In December 2023, the China Rural Children's Development Report 2023 was released. The report points out that the current system of child welfare and protection in mainland China has gradually improved, the gap between urban and rural children's development index has narrowed year by year, and the child service system at the township level in rural areas has been basically established, and it has entered a development stage that focuses on strengthening the village service system and service capacity building.
At the same time, the report also believes that the mainland urgently needs to build a high-quality care service system for rural children that meets the development stage of high-quality development and the development level of 10,000 US dollars per capita, so as to promote the high-quality development of rural revitalization.
Project Background
In 2015, the China Rural Development Foundation (formerly known as the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation) launched the "Child Mothers" project to care for and protect left-behind children by nurturing rural women.
The project builds a five-level vertical management network from the "China Rural Development Foundation-Province-County-Township (Town)-Village", with the county project office as the core, with the active participation of education, public security, justice, health and other functional departments, and weaves a three-level service delivery mechanism in rural areas of Mimi County, forming an effective village-level guardianship network for left-behind and distressed children who can directly reach the children, and ensuring the delivery of the last mile of children's welfare needs.
Main Practices:
The "Child Companion Mothers" project is child-centered, adheres to the principle of giving priority to children and maximizing children's interests, guarantees children's rights to survival, development, protection and participation, insists on ensuring children's rights and opportunities for equal development, and explores models of child welfare and protection services at the grassroots level.
The project has also cultivated local child protection professionals, contributed talents to grassroots social governance and the construction of township social workstations, and promoted the revitalization of rural talents. At the same time, the project advocates the concept of building child-friendly communities and promotes the governance and development of rural society.
Practical results
As of the declaration, the "Child Companion Mother" project has been carried out in 1,583 villages in 121 counties in 11 provinces, benefiting more than 810,000 children, and the team of "Child Companion Mother" has also grown to 1,583 people.
"Child Companion Mothers" serves all children aged 0-18 in rural areas, focusing on left-behind children, children in difficult circumstances and other groups with special needs, and providing them with accessible services.
"Child Companion Mothers" have been trained to participate in the project and have mastered a certain professional knowledge base, mainly providing child welfare services at the village level, organizing children's activities, discovering children's needs or problems, and responding to children's needs or assisting in solving children's problems through the reporting mechanism.
Case Reviews
The "Child Mother" project is a benchmark for sustainable projects.
First, the project model and effectiveness were recognized by the local government, which sought resources to promote local children's work with reference to the project model. Second, some local governments provide services to children through public welfare job procurement.
Secondly, the project has a lasting impact on the synergistic mechanism and role of the local juvenile protection department, the community's child protection work and philosophy, community governance, the future development of the children who receive services and the possibility of serving the society and the community, and the impact on the empowerment and empowerment of rural women.
Media Commentary
Through the model of "one person, one family, one link", the "Child Companion Mother" takes the child companion mother as the starting point, the child companion home as the platform, and the county-level horizontal linkage mechanism as the guarantee, establishes a village-level guardianship network for left-behind and disadvantaged children, and ensures that child welfare services are delivered to the last mile.