Child Protection Systems: Mapping and Assessment Toolkits Users' Guide

The Child Protection System Mapping and Assessment Toolkit is designed to respond to the child protection strategy to "develop and apply an analytic tool for mapping and assessing existing child protection policies, laws and services for adequacy and to identify obstacles and opportunities in implementation, especially in reaching vulnerable or excluded groups". The Users' Guide explains the development and testing of the two toolkits, comprehensive and core, and how to implement them.

The toolkits' contents draws from an array of materials representing thinking in child protection from around the world. It was tested in seven countries - Bangladesh, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guatemala, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, and Tunisia [See the related summary below for a description of this evaluation and its recommendations.] - and input from a reference group of practitioners and academics from various child protection perspectives.

The first, a Comprehensive Toolkit, allows countries to undertake a thorough mapping of their child protection systems and to obtain a clearer picture of the strengths and gaps in those systems. The second, a Core Toolkit, provides for a more narrow mapping and assessment of a country, focusing on key elements of the system. This version is aimed to serve countries with limited capacity or difficult emergency contexts. Both versions are designed to be consistent with one another, and each can be customised to the country's context. The Users' Guide applies to both.

"The ultimate objective is to support the development of comprehensive effective and efficient child protection systems, appropriately structured and resourced, to reach and cater to children and their families. The Toolkit is intended to help users to identify and prioritize actions which will contribute to this process."

Click here to access the toolkits in Excel format.