From 20 to 28 October, in collaboration with the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the Bureau organised a global consultation on the importance of integrating the competency-based approach into the curricula of child protection professions and services.

For the occasion, some 40 experts from 17 different countries were mobilised in two separate processes – the first was held via zoom on 20 and 22 October, and the second was held face-to-face in Burkina Faso from 26 to 28 October. The aim of this global consultation process was to identify concrete ways in which professionals can change practice to integrate accountability to children in their services. Child protection is fundamentally about the availability, accessibility, adaptability, acceptability and quality of services for children, responding to their needs in a way that respects their rights and best interests. 

The publication that will result from this consultation will address the different ways in which the competency-based approach can be used to enable the professionalisation of contact with children, whether through training, recruitment of staff or the establishment of monitoring and complaints mechanisms. The final report will be available in January 2022.

For more than 10 years, the International Bureau for Children’s Rights has been working to professionalise services for children around the world by conducting inclusive and in-depth consultative processes involving hundreds of experts from around the world. Examples of our commitment include the development of child protection core competencies for defence and security forces (2011), the social work sector (2017), the justice sector (2019) and staff working with children deprived of liberty (2020).

Find out more about our key competency approach