The Alliance for the Protection of Children Project is a 3-year initiative implemented by American Institutes for Research (AIR) with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development. The project aims to leverage local assets and strengthen the protection of children exposed to abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence in Haiti. The project will support strategic objectives of the U.S. Agency for International Development and the government of Haiti to strengthen the protection of vulnerable children.
The project will focus on four distinct phases: research, design of pilot interventions, implementation of pilot interventions, and evaluation and learning for scale-up. The research phase will involve investigating the problem of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence against children using several different research methods, including a positive deviance approach. This approach highlights local innovation and wisdom, and is used to identify outliers or observable exceptions that challenge the status quo.
The research team conducted key informant interviews (KIIs) with community leaders, community members, and child protection entities in the Northeast and Southeast departments of Haiti. The goal of the research was to better understand the problem, understand those affected by the problem from various perspectives, and examine how the problem is being addressed by different actors in these communities. The research team consisted of representatives from Université d’Etat d’Haiti, Zanmi Lasante, Combite pour la Paix et le Développement, and Restavek Freedom.
The data were collected through 28 KIIs: 14 in Northeast and 14 in Southeast. Key informants were recruited to represent three broad categories: public service entities, international organizations, and local organizations. The research team used a positive deviance approach to identify outliers or observable exceptions that challenged the status quo. The findings from the KIIs are presented in this report, which describes the perspectives on the problem, roles, and responsibilities related to the defined problem, identification of children and the lack thereof as the root cause of sustained patterns of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence, and an example of positive deviance and fledgling results.
The research findings indicate that the problem of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence against children in Haiti is complex and multifaceted. The key informants identified several factors that contribute to the problem, including lack of coordination among organizations and personnel responsible for child protection, lack of identification and monitoring of children, and lack of awareness and understanding of child protection issues. The research also identified several positive deviants, or individuals who have found innovative solutions to address the problem of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and violence against children.
The findings from the research will inform the design of evidence-based pilot interventions that will leverage local assets and strengthen child protection efforts in Haiti. The project will prioritize child protection through this program, specifically reducing violence against children, mitigating the trafficking and forced labor of children, protecting unaccompanied and separated migrant, stateless, and displaced children, integrating street children into safer learning and care spaces, preventing the separation of children from their families, and exploring alternative care and protection services.