MEMBER SERVICE
Case Study template
What is a Case Study?
A Case Study is an individual’s story. It tells the reader how Save the Children’s work has made a difference in the life of a child or his or her family.
Name(s), gender, age: / Lu Xueqing, 11, female
Location - village/town, district/province and country: / Longmen township, Ya’an prefecture, Sichuan province, China
Keywords - themes: / Humanitarian, Child Protection
2. Summary: please describe the interviewee’s day-to-day life and environment.
Lu Xueqing (not her real name), 11, lives in Longmen township, Ya’an prefecture, Sichuan province, China with her parents and elder sister. Her father works in Hebei Province while her mother stays home. Her elder sister is studying in Sichuan Normal University, majored in arts.
The family lives close to the area where the 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Ya’an prefecture on April 20th, 2013. Three people in their community were killed, 174 injured and 98 per cent of the buildings were damaged.
The family had to live in a tent near Xueqing’s grandfather’s home, as the houses of grandfather is low, but Xueqing continued to experience nightmares and displayed signs of distress. She closed herself off; sitting in a corner at home staring into space, and walking off angrily when the boys joked about the earthquake. She dared not to sleep alone. Her grades slipped, and her teacher found it hard to engage her in the classroom.
Save the Children held a psychosocial first aid training program to train volunteers to help children to cope with distress in the aftermath of an earthquake. 50 child-friendly spaces were set up, including one in Xueqing’s village. She began to attend activities with her friends, developing special interest in art and dance. Along with her dance group, they performed in several public events. Through the recovery process, Xueqing has matured, becoming more sociable and responsible.
Xueqing hopes to be a dancer when she grows up.
3. The story: interviewee’s story in his or her own words. Please use exact words with direct quotes.
“I was in my room when the earthquake happened. I heard the windows smash; my mother grabbed my shoulder and we ran. We ran and sat under a tree until the tremors stopped. Then we ran to an open field next to our neighbour’s home. We waited for them to come out before we ran together to safety.”
“I like drawing best. I like to draw beautiful scenery and flowers. I draw many different little flowers in red, gold, blue, pink, orange and purple. The largest flower I’ve drawn is a sunflower with little green leaves. I think I draw quite well, so it makes me happy.”
“On 27th June 2013, Yiling and I went to the child friendly space to look for Teacher Ma. He found some music on the internet and we began dancing in the courtyard.”
“[We performed for the first time] at the half-time break of a basketball game.”
“The second time we performed was at an athletics meet and the third was at a gathering to welcome the college student volunteers. Everyone started to dance behind us. Upon hearing the applause, I was happier than I’d ever been. I can’t think of anything that makes me happier.”
“In drawing ‘our greatest dream,’ I drew the girls and I dancing on a stage. If I have the opportunity, I will continue to dance. I told Teacher Ma that I would like to be a professional dancer.”
“I go to the child friendly space every day.”
4. Wider context
4.1 Program summary and background information.
On April 20th, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan Province, killing at least 190 people and leaving thousands injured.
Save the Children deployed a rapid assessment team to the worst-affected areas in the province on April 21st. The team brought with them initial relief supplies worth about 44,000RMB (US$7,700), including towels, sanitary napkins, soaps, hand sanitizer, raincoats, plastic tarp, toilet paper and baby diapers.
Save the Children’s response has focused on 4 administrative areas of Ya’an Prefecture, including Lushan County (hardest hit by the earthquake), Tianquan County, Baoxing County and Yucheng District.
Save the Children has also supported the development of 50 CFSs. 2 rounds of training delivered to around 100 CSO staff and volunteers who are operating the CFS as well as CFS management team. Regular monitoring and support visit have been arranged and 45 CSOs are able to deliver basic service tochildren in CFSs. Save the Children developed the project technical support plan and 2 round of technical support by short term consultants have been carried out for the project management team.
Healing through the arts (HEART) has been integrated into the Early Childhood Care and Development program which is added on to the Child-friendly spaces.
Save the Children is also training maternal and child health hospital on overall health interventions.
4.2 Follow-up: Is the individual in the beginning, middle or end of an activity/program with Save the Children?
If he or she is still taking part in an activity/program in the future please explain when a follow-up story could be planned i.e.: six months, one year later etc.
Is this a follow-up from an earlier Case Study? If so, please add a link to the earlier Case Study.
4.3 Family, community leader, health worker, teacher, partner etc. quotes. Please ensure that you have the correct names, (job) title and organisation for each person quoted.
Xueqing’s mother said:
“After the earthquake, she always slept closest to the door, so that she can escape quickly in the event of an aftershock.”
“She often grabs my hand, afraid that something is about to happen.”
“She was afraid that there was an aftershock.”
“She began to change when the child-friendly space was opened.”
“Now she dares to sleep alone in her room.”
Xueqing’s friend, Lu Yiling (not her real name)said:
“After the earthquake, she didn’t smile for a long time. She often sat in a corner staring into space and it’s unclear what she’s thinking about.”
“For some time, when the boys started joking about the earthquake, she would walk away angrily. When people ask ‘what was going through your mind when the earthquake hit?’, Xueqing would quiet down and start pondering to herself.”
“I always invited her to attend the activities in the CFS at the beginning, but now it is she who pushes me to attend the CFS’s activities. I can see that she likes the CFS very much, willing to play and communicate with children here.” Manager of the child friendly space, Mr Ma Zhiyong said:
“I came to Luojia dam in May. On my first night, a group of children including Xueqing and Yiling to see me.”
“She supported my participation in the Chinese and English reading, learning methods, and summer tuition group.”
“One day, a relative of Xueqing told me that Xueqing and her friends wanted to learn to dance and asked if she could borrow my computer as she did not own any music. I said yes.”
“Watching them perform, other children are also enticed to join them. Xueqing gave her dance team a name Yumai flower dance group. They have their own uniform and a teacher helps them to choreograph the dances.”
“In August, a sexual abuse class was held but everyone was too shy to speak up. Xueqing stood up and took the initiative to draw the part. In our child protection class, Xueqing played the part of a neglected child, and was flawless in her performance. We believe that in the new semester, her study performance will also be improved.”
Teacher Gao, Teacher Ma’s assist in the CFS, said:
“It was hard to get her to answer any questions when she first took part in our activities in the CFS. She would lookyou in the eye, bury her head in her arms on the table and would only speak up when you pull her up from that position.”
“She has matured, and has started to think for others.”
4.4 Expert quotes. Please ensure that you have the correct names, (job) title and organisation for each person quoted. This is optional as experts may not always be available.
5. Theory of Change: How we work to create impact for children
The Save the Children Theory of Change shows how we achieve change for children: striving to create impact for children by being innovative, by acting as the voice for and of children, and by achieving results at scale.
5.1 Overall impact: Please explain how Save the Children addressed the challenges/problem and describe the results.
The 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Ya’an caused many children to suffer from distress, especially in Lushan, Baoxing and Tianquan Counties ofYa’an prefecture. According to a local school principal, about 60 to 70 children started to display signs of distress.
Save the Children supported a child protection civil society network to set up 50 child-friendly spaces in the quake-affected areas. This provides children with a space to play, learn and talk through their experience, in order to regain a sense of normalcy. At present, there are 3500 children attending activities at these child-friendly spaces.
Save the Children conducted three training workshops for volunteers from the civil society network, covering the CFS management skills, how to work with children and organize child activities, as well as child protection and psychosocial aid knowledge, with about 210 participants learning to help children overcome post-disaster distress.
5.2 Innovation: does this story include a new solution to address an unmet need of children? Please explain the new processes, products, services, methods of delivery. Only write something if there is a specific example of innovation.
It is important that children caught up in disasters receive the psychosocial support they need to recover. This is not a professional child psychologist clinic and the volunteers are not professional psychologists. From a child protection perspective, after extensive research and design, we found that supporting and encouraging children to participate in group activities and talk through their experience have been crucial in helping them to recover.
The innovation of this project is its ability to mobilise a large group of civil society organisations to set up many child-friendly spaces within a short space of time. The construction, set up and design of the child friendly spaces have been pre-determined, ensuring that they can be implemented at scale fairly quickly. Additionally, these child-friendly spaces also tried to change a comprehensive aim into some specific sub-aims so that they could be implemented much more easily, for example, to promote the health habit of children, tell them key messages such as washing hands with soap before lunch, etc. The child-friendly space also provided some room for the participating civil society organisations to integrate other programs in, such as education on child abuse and good hygiene practices.
From this example, we have seen that child friendly space managers are able to focus their energy on the needs of children from the get-go, organize fun activities for any the children’s interests, resulting in children regaining a sense of normalcy and recovering from any distress caused by the disaster.
5.3 Voice: Please describe if you have been able to advocate for better practices and policies or ensure children’s voices are heard.
5.4 Partnerships: Please describe if you have been able to cooperate with or build partnerships through this program.
Save the Children and One Foundation formed a partnership for this program, with Save the Children serving as a technical expert. Since 2011, Save the Children and One Foundation have worked closely together in disaster recovery work in China. In May 2012, One Foundation invited Save the Children to support the flood affected population of Gansu province with a child-friendly space. At the end of 2012, both parties started a centre for children, to increase the capacity of the civil society to support children especially in times of emergencies. This project in Sichuan is the third time both organisations have worked together to support post-disaster victims.
Prior to this project, Save the Children had fewer than 10 local partners in Sichuan. Following this project, we formed up to 45 partnerships and relationships with local NGOs working in Sichuan from different provinces, in order to reach out to more children in these vulnerable areas. This is a key strength of the civil society network in China – with the ability to mobilise a large number of NGOs in a short space of time.
5.5 Results at scale: Please describe if program achievements are occurring beyond a local level at a larger scale. Only write something if there is a specific example of results at scale.
The child-friendly space is Save the Children and One Foundation’s child protection project as part of the humanitarian response to the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. One Foundation is now China’s largest organisation, with the aim of creating a platform for public welfare and capacity building. In this project, using One Foundation’s platform, we managed to reach out to 45 local NGOs from 10 different provinces in China. Prior to this project, none of these NGOs had ever conducted child friendly space by themselves in the disaster affected areas. These NGOs now recognise Save the Children’s expertise in child protection, psychosocial support, and are using our psychosocial first aid model in their respective programming areas.
6. Please create three different short key messages about this case study.
7. Child protection and consent issues.
7.1 Please confirm that you have followed Save the Children child protection policies and have completed full consent forms for the child and/or family, and every individual you have quoted and photographed.
Tick box to confirm: o Yes
7.2 Protection notes: If you have changed the name of an interviewee or have changed information that could lead to their identification for protection reasons, please outline the reasons.
The children’s names in the case study were changed to protect their identity.
8. Case study reference information
Interviewer: / Mr. Liang Meng, the Communications Specialist of Save the Children China Program
Photographer: / Mr. Zhang Yanfei, Supporting officer for Save the Children China Program
Photo reference name/number. Please save the photo on your Member Service country website in original image file format. Please do not insert the photo into the template.
Approved for use by:
Approval for use is given by the Country Office. / Qian Xiaofeng, the Communications Manager for China Program.
Date: / September 10, 2013
Instructions for further use/further permissions required: When using this Case Study please do not change any of what is written here. If you’re unsure about anything to do with its use or content, please contact the Member Service staff in the Country Office where the Case Study originated from.
Guidance for the Communications Materials templates: Case Study
The aim of the guidance is to give additional explanatory notes or examples of what is required for different key sections of the templates. In addition, there are references to existing Save the Children guidance.
A Case Study is an individual’s story. It tells the reader how Save the Children’s work has made a difference in the life of a child or his or her family.
Please write only one or two paragraphs for each of the sections that require descriptions.
Section 1. Background: Please provide basic information about the interviewee(s).
Name/s, gender, age – example: Abdullahi, male, 7 years old.
If a family is featured, please list as follows: Muskan, female, 23, and her sons Rehan, 6 months, and Faizal, 2 years.
For Keywords: themes – examples of themes include: health, hunger, education, teacher training, campaigning, conflict, advocacy, emergencies, breastfeeding etc.