This Advocacy Resource Pack has been developed by the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action to support members in advocating for child protection amid funding cuts, shifting priorities, and humanitarian reform. It is a live document and regularly updated to reflect the evolving context. The information provided is based upon ongoing analysis of the situation and critical information shared by our members and partners. For more information contact: advocacywg@alliancecpha.org and elspeth.chapman@alliancecpha.org.
Contents
- Updates
- 🆕 Impact of Funding Cuts on Child Protection
- Advocacy Recommendations
- Guidance on Advocacy and Next Steps
- Useful Resources
Updates
(Re)Prioritisation
🆕 Discussions and decisions on the re-prioritisation process are now winding down and efforts are being made by the Alliance and across the sector to understand and map the extent and impacts of re-prioritisation. This analysis will seek to inform next steps and responses. Future updates of this Resource Pack will look to include these findings.
Humanitarian Sector Reform
Additional important points from ERC Fletcher’s letter to IASC Principals where the Alliance will explore opportunities to influence:
1. The ERC asked Deputies to prepare advice by the end of March on the reform and reimagination strand, as well as advice on integrating on-going reform initiatives (JIAF 2.0, HPC reform, flagship, IDP solutions, etc.).
2. The ERC has asked Denise Brown, former HC in Ukraine and CAR, to lead a three-month mission to support the Efficiency and Simplification process.
🆕 3. The ERC is proposing a review of further measures to simplify and streamline the cluster system working with co-chairs of the OPAG (Ted Chaiban from UNICEF and Gabriella Waaijman from Save the Children) to lead this work and submit to the IASC Principles in June 2025.
- The OPAG Chairs held a consultation meeting with Cluster Leads in Geneva on 26th March. Draft suggested phases:
- Assessment & consultations: Identify current coordination/cluster challenges and get insights of the CLA and stakeholders on what is needed. Desk review, analyze data to pinpoint areas for improvement.
- Conduct interviews, discussions to identify elements to improve and also positions of CLA as per mandates.
- Develop a detailed plan for simplification. Outlining steps, timelines, objectives and milestones.
Broader Funding Impacts
ICVA has released a report (Lives on the Line: The human impact of US Foreign Aid Shifts) providing a snapshot of the immediate consequences and emerging trends resulting from the shifts in US foreign aid policy. The report highlights a range of critical impacts, including:
- Lives at risk and increased risks for vulnerable populations,
- Severe financial strain on local and national NGOs,
- A shrinking humanitarian funding landscape, and
- The weakening of the overall humanitarian system and coordination mechanisms and the risk of counterproductive reforms that could further undermine aid efforts.
Statements / Positions
The OCHA HQ Strategic Communications Branch released key messages for all HCs, emphasising life-saving aid to those in urgent need as a priority. On the Humanitarian Reset, the letter underscores prioritising ‘ruthlessly’, remaining independent, neutral, and impartial, leading a radical drive to deliver more effectively and efficiently and finding new partners, including genuine partnership with the private sector.
This Advocacy Resource Pack includes the latest updates. All past updates can be found here.
Impact of Funding Cuts on Child Protection
🆕 Global Snapshot
Through our open survey, the Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action has already heard from 100 child protection practitioners, including:
- 60 working at the country level
- 50 from local or national NGOs
Here’s five key things we’ve learned from respondents:
- Severe Impact on Children’s Protection: 83% say funding cuts have significantly or very significantly affected children’s protection, with the most severe impacts on children being reported at the country and local levels.
- Challenges in Meeting Child Protection Minimum Standards: 71% report that funding cuts have severely impacted their ability to meet Child Protection Minimum Standards. These cuts are affecting key interventions such as group activities for child wellbeing, family and caregiving support, community-level approaches, case management, and prevention of harm.
- Widespread Funding Cuts: 85% have experienced funding cuts, with 62% reporting losses of more than 40% of their child protection funding. Additionally, 30% say child protection funding cuts have been higher than in other sectors.
- Reduced Child Protection Staffing and Capacity: Funding cuts have led to reductions in frontline staff (reported by 71% of respondents), cancelled or reduced capacity strengthening (reported by 63% of respondents), and reductions in technical advisers (reported by 52% of respondents).
- Cross-Sectoral Impact: Funding cuts across sectors are affecting children's protection, with the biggest impacts, in addition to protection, are being flagged across education, health, and GBV.
“Staff cuts have resulted in fewer trainings on child protection and psychosocial support. In addition, technical advisors who previously helped develop and expand these programs are no longer available. These changes have significantly limited the support and protection we can provide to vulnerable children”. INGO, Ukraine
For more details on the impacts on child protection, please access the Advocacy Resource Pack!
Impact Mapping - Your Contributions are Needed!
Please do share your analysis and mapping of the impacts of the funding cuts with us to strengthen this analysis by completing this online survey, currently available in English and Spanish, and disseminate this widely with your network. This will ground our advocacy in an evidence-base of the latest developments!
Advocacy Recommendations
Prioritise Child Protection in Humanitarian Response
- Advocate for child protection as a core component of humanitarian action.
- Secure funding for critical child protection services; where funding is unavailable, ensure ethical programme closures, especially for case management and alternative care.
- Strengthen collaboration between child protection and education to sustain protective environments for children. Access to safe and quality education for children in all their diversity remains one of the most effective, protective interventions for children in crises.
Uphold Humanitarian Standards and Principles
- Ensure adherence to the Minimum Standards for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action (CPMS) to prevent harm from inadequate services.
- Maintain safe access to hard-to-reach populations at high risk.
Ensure Child Protection Remains Central in Humanitarian Reform
- Safeguard child protection expertise in cluster system reforms.
- Retain dedicated coordination capacity for specialised protection areas like Child Protection and Gender-Based Violence.
- Reinforce protection as the core objective of humanitarian response, particularly amid funding cuts.
- Strengthen child protection mainstreaming across sectors and preserve funding for standalone child protection programmes.
Strategic Advocacy Actions
- Engage with Country Offices, Child Protection Coordinators, and Humanitarian Country Teams to elevate child protection in response prioritisation.
- Strengthen collaboration between advocacy, programming, and operations—especially in Education and GBV—to assess risks, share impacts, and coordinate responses.
- Align messaging and efforts across sectors, AoRs, and clusters for unified advocacy.
- Coordinate with partner INGOs and local actors to sustain interventions, their visibility, and uphold Child Protection Minimum Standards.
- Prioritise creating a stronger evidence base for CPHA interventions through prioritising quality programming and use of existing tools.
- Use evidence-based messaging when engaging with governments and donors to highlight the life-saving nature of child protection.
Further Key Messages on the life-saving nature of child protection to support engagement with donors and with senior humanitarian leadership including HCs and HCTs can be found here.
Guidance on Advocacy and Next Steps
Draft Advocacy Plan
Following a discussion with the Advocacy Working Group, the Alliance has drafted an initial advocacy plan outlining priority objectives, strategic approach and potential priority actions to take to implement them. This is a live document and we would welcome feedback on what actions you are taking that align with this and if you have recommendations on specific activities you’d like to see prioritised, within the context that things are moving quickly. The document can be accessed here with top-line objectives set out below.
Objectives
- Child protection is prioritised by key agencies, Alliance members and humanitarian leadership
- Organisations stand firm against potential roll back of humanitarian principles and standards
- The centrality of children and their protection is central to efforts to reform the humanitarian architecture
Useful Resources
Alliance Advocacy Messages
External Resources
- The humanitarian reset letter from Tom Fletcher to the Principles (10 March)
- ICVA Lives on the Line Final Report
- Amid funding crunch, UNHCR issues urgent call to protect women and girls from surging violence | UNHCR UK
- Central Emergency Response Fund Life-Saving Criteria. United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2020.
- NRC has released a position document on prioritising resources at the interagency level after the US funding withdrawal. Among the key points: NRC highlights the importance of protection, encouraging HCTs “to not be bound by a rigid interpretation of lifesaving activities as only those that are included under Strategic Objective 1 of HRPs”.
A more comprehensive list of publications and resources can be found in this compilation here.
Credits:
© The Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action