August 19, 2023 – If it takes a village to raise a child, what happens when life in that village is turned upside down by a devastating crisis or emergency? Where can parents and caregivers go when the sources of strength and support they rely on daily are suddenly no longer accessible?
August 19 is World Humanitarian Day and each year has a theme. For 2023, the theme is #NoMatterWhat. On this day, the Global Initiative to Support Parents (GISP) shares a message of solidarity with parents and other primary caregivers across the globe as frontline humanitarian responders for their children and families.
Sharing and amplifying the experiences of existing evidence-based programs is one of the pillars of GISP’s work. Recent global and regional convenings have brought together implementers and researchers from all regions of the globe to share what they’re learning from interventions designed to support parents and their children and to offer lessons for future work in crisis settings. The following three takeaways have emerged from those conversations:
- The need to offer flexible modes of delivery.
- The importance of ensuring multiple levels of support are available.
- The need to center the perspectives of parents and caregivers themselves and build trust, starting from the initial phases of design.
The blog was written by Mari Ullmann, Technical Advisor, Parenting in Crisis for the Global Initiative to Support Parents (GISP) and Shekufeh Zonji, Global Technical Lead for the Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN).