1) A Child-Friendly Space is a safe place set up in a disaster-affected community where

children's unique needs can be met. These spaces help children return to a normal
routine by offering activities, games and informal education.
 
World Vision recognizes that when emergencies occur, children are often the most
susceptible to injury, exploitation, abuse and other dangers. Child-Friendly Spaces are
one of the ways we prioritize the care and protection of children in emergency
situations.
 
How do Child-Friendly Spaces benefit children?
Child-Friendly Spaces offer children a safe place to play and the support they need to
deal with grief and loss. The centres are available to all children in a community, no
matter how they’ve been affected by the disaster.
 
Child-Friendly Spaces provide things like:

 Fun activities, such as games, sports, singing, drama and puppet-making

 Informal learning opportunities in reading, basic hygiene and life lessons
 A chance for children to express their feelings of fear and loss through creative
play, stories and group interactions
 Distribution of things like lunch boxes, water bottles, books and drawing
equipment to supplement the basic survival items World Vision distributes to
families
 Help to reunite separated children with their families
 Protection and referrals for orphans, abused children or disabled children
(children are referred to specialized services whenever possible)
 A chance for parents to go about their daily activities without worrying about
their children's safety. After emergencies, children can be injured from playing in
collapsed buildings and houses.

How do Child-Friendly Spaces benefit communities and families?

Whenever possible, our programs are carried out with local partners such as community
associations, national development groups and churches. Local volunteers and youth
help organize activities for children, and can benefit from their own support group
discussions.
 
World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.
 
World Vision builds upon a community's traditional coping mechanisms and focuses on
reconnecting children with family members, friends and neighbours. Child-Friendly
Spaces assure the safety of a community's youngest members by offering indoor and
outdoor activity areas, waste disposal, latrines, washing facilities and potable water.
 
Where has World Vision offered Child-Friendly Spaces?
In the early days of a disaster, World Vision assessments community needs and
determines whether a Child-Friendly Space is an appropriate intervention or support.
Then, World Vision moves quickly by sending for equipment, recruiting volunteers and
considering potential locations.
 
When you give to World Vision's emergency response fund, you're helping us ensure
that children are cared for during crises and emergencies.

2) While there is growing evidence for the effectiveness of mental health interventions in low- and middle-
income countries and humanitarian contexts, this is lacking for psychosocial programming. We aimed to
summarise the evidence for psychosocial programming in these contexts through a systematic review
(PROSPERO: CRD42017069066) of peer-reviewed and grey literature of programme evaluations. A total
of n = 42,435 unique records were initially identified, with n = 211 records meeting full inclusion criteria.
We identified 51 randomised controlled trials of 47 different interventions. The remaining studies used
different evaluation methodology. Only three interventions had more than one experimental/quasi-
experimental evaluation: Brief Intervention and Contact, Problem Management Plus and Child Friendly
Spaces. While there are many studies of interventions, it was challenging to identify the same
intervention across studies, leaving almost no interventions with more than one rigorous study supporting
their use and many interventions that are poorly described. This makes it difficult to choose between
them or even to implement them. Future research should focus on replication of well-described
interventions in multiple different sites, to place future intervention selection on a more scientific basis.
There is also a need to better understand the impact of psychosocial programmes in sectors other than
health and protection, such as nutrition. These sectors may provide critical delivery mechanisms for
psychosocial programming to broaden the reach of such interventions.
Key implications for practice
  Efforts to build the evidence base for psychosocial programming in humanitarian settings are challenged by
the breadth of programming delivered, populations served and outcomes targeted in this field, resulting in
predominantly one-off studies of a wide range of interventions.
 To inform future intervention selection, research initiatives should focus on replication of well-described
interventions in multiple contexts or stages of humanitarian response.
 Rigorous evaluation of community-focused psychosocial programmes is also needed.

Scientific Evaluation of the Psychosocial Impacts of

Baby Friendly Spaces in Low-Resource Humanitarian
Settings (Bangladesh)

Lead Implementation Partner: Action Contre la Faim (ACF)

Lead Research Partner: University of Virginia (UVA) and Johns Hopkins University (JHU)
Study Setting: Bangladesh
Study Overview:
Recognizing the critical role of maternal mental health in addressing the health and development
of children in emergencies, Action Contre La Faim/Action Against Hunger (ACF) developed the
Baby Friendly Spaces (BFS) program. BFS is a holistic, evidenced-based psychosocial support
(PSS) program implemented as a part of child malnutrition prevention services that aims to
enhance mothers’ wellbeing, internal resources, and child care practices skills in order to create a
buffer against the deleterious health and developmental impacts of humanitarian crisis on
children. This study will evaluate BFS’s effectiveness for improving conflict-affected mothers’
psychosocial well-being and supporting child development and growth among Rohingya mothers
and children living in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
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Photo Credit: 1. Shuvro Biswas; 2. Sakera Begum; 3. Md. Rafiq