Interagency Child Protection Rapid Assessment Summary Report

INTERAGENCY CHILD PROTECTION RAPID ASSESSMENT HAJJAH GOVERNORATE YEMEN

Interagency Child Protection Rapid Assessment Summary Report

HajjahGovernorate

Yemen

Table of Contents

Acronyms

CAAFG- Children Associated with Armed Forces or Groups

CFS- Child Friendly Spaces

CPRA- Child Protection Rapid Assessment

CPWG- Child Protection Working Group

ERW- Explosive Remnants of War

IDP- Internally Displaced Person/Peoples

KI- Key Informant

KII- Key Informant Interview

MRE- Mine Risk Education

MRM- Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism

OCHA- United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

PSS- Psychosocial Support

SOP- Standard Operating Procedure

S/UAC- Separated/Unaccompanied Children

SV- Sexual Violence

UNHCR- United Nations High Commission for Refugees

UXOs- Unexploded Ordinance

WASH- Water and Sanitation

Child Protection terms

A child associated with armed forces or groups

A child associated with armed forces or groups refers to any person below 18 years of age who is or has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to boys and girls used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities.

Explosive Remnants of War (ERW)

ERWs are explosive munitions which remain active and are present during or left behind following conflict, including artillery shells, grenades, mortars, rockets, air-dropped bombs, cluster munitions and ammunition. Under the international legal definition, ERW consist of unexploded ordnance (UXO - explosive munitions which have been used but failed to detonate) and abandoned explosive ordnance (AXO - weapons that were not used but abandoned and left behind following a conflict). While landmines are not included in the international legal definition of ERW, the use of ERW in this document includes landmines.

Psychosocial Support (PSS)

This term refers to processes and actions that promote the holistic well-being of people in their social world. It includes support provided by family, friends as well as the wider community. Examples of family and community support during crises include efforts to reunite separated children and to organize education in an emergency setting.

Recruitment of Children into armed forces or groups

Recruitment refers to compulsory, forced and voluntary conscription or enlistment of children into any kind of armed force or armed group.

Separated Children

Those children who lost their parents or guardians, but are now being cared for by relatives.

Separated Unaccompanied Children

Children who are taken into homes by strangers, living in orphanages, on their own, including in the street, either alone with other minor children, with armed forces or groups etc

Sexual Violence

The Arabic definition used in this assessment is the English equivalent of rape. Usually in humanitarian settings the term Gender Based Violence (GBV) would be used, which encompasses a wider set of risks including: rape, sexual assault, physical assault, forced marriage, denial of resources, opportunities and services, forced marriage, psychological and emotional abuse, female genital cutting/mutilation.

Credits

As a collaborative effort between MOSAL, the CPWG and Unicef, we would like to thank Mr.HaithamJobari, the Director of the MoSAL in Hajjah and Mr.Adel Dabwan the Director of Social Defence of MOSAL Yemen.

We would also like to extend our gratitude to Dr MulhemSaif, UnicefHajjahthe coordinator of the assessment training, data collection, entry processes and analysis. We would like also to extend our appreciation to the UnicefChild Protection Office in Yemen, particularly GhadaKachachi.

Our thanks go also to the global CPWG Rapid Response Team Hani Mansourian and Elaine Jepsen for helpful guidance.

Furthermore, sincere thanks are extended to all those worked hard to conduct this work during very difficult circumstances and also to the key informants in all targeted districts for their cooperation in conducting this study.

Executive Summary

The Child Protection Working Group for Yemen together with MOSAL conducted an interagency rapid assessment to better understand the impact of the conflict and the political transition on the protection of children in Hajjah District. The assessment was conducted in August 2012. The assessment is intended to provide a snapshot of urgent needs on child protection and some key recommendations for response.

Separated and Unaccompanied Children

• Separation of children was an ongoing issue with 5-10 year olds were most at risk of separation and boys considered as a higher risk category.
• Respondents noted that unaccompanied children are those whooften live by themselves or on the streets, creating vulnerabilities for exploitation and abuse.
• Develop Interagency Standard Operating Procedures for responding to cases of separation and unaccompanied children.
• Ensure Separated Unaccompanied children receive birth certificates.

Threats to Children’s Safety and Security

• ERWs, and armed attacks were identified as the major violent risk to children’s safety. The second highest risk was reported as transport related incidents and unsafe places.
• Risks were perceived to be higher for boys than girls, and high risk areas were unsafe places, on the way to the market, school and work, and around military compounds.
• Children were reported to engage in acts of violence, including recruitment of children into armed forces and groups.
• Continued and expanded MRE programmingis recommended.

Sexual Violence

• Sexual Violence is a culturally sensitive issue in Yemen, however respondents in Abys, Haradh and Mustaba noted an increase in sexual violence incidents during the conflict, with the risk highest for those under 14, while in the fields, on the way to school, at home and while collecting firewood.
• Link with UNFPA for referral pathways, messages on sexual violence and the development of Standard Operating procedures for responding to Child Survivors of sexual violence.

Recruitment and Use of Armed Forces and Groups

• Most districts noted that children were working for armed forces and groups, with boys the most likely to be associated. This was corroborated by direct observation.
• Continue and extend Monitoring and Reporting mechanism and establish release and reintegration programmes.

Community Support Mechanisms and Coping Strategies of Children

• The main stress of caregivers is the lack of food and loss of livelihoods and education, they also holds fears for their children’s safety, kidnapping and abduction of children.
• The biggest sources of fear for children were tension within the family, fear of attacks, kidnapping and abduction and separation from family.
• It is recommended to learn more about the fear of abduction and kidnapping of children in order to urgently act and address the issue if needed.
• Establish community based mechanisms, and continuance of Child Friendly Spaces, linking with schools with the objective of increasing enrolment.

Backgroundand Situation

Since December 2011 there has been conflict in the Northern Governorates between the Al-Houthis and armed Salafist supporters particularly around theAhim area of Hajjah governorate resulting in the displacement of approximately 1,600 families, in addition to approximately 100,000 already displaced within the district. Humanitarian access continued to be constrained in Hajjah governorate, due to the fighting.

The parties agreed to a truce on 11 June; after sporadic fighting another truce came into effect on 29 June. The ceasefire between the Al-Houthis and pro-Salafist local tribes in Ahim, Hajja ended by 15 July, since then fighting has been continuing until now.

Previous Child Protection assessment in the areas of Sa’ada, Hajjah, Al Jawf, Amran & Sana’a Governorates in May 2010, showed that one in three children reported feeling unsafe, sad or frustrated, suffered from diminished hope, fear, anger and hatred as well as experiencing difficulty sleeping. One in four experienced difficulties concentrating, and establishing trustful relationships. One in five children reported having nightmares and losing interests in carrying out everyday activities.

The civil unrest and armed conflict has further increased vulnerabilities among households leading to increased exposure of children to violence, abuse and exploitation. The current situation with the total breakdown of public services has left many households going through further economic hardship with increased level of poverty, where many families are using negative coping mechanisms which includes children being taken out of schools and engaged in child labour.

The Child Protection subcluster, Unicef and MOSAL engaged to collaborate on a joint Child Protection assessment with which to prioritise and frame response. Twenty six participants from different local and international organizations and governmental staff members of the child protection working group in Haradhparticipated in the assessment in seven targeted districts in Northern ofHajjah governorate.

Child Protection information received through operational agencies and IDPs suggested incidents of separated and unaccompanied children, gender based violence, threats to children’s safety and security, cases of abandonment and recruitment and use of children in armed forces and groups.

The subcluster decided that an assessment of the protection risks for children needed to be conducted to not only inform the emergency response but also to allow for a review of the protection risks being highlighted within response in Hajjah. An inter-agency child protection assessment was therefore designed to provide actors with a necessary common reference point for the response in terms of identified child protection risks and priorities. The information produced through this exercise could also inform longer term child protection systems strengthening work.

Introduction to the Rapid Assessment

UNICEF and MOSAL with representatives from the child protection organizations and actors members of the CPWG participated in the assessment in sevendistricts in Hajjah Governorate, during Ramadan, August 2012. The assessment was carried out as a group process including the planning, data collection, analysis and report and recommendations drafting. The process used Key Informant Interviews and Direct Observation. Given the ongoing conflict and the precarious security situation, the safety of staff was a high priority. Due to the constraints the manner in which the assessment was able to be conducted varied from place to place. The global Child Protection Rapid Assessment (CPRA) tool was used as the base for the exercise; the tools were adapted to the context and translated into Arabic.

The data collection was carried out between the 26 July and the 12th August, the data being revised and supervised by the team leaders and consolidated by the assessment coordinator. All the assessment forms were then sent to Sana’a where the data entry took place between 26th July and 12th August, with the data entry occurring in Sana’a between the 14th-26th August.The CPWG Coordinator met with all assessment teams to debrief and go through the interpretation of the results, with support from the global CPWG. The rapid response team member provided instrumental support in supervising the process while being deployed in Yemen to fill the capacity gap in the absence of Child Protection Sub-Cluster/Area of responsibility coordinator.

The core objectives of the assessment were to:

• Gather a quick idea of the children protection risks and issues that were exacerbated by the conflict and political uprising.
• To develop a baseline data set for use in evidence based response prioritisation.
• For use as an advocacy tool for child protection issues in Hajjah
• To understand trends between the seven districts.
• To identify areas where there are emergency programmatic gaps
• To develop an emergency response plan for identified geographical areas for identified issues and provide recommendations for strengthening child protection services.

Methodology

The Child Protection Rapid Assessment, a tool developed by the global CPWG, was adapted to the Yemeni context and used for this exercise. The CPRA is a qualitative assessment that uses purposive sampling to assess several child protection risk areas and the coping mechanisms used by children. The assessment tool used in Yemen includes a desk review, key informant interviews and direct observations. Since the tool had already been used in Yemen in conducting rapid assessments in the southern governorates of the country, lessons learned and challenges were known and incorporated and taken into consideration in this assessment which made it successful and finalized in shorter period of time.

1. Sampling and Geographic Scope

Coordination to select the sites for assessment was carried out at two levels, through the CPWG in Haradh, and through a separate coordination meeting with MOSAL.

The number and the locations of the sites were determined areas understood to have high needs. While the information was collected at the site level, this report reviews the findings per district. See Table #1 for the breakdown of sites and KIIs per region.

District / Number of sites surveyed / Number of rural sites / Type of site / Number of Men KIs / Number of Women KIs
Kushar / 6 / 3 / Conflict area, no known IDPs / 214 Men / 4 Women
Washhahah / 5 / 6 / Conflict area, 1 IDP site / 178 Men / 7 Women
KhyranALmuharaq / 6 / 3 / Semi-conflict area with a lot of scattered camps / 131 Men / 22 Women
Mustaba / 5 / 3 / Semi-conflict area with two small scattered camps / 224 Men / 26 Women
Haradh / 3 / 1 / 2 IDP sites / 30 Men / 76 Women
Abys / 3 / 2 / 1 IDP site / 83 Men / 18 Women
Hayran / 1 / 1 / 1 IDP site / 56 Men / 42 Women
TOTAL / 29 / 19 / 11 IDP sites / 916 men / 195 women

1. Assessment Teams

Assessors were drawn primarily from organisations working in Child Protection in Hajjah and MOSAL within the CPWG members.

District / Number of Assessors / Males / Females
Kushar / 6 / 6 / 0
Washha / 6 / 6 / 0
KhyranALmuharaq / 3 / 2 / 1
Mustaba / 3 / 2 / 1
Haradh / 2 / 1 / 1
Abys / 2 / 0 / 2
Hayran / 2 / 1 / 1
TOTAL / 24 / 18 / 6

1. Instruments

Tool adaptation

The first round of tool adaptions to the Southern Yemen emergency context was done by Unicef and MOSAL. The questionnaire was translated into Arabic. Lessons learnt from the Southern assessment were taken into consideration, including improving some of the question phraseology.

Key Informant Interviews

The assessment teams selected the key informants using a list of criteria defined in the CPRA guide. A key informant was any adult who could provide information or opinion about child protection issues, as specified in the adapted tools. Key informants were identified on the basis of whether the team was confident they could provide a representation of the views or situation of children within selected sites. Another criterion was whether the key informant’s personal experience was representative of the community.

Direct Observation

The CPRA used direct observation to triangulate the findings from the key informant interviews. Team members followed the direct observation form to conduct both structured and unstructured observation. This was particularly helpful to cross check the recruitment information provided by Key Informants due to its sensitivity and as a result reluctance to report about.

1. Training of the assessment teams:

Assessors were all experienced psychosocial counselors, child protection workers and human rights monitors, and were well versed in the issues addressed by the assessment, training was provided on child protection in emergencies and the rapid assessment tool prior to data collection.

Where possible, all assessment teams were made up of both male and female assessors and were divided into four teams to conduct the assessment. At most sites, briefings were held with community members about the purpose of the assessment.

1. Data collection

The data was obtained from 1111 key informants and direct observations conducted in 29sites. The teams arrived to preselected sites and first gained permission from the community leaders before conducting key informant interviews and direct observations. The key informants were selected by either a recommendation from a community leader or by purposively finding desired key informants such as teachers, social workers, health workers and other informants that might have information about the state of children in the community.

1. Data processing

The data collected from the field was reviewed and checked by the assessment coordinator in Sana’a. The technical advisor entered the data into a Microsoft Excel tool that is a part of the CPRA toolkit, adapted for the Yemen context. The outputs of the Excel file are the graphs included in this report.

G.Analysis and interpretation

The process of analysis and interpretation of the data collected involved multiple levels. The first level of analysis and interpretation was carried out by the assessment teams during the process of conduction the interviews. The second level of analysis was conducted by the assessment coordinator and recommendations finalised with MOSAL and the CPWG.

Limitations and Challenges:

1. Access & Security

• Due to the on-going conflict, access and time was limited throughout Kushar, Washahah and particularly in areas that have been controlled by AlHouthis. Where the assessment was conducted in AlHouthis areas (particularly KhyranAmuharaq and Mustaba) special precautions were taken for the security of staff. The highly insecure areas were a critical challenge in addition to sensitivity of some child protection issues which in some cases led the assessors to make the decision to remove questions on sexual violence and recruitment and use of children in armed conflict in order to protect themselves and the key informants.
• In AlHouthis areas the majority of assessment teams did not include female respondents because they felt their acceptability to report and security would be a higher risk.

2. Cultural & Gender Dynamics: