About Us
Transform, a global philanthropic initiative of UBS Optimus Foundation aims to support some of the world’s most vulnerable children to grow up in families and family-based care, where they can access quality health and education, and reach their full potential, supported by a loving family and community.
Convening around aligned activities and shared outcomes, the program will work with and catalyze government and non-governmental child care organizations to work on a family-based care model for vulnerable children, all the time testing and learning, before replicating and scaling towards systemic change.
In India, NEEV Collective aims to build on the existing learnings and practices in the sector to spearhead the movement to prevent separation from family and subsequent institutionalization of children. The Collective will spearhead the movement to shift care reform priorities to prevent separation from family and subsequent institutionalization of children. It will address systems that can help families and communities care for their children and also those that can help prevent and protect children from harm. While doing this, the Collective will involve families, communities, and larger stakeholders, deeply and at every step of the way.
Guiding Principles
In order to successfully address this question and achieve our vision and intended impact, the Collective’s strategy will be informed by the following guiding principles.
1 Best Interest of the Child
All strategic decisions of the Collective will take into consideration “The Best Interest of the Child” as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the core of the NEEV Collective. When the child care and protection system is analyzed using this lens, it brings forth the following:
- Measures should be primarily used to support parents to enable children to grow up in their own families
- If the child cannot be looked after by their own family, then family-based solutions are better than institutional solutions
- Permanent solutions are better than temporary solutions
2 Systems Change Approach
- Invest in solutions that address the root causes of the problem rather than the symptoms
- Curate solutions that fundamentally alter larger structures causing breakdowns in the current child protection systems
3 Non-linear & Adaptive Solutions
- Solutions that have the ability to create non-linear scale (technology, data, research, evidence building) by adding to the ecosystem rather than replicating existing solutions
- Solutions that can be adapted depending upon the context of the community and family, particularly in a post COVID context
4 Sustainable Solutions
- This approach involves working closely with all stakeholders including government, communities, and families to identify solutions within the existing resources so they can be adopted within the system
Geographical Focus
NEEV aims to develop a holistic and replicable state model in Maharashtra.
Why Maharashtra?
Leading state promoting non-institutional care in India
Pioneer to introduce state guidelines on foster care
Among 9 states recognized and awarded by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, for effective implementation of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme.
Conducted pilot for foster care scheme in 5 districts, under which citizens can parent children from state-run child care institutions for a limited period of one to three years.
Hence, the Collective would like to develop a holistic and replicable model in the state of Maharashtra.
Programmatic and Ecosystem Strategic Priorities
Programmatic Priorities
- Empowering families
- Strengthening existing community-based safety nets
- Equipping nodal points within the child protection system
- Establishing local model of family-based care
Ecosystem Strategic Priorities
- Spotlight and create greater awareness
- Curate lessons and learnings to accelerate care reform
- Influence philanthropic capital towards prevention and family-based care
For children to remain and thrive in families, there is a need to redefine the child care ecosystem by putting equal emphasis on strengthening families and communities, reforming the existing system of child protection, and creating an enabling ecosystem.
The Transform NEEV Collective will invest in a replicable model in Maharashtra at the state level which has the potential to be scaled nationally and globally. Under each of the following prioritized initiatives, the Collective will invest in catalytic areas that can help families and the child protection system build a safe nurturing environment.
Programmatic Priorities
1 Empowering Families
- Improve access to mental health services and counseling for caregivers to help them create an enabling environment for their children
- Improve access-awareness-allocation of social protection schemes for families in vulnerable situations
To ensure that every child is able to realize their right to family, we need to adopt and invest in a preventive system of child protection. Generating evidence that this works to keep children safer and prevent harm will be a significant value-add to direct resources towards this space. Emphasis on mental health and positive parenting is an actively emerging area of intervention and a key sector whitespace which the Collective aims to tap into.
2 Strengthening existing community-based safety nets
- Drive efforts and measures to strengthen child care and protection lens in policies and practices of allied sectors
- Develop action oriented indicators, data and metrics to identify vulnerable families and children (pre-harm)reness-allocation of social protection schemes for families in vulnerable situations
While several organizations work towards improved child protection policies and schemes, there is a need to promote and embed a child-centric lens across cross-sector policies (such as education, health, urban planning, disaster management, etc.) to give the child the full spectrum of protective services. Literature, data, and efforts in the child protection space today are typically related to after the child has been harmed. There is emerging understanding of ‘pre-harm’ indicators and the Collective aims to build on this to identify families in distress to prevent harm.
3 Equipping nodal points within the child protection system
- Improve linkages across Child Welfare Committees (CWCs), local community-based structures such as Child Protection Committees (CPCs), and community members to shift perspectives towards keeping children in families
- Build supporting platforms and infrastructure to help CWCs and CPCs function more efficiently
While several organizations work towards improved child protection policies and schemes, there is a need to promote and embed a child-centric lens across cross-sector policies (such as education, health, urban planning, disaster management, etc.) to give the child the full spectrum of protective services. Literature, data, and efforts in the child protection space today are typically related to after the child has been harmed. There is emerging understanding of ‘pre-harm’ indicators and the Collective aims to build on this to identify families in distress to prevent harm.
4 Establishing local model of family-based care
- Support scaling of the foster care model in Maharashtra
- Develop models for rationalized institutionalization and repurposing of Child Care Institutions (CCIs) as safe spaces
Despite adopting policy measures that mandate institutionalization to be used as the last resort, lack of family-based alternative care forces the child protection system to institutionalize children. While there have been significant pilot initiatives there is a need for contextualization and development of local learning-based solutions. State government’s priorities and pilot are added incentives to invest and have the potential to create a ‘good practice’ model that would require significant government advocacy for wider acceptance.
4 Ecosystem Strategic Priorities
Spotlight and create greater awareness
Spotlight good practices, evidence, and progress to drive urgent action towards family-based care
Curate lessons and learnings to accelerate care reform
Promote exchange of learning and good practices within key stakeholders in the child protection sector
Influence philanthropic capital towards prevention and family-based care
Champion the need to drive philanthropic funding and attention to preventive strategies and family-based care
The Collective aspires to emerge as an important stakeholder in the child protection space, participating and leading the important sectoral conversations. It will engage in building the ecosystem to enable cross learning, participate in activities that spotlight prevention and family-based care, and engage in robust documentation and evidence generation. Through these efforts, the Collective aims to make a holistic impact in this sector and ensure sustainability of the learnings beyond the program period.
Get in touch
hello@transformneevcollective.com
