How We Work: global advocacy

Our mission at Hope and Homes for Children is to be the catalyst for the global elimination of institutional care of children. To achieve this, we work with civil society organisations, governments and funders. We work in partnership with children, their families and communities and together, we develop institution-free child protection systems. 

Read more below to learn more about our advocacy work, our global impact, our coalitions and our publications. 

Changing decision-makers’ hearts and minds 

The key focus of our advocacy is to change the hearts and minds of policy makers and others who have the authority to act and take decisions that will improve children’s lives. 

Our advocacy contributes to creating the key conditions for change across all countries and regions where we operate. We secure high-level political will, disseminate evidence and practical knowledge, strengthen civil society and mobilise resources for child-protection reform. 

We achieve this in a number of ways: 

1. Evidence of success

We use evidence from our programmes around the world to show governments and civil society organisations that care reform can work and to advocate for change on a bigger scale. 

2. Persuading decision makers

We persuade governments, donors and international organisations to enact laws and policies that deliver meaningful change. We keep track of how they are implementing them  and support our teams around the world to hold their governments to account.

3. Building skills

We strengthen the capacity of our partners around the world to advocate effectively and we support the development of national and international alliances to help them build their effectiveness.

4. Bringing voices together 

We amplify the voices of individuals and organisations that share the goal of ending institutionalisation of children through our global campaigns. 

5. Securing global support

We target global influencers such as the European Union, UN agencies and development donors, to secure their support and mobilise resources. 

6. International partnerships 

We work in partnership with UN and international agencies around the world to build awareness, exchange knowledge and secure a place on the agenda for care reform for children. 

Our EU Advocacy

The European Union is a  unique political body with huge potential to act as an agent of change for its citizens and beyond its borders. As a key political player and major funder of international development, the EU can impact the lives of millions of children for the better, provided its resources are adequately allocated. The EU can and should set the highest of standards for policies protecting all children and ensuring they grow up in safe, healthy, and loving family environments – both within the EU and around the world. 

Often working with fellow European NGOs and networks, we engage with EU officials at multiple levels, political and technical alike. Our aim is to ensure that the EU prioritises and actively supports, both in policy and legislative frameworks and funding instruments and programmes, the transition from institutional to family-and-community-based care, within its borders and beyond.  

At the European level, we strive to build and maintain partnerships with like-minded organisations within the civil society landscape.  We are active members of Eurochild, the EU Alliance in Investing for Children, and the Children’s Rights Action Group (CRAG).  

We have contributed to raise awareness among European decision-makers on the issue of the institutionalisation of children. Among our key advocacy achievements, we have secured, along with partners, the explicit acknowledgement to the need for transitioning from institutional to family-and community-based care systems in seminal EU policy frameworks and instruments such as the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument.

The United Nations 

The UN is unmatched as a global platform that defines issues of global strategic importance. Our fight to bring an end to the institutionalisation of children and to make institutions unacceptable requires a shift in focus from governments everywhere. If the UN and its bodies acknowledge in statements, resolutions, policies the harm of institutionalisation and commit to care reform, the world must take notice. If the UN’s human rights committees were to consistently frame institutionalisation as a human rights issue, countries would be more likely to take action and prioritise care reform.

Asia 

Much of the proliferation of orphanages around the world is taking place in Asia yet much remains to be done to bring Asian experiences of care reform to the global level.  Our work in Asia seeks to mobilise care reform efforts and support national and regional initiatives.  

Read about the BICON conference on Alternative Care for Children in Asia that we co-hosted. 

Africa 

Across Africa there is a growing movement for care reform.  We play an active part through regional coalitions and ensure that regional perspectives are included in global conversations.  We also engage with care reform processes at the national level notably in Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa. 

UK 

The UK is one of the most significant donor countries in the world – spending almost 20 billion US dollars on official development assistance (ODA) in 2018.  Our advocacy towards the UK has yielded strong results to date leading to the UK making an explicit policy statement on the harm of orphanages in 2018. Later the UK released travel advice against orphanage tourism and took steps to include orphanage trafficking in its policy guidance on modern slavery. Our UK advocacy is focused on ensuring that these strong commitments are matched by equally strong implementation in terms of the UK’s aid policies and programmes.  

Our Coalitions

Transform Alliance Africa

Transform Alliance Africa (TAA) brings together 18 partner organisations, from 10 countries, committed to working together for an Africa free of orphanages, where all children belong and grow up in safe and loving families.   As a founding member, Hope and Homes for Children is actively involved in TAA and its work to persuade governments across Africa to take action for care reform.

Learn more about Transform Alliance Africa…

Global Collaborative Platform on Transforming Children’s Care. 

We value partnership and we know that when we pool our voices with like-minded organisations around the world we can reach more people and bring about change faster.  We are proud to be an active member of the Global Collaborative Platform on Transforming Children’s Care. 

Learn more about the Global Collaborative Platform on Transforming Children’s Care…

Opening Doors Campaign (2013-2019) 

We have been an initiator and key partner in the ‘Opening Doors for Europe’s Children’ campaign. Between 2013 and 2019, the Opening Doors campaign ran at EU level and across 16 European countries, bringing together 124 organisations, around a common vision: to end the use of institutions for children in Europe. Since 2017, our joint advocacy has contributed to secure a renewed commitment for EU funds to support c care reform for children in the 2021-2027 period. 

Read more about the campaign…

Our latest publications 

We regularly produce publications and resources to help influence decision-makers and support other organisations to close orphanages and effectively advocate for childcare reform. These are three of our latest publications. 

Explore all Publications

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