Philippines

ICDP started in late autumn 2017 and it is ongoing.

Child Sensitive Social Protection (CSSP) is a project developed by Save the Children Finland in a range of countries together with the local Save the Children offices. The CSSP encompasses child-focused or family-based social programmes that directly or indirectly address children’s needs and rights through a combination of economic support – such as cash transfers to families and children living in poverty – and complementary interventions; and which improve child development as well as ensure that all social protection is child-sensitive, by maximizing impact and minimizing harm on children, girls and boys alike.

The CSSP project in the Philippines has been funded by SC Finland since 2015. One of the key interventions of the project is based around developing improved caregiving/parenting skills with families who receive a cash transfer from the government as part of the 4PS programme/ the Pantawid. A draft manual with a selected number of modules and sessions related to parenting and child development has been developed in early 2017 and local facilitators have been trained to carry out the sessions.

However, the experiences from India and Nepal of the benefits of working with the ICDP programme, led SC Finland to include the ICDP programme as a cornerstone for the parenting sessions in the Philippines CSSP project too – to enhance and enrich the relationship between caregivers and their children. The ICDP project will aim to identify and reactivate local cultural practices, in order to stimulate development that is authentic, sustainable and long lasting and the ICDP training will sensitize, build competence and confidence in members the existing local child caring system – ICDP will withdraw having transferred the project to the local resource persons.

During the last week in October and early in November 2017, Nicoletta Armstrong started the training of SC staff and the staff of their partners who will all be working as ICDP facilitators in the CSSP project in Ormoc. The workshop provided training and materials for 15 participants who embarked on the ICDP training process with its practical tasks in between the workshops. Particular emphasis was placed on discussing the content of the ICDP messages, the flexibility of the 12 meeting agenda, the adaptation of ICDP to fit in with the local context, the application of ICDP monitoring tools and on how to roll out the ICDP programme in future. The second training took place in April 2018 and all participants showed motivation and commitment to implement the ICDP programme in the field.