized several capacity building workshops and Trainings of Trainers (TOTs) in the field, using the brand-new guidance included in the two manuals.

“These courses aim to reach out to practitioners on the ground to guarantee the minimum standards in the field of child protection,” said Nadia Akmoun, Protection Officer with IOM Geneva and one of the facilitators for the training. “The training this week was also an occasion for the different child protection actors operating at the national context to exchange on best practices and learn from each other.”

In 2019 alone, IOM’s mission in Niger assisted more than 300 unaccompanied children at its six transit centers across the country. In addition to access to basic services, unaccompanied children also benefit from specific assistance which includes psychosocial support and age-appropriate recreational activities, such as language or computer courses.

IOM works closely with the MPFPE, UNICEF and the IOM missions in countries to origin to carry out the family tracing and properly assess the environment to which the minor is returning to guarantee it is aligned with the best interests of the child.

“We seek to ensure that our responses are appropriate to the specific situation unaccompanied and separated children find themselves in,” said Barbara Rijks, IOM’s Chief of Mission in Niger. “It’s essential to organize such trainings if we want to continue to improve our assistance for these vulnerable cases.”

For more information, please contact Monica Chiriac at IOM Niger at Tel: +227 8931 8764, Email: mchiriac@iom.int.