Taking action alongside local communities
The “Projet de renforcement intégral des droits de l’enfant” is the IBCR’s voluntary cooperation programme (VCP). It aims to strengthen all aspects of children’s rights in a manner that’s sustainable and lasting by:
- Improving the social wellbeing of children
- Increasing child protection
- Promoting and advocating for children’s rights
All children stand to benefit from the programme, though the focus is primarily on girls in low-income, marginalised and vulnerable communities.
Through the deployment of qualified specialists, VCP reinforces the capacities of partner organisations and supports their action for the protection of children and the promotion of their rights.
The VCP programme
- A 8 year project (2020 – 2028)
- 11 countries of intervention / 3 regions of the world
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Senegal and Togo
- North Africa: Morocco, Tunisia
- Latin America: Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru
- More than 30 partner organisations
- 250 volunteers deployed in partner organisations
Collaborating for a global strengthening
Through capacity building of partner organisations, members of civil society and national institutions, VCP aims to contribute in a comprehensive way to the improvement of child protection in the countries of intervention.
Beyond organisational support, the work of volunteers will enable the progressive strengthening of collaboration and coordination between all sectors and actors involved, to build a child protection system that respects and promotes children’s rights and needs, in all circumstances.
Voluntary Cooperation within the IBCR means:
- To work toward shared goals with our partners
- To encourage active participation from all child protection stakeholders
- To increase coordination between child protection stakeholders by ensuring they understand each others’ roles and responsibilities
- To increase the Canadian public’s awareness of and support for children’s rights around the world
VCP, for all children
The IBCR’s volunteer programme is both global and inclusive, and supports all children, with an emphasis on girls. The VCP drives home the message that children can—and should—provide input on decisions that concern them and actively promote their rights. Gender equality, the empowerment of girls and child participation are the programme’s core values.
Driving change with a social lab
The IBCR supports all actors with an interest in improving juvenile protection at the local, regional, national or international levels. That’s why we’re creating a social lab where ideas and resources can be pooled to support initiatives aimed at transforming child protection systems within the VCP programme’s target countries.
Concretely, the lab will help innovative child rights and advocacy projects get off the ground, while ensuring that gender equality remains a central consideration in these undertakings. Our social lab will enable all participants to be agents of change and active supporters of international best practices in child protection.
Our countries of intervention:
- Sub-Saharan Africa: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Madagascar, Senegal and Togo
- North Africa: Morocco, Tunisia
- Latin America: Colombia, Costa Rica, Honduras, Peru
Our team
Based in Montreal (Canada), the International Bureau for Children’s Rights has a team dedicated to voluntary cooperation, which works continuously with partners and volunteers. 3 regional representatives, based respectively in Costa Rica, Tunisia and Burkina Faso, also support the link between partners, volunteers and our team:
Emmanuelle Parent
Volunteer Cooperation Program Coordinator
Ève Bélanger
Officer in charge of operations for the Voluntary cooperation programme
Imane Jorho
Mobilization agent
Stéphanie Daigneault
VCP operation manager – Central and South America region
Mariama Dione
VCP operation manager – Subsaharan Africa
Our partners
We aim to collaborate with more than 30 partner organisations in 11 different countries. All of them are working to strengthen the protection of children and promote respect for their rights.
We believe that the most effective way to create deep and lasting change is to work directly with communities and collaborate with partners on the ground.
