Location: Sanischare camp
Time and Duration: January 2012 – Present
Population Groups: Refugees, asylum seekers, and host communities
Actors: UNHCR, Early Childhood Development Committee (EDCD), Seto Gurans, Lutheran World Federation (LWF)
An Early Childhood Development Center was established in early 2012, located in the host community area close to Sanischare refugee camp. The center provides full day care services for refugee and host community children aged 2-5 years, thereby facilitating their mothers’ participation in livelihood opportunities. The center has the capacity to accommodate for 30 children at one time and it is staffed with three trained individuals (2 from the refugee community and 1 from the host community). The center offers adequate care arrangements, access to age appropriate developmental activities as well as toys and games and access to health care. There is also an outdoor area available for activities. Food needs to be provided by the children’s own family members.
Child protection concerns are prevalent within the Bhutanese refugee camps. In late 2011, semi-structured interviews as well as focus group discussions were undertaken with single mothers, GBV survivors and community-based organizations working with children in the camps to identify major protection concerns for children below school age. Through these activities, issues identified included lack of adequate supervision for children whose parents work, concern around quality of care for children under 5 who have caregivers with disabilities or in situations where there is lack of (extended) family and/or community support, substance abuse issues, challenges for mothers who are minors, inability to access livelihoods or use vocational training skills due to lack of suitable care arrangements for child under 5 and lack of any service provisions specifically targeting children under 5.
In order to respond to some of these concerns, the idea of the ECDC emerged. It was decided that it would primarily seek to support women who for a variety of reasons would be unable to leave the house to earn an income or participate in other activities, as they then would not provide adequate care for their small children. Since the Center includes both refugee and host community children, it promotes peaceful coexistence between the refugee and host communities. One additional aspect in this regard is that it targets not only refugee women, but also local Nepali women (some of which are married to Bhutanese refugee men).
#Refugees #AsylumSeekers #UNHCR
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Publisher:
UNHCR
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(2012
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Type / Script:
Publication
in English
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Keywords:
REFUGEES, MIGRANTS, BHUTANESE, BHUTAN, MYANMAR REFUGEES, ASYLUM SEEKERS, DISPLACED PERSONS, REFUGEE ASSISTANCE, REFUGEE CAMPS, REFUGEE LAW, REFUGEE PLACEMENT, REFUGEE PROTECTION, REFUGEE STATUS, REFUGEE-RECEIVING COUNTRIES, RESETTLEMENT POLICY
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Thematic Group: UNHCR
:
Refugees and Migration
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Thesaurus:
13.01.00
- Protection Of And Assistance To Refugees And Displaced Persons
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Reference Link:
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