In 2009, the UN General Assembly welcomed the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children (A/RES/64/142). The Guidelines provide authoritative guidance on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and other international standards relevant to children’s care. Since their inception, the Guidelines have been promoted through a variety of approaches including training, country assessments and the development of resources led by a range of agencies at national and international level. In 2013, a handbook entitled ‘Moving Forward: Implementing the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children’ was published in six languages. In May this year, a new massive online open course (MOOC) ‘Getting Care Right for All Children’ was launched, which delves into what the UN Guidelines look like in practice. However, it is difficult for countries to track their progress in implementing the standards they set out. To address this challenge, the ‘Tracking Progress Initiative’ was established by an inter-agency group* to develop a tool to support countries measure progress in the implementation of the Guidelines. The Tracking Tool is a free web-based diagnostic and learning tool to enable national actors (governments, children’s service providers, NGOs, civil society, academics and others) to work together to determine the extent to which a state or region has effectively implemented the Guidelines, and the priorities for change still ahead. It uses an open source platform to support maximum interactivity and sustainability. Both the tool and the data contained in it can be updated on a regular basis to provide measurement over time of progress in implementation.
The Tool goes ‘live’ today at this conference and several countries are already planning to use it to begin tracking their progress in implementing the Guidelines for children!
* The Steering Group for the initiative was composed of Better Care Network, CELCIS, Eurochild, Family for Every Child, Hope and Homes for Children, International Social Service (ISS), RELAF, Save the Children, SOS Children's Villages International, UNICEF and a member of the Committee on the Rights of the Child
