1.1 Purpose and objectives
The Better Care Network (BCN) and UNICEF, supported by
the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/ US
Agency for International Development (USAID), commissioned
Maestral International LLC to document significant child-care
reform work being carried out at country level in three African
countries, to promote information exchange and learning
within the region, and reinforce and encourage care reform
in other countries. These reforms involve legislation, policies
and programmes, including service delivery, advocacy and
networking. The three countries reviewed for the country
profile study were: Ghana, Liberia and Rwanda. All three
country profiles and the general summary report are available
on the BCN website: .
The country profiles document efforts to support care reform
within these countries. Based within a framework reflective of
the ‘Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children’,1
the profiles
provide an overview and analysis of key areas in alternative
care services provision and reform efforts. The key areas are:
• National enactment and implementation of the legal and
policy framework;
• Preventive and family support services;
• Availability and range of family-based alternative care
services;
• Residential care and deinstitutionalization efforts;
• Supporting children exiting or leaving alternative care
arrangements;
• Domestic and inter-country adoption;
• Information management systems; and
• Social welfare workforce.
The profiles provide an overview of key lessons learned,
including successes, challenges and areas for progress, and
gaps in learning and best practice.
The goal of the country profiles is to inform the strengthening
care-reform efforts in the sub-Saharan Africa region. It is
envisaged that they will build on the positive momentum
generated by recent regional conferences, child-protection
systems strengthening initiatives, deinstitutionalization
efforts, and country-level child protection and care networks.
The profiles can contribute to the exchange of information
between and among countries on successes and challenges in
implementing care-reform efforts, facilitate the development
of a community of practice in Africa, and harness reform
and political will among donor, government and nongovernmental
actors. Ultimately, these care profiles can
increase collaboration between national and regional actors
who are supportive of care reform, strengthening childprotection
systems and promoting family-based care options
for children.
1.2 Methodology
The international and regional child rights-based instruments
that framed the documentation of the care profiles included:
the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the
‘Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children’ (UN, 2009), the
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child,2
and
the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and
Co-operation in Respect of Inter-Country Adoption. All
definitions of the range of alternative care options were
informed by these key international and regional framework
documents. Additionally, efforts were made to ensure that the
literature review and in-country research included active
involvement of children and caregivers in order to gain a
deeper understanding of the views of these key stakeholders.