Mapping and analysis of child protection systems in Benin - conducted in 2011

1. Mapping and analysis of child protection systems in Benin - conducted in 2011 Dakar, 7-9 May 2012

2. I OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS March-April: Methodology overview - Child Frontiers - Mapping of protection systems by the UNICEF of two technical directorates of the Ministry of family Consultation of technical and financial partners (Central Office of Technical Assistance-BCAT-EU, Benin Plan, Terre des Hommes and Plan Benin and UNICEF); Finalization of the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the technical directorates of the Ministry of family and partners.

3. OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS (Continuation) May-June - July: Presentation of mapping ToRs to a restricted meeting of the National Unit of Monitoring and Coordination of Child Protection headed by the Chief of the Staff of the Minister of family. Participation of a representative of the Ministry of Justice, Interior, PTFs, the NGO network - Respesd (Network of Structures Supporting Children in Difficult Situation) Technically, it's the Director of the Observatory of family, woman and child of the Ministry of the family who had the leadership of process on behalf of the Government. He was supported by the technical committee.

4. OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS (Continuation) • Establishment of the technical committee and a steering committee by ministerial decree and headed by the chief of staff of the Ministry of family, and with the involvement of other departments: development, education, interior, labour and justice. • Resource mobilization: UNICEF and Plan Benin - Total cost: 150,000 USD (consultants + workshops) • Launching workshop of mapping by Child Frontiers - and recruitment of national consultants

5. OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS Children and communities involvement • In each one of six sites, 20 adolescents (10 girls and 10 boys) participated in focus group discussions separately, and gave their perceptions of child protection systems • In each site, 20 adults (10 women and 10 men separately) participated in focus group discussions;Overall, 18 traditional and religious leaders have responded to interview individual • Members of local protection committees (10 people per site) participated in focus group discussions

6. OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS (Continuation) • Period and duration of the study : July-November 2011, 60 working days including two weeks of data collection • Research team: Social Action: 1 International Consultant, and 3 national consultantsChild justice: 1 International Consultant, and 3 national consultants

7. II. KEY OUTCOMES • Different perceptions about child protection: for communities, poverty is the major problem affecting children, whereas for protection actors (state and non-state) , it's children trafficking and exploitation. Regarding children, they were preoccupied with protection problems they are experiencing: rape, placement, kidnapping or violence

8. II. KEY OUTCOMES (Continuation) Different perceptions: • Community based data reported that a stronger link should be established between child protection efforts and poverty reduction efforts

9. II. KEY OUTCOMES (Continuation) • Weak linkage between legal norms and community practices, especially in juvenile justice: Communities rely heavily on their own mechanisms to deal with child protection rather than relying on external support .Community based interventions to address crimes and offenses committed by children are highly punitive and represent concerns for child protection.

10. II. KEY OUTCOMES (Continuation) • Lack of a coherent vision for child protection:the legislative, political and strategic framework provide a set of piecemeal efforts. In social action, existing materials have different approaches for different categories of children. In justice, too much emphasis is put on children in conflict with the law; • Weak linkages between the national coordinating structures - duplication of mandates

11. III. STEPS TO FOLLOW AFTER MAPPING Priority actions: • Strengthening the common vision on child protection through consultations with stakeholders, children and communities; • Review procedures and guidelines to direct protection stakeholders, especially for juvenile justice; • Streamlining national coordinating structures of child protection; • Reform the system of data collect and analyze, in particular by reducing databases from three to a single one;

12. III. STEPS TO FOLLOW AFTER MAPPING (Continuation) • Priority actions : • Continue to strengthen the capacity of social action agents and that of justice for minors in a systematic and coordinated way among stakeholders • Continue the development work of referral systems for case management and harness the opportunities offered by decentralization - Budget allocation - and other sectors (education, health, microfinance, civil status) for the access of vulnerable children to services • Continue current efforts for the adoption of the children's code and the adoption of a justice sectoral policy with a clear focus on children

13. IMPACT • After mapping, protection stakeholders from Benin think and act "systems“ • State stakeholders of protection have an independent diagnosis to advance the agenda of protection for the benefit of children • Strengthening linkages between protection structures: UNICEF Benin, Plan, Terre des Hommes, ILO, UNDP the Embassy of France and the European Union

14. IV. LESSONS LEARNED • Political commitment and national ownership is critical to conduct the mapping the beginning to the validation of the results - Minister of Family, his cabinet and its technical departments have led this process and mobilized other departments. This should facilitate the recommendations implementation.

15. IV. LESSONS LEARNED (Continuation) • It is crucial that agencies who can do it marshal the resources to avoid the project to be seen as mapping of a particular agency. In Benin, Plan and UNICEF provided funding to carry out mapping;Children should be part of the process from the beginning not only for answering questions, but as actors of the very exercise of mapping;It's crucial to further explore the linkages with other areas (education, marital status, health). This point is weak in our analysis Choosing an appropriate methodology: by Child Frontiers