This Lessons Learned report evaluates the integration of Protection, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI) and Safeguarding within the RCRC Movement response to the Ukraine and impacted countries crisis, primarily from the perspective of PGI and Safeguarding experts and focal points from across the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement.

The IFRC, along with Host National Societies (HNS) and Partner National Societies (PNS), faced immense challenges in scaling up PGI and Safeguarding efforts amid one of Europe’s most complex humanitarian crises. Key findings highlight both the significant progress made and the critical gaps that remain in effectively mainstreaming PGI and Safeguarding into emergency operations.

Executive summary and recommendations of the Ukraine and Impacted Countries PGI and Safeguarding Lessons Learned Report.

This infographic provides an overview of the ways that Child Friendly Spaces can be caring, learning, and safe places for children. It also describes the key steps to setting up a Child Friendly Space in an emergency.

The infographic is available in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, and Ukrainian.

Children need information that is carefully crafted to cater to their age group and preferences. Without these tailored materials, they might not understand or could misunderstand essential information that supports their protection and access to vital services.

The child-friendly communication materials below aim to help children stay safe, find their own solutions, prevent family separation or restore family links, know how to act ahead of a disaster, react if they find it hard to cope, and seek support from someone wearing a Red Cross or Red Crescent, a trusted adult, or a local helpline.

The Gambia Red Cross is working to combat child marriage. Working in partnership with local schools it delivers prevention programs that aim to raise awareness and shift harmful practices. When girls are married, the Gambia Red Cross supports girls to continue access to education. In some situations where child marriages are impending, the Gambia Red Cross acts as a mediator to help families consider alternative options.

In the Gambia, children can find themselves alone and unaccompanied as migrants, in transit, or in markets after having left home due to maltreatment. The Gambia Red Cross supports unaccompanied and separated children by helping them access essential services such as healthcare, mental health and psychosocial support, food, clothing, Restoring Family Links, and referring them to local social welfare services for shelter and guardianship. In addition, the Red Cross assists unaccompanied and separated children to access schooling through fees, clothing and supplies, and working with administrators to help children accommodate into new learning environments.

The Spanish Red Cross Accompaniment project works with unaccompanied child migrants ages 16-22 years old. The project has been running for 20 years in locations across Spain. The Spanish Red Cross provides a menu of services including: supporting access to education, advocating for the rights of children with local authorities, assisting access to healthcare, Restoring Family Links, and working to build connections with local youth and communities through various cultural and recreational activities.

The Portugal Red Cross Housing System to shelter unaccompanied children was aimed specifically at children seeking asylum within the scope of the European Relocation Programme. The Housing System ran from June 2020 to March 2022, in Lisbon. It had the capacity to take in 25 children at any one time. Each child stayed for a length of time as appropriate to their individual situation.

The Housing System was designed to integrate children into the local society, to empower them, and to provide them with skills to have autonomy in the future. To achieve this inclusive integration, a holistic approach was applied that included supporting children to access health care, education, local services, legal documentation, Restoring Family Links. The interests, capacities, and needs of each child were taken into account in the design of each child's personal plan while at the Housing System.

On February 6th, 2023 magnitude 7.7 and 7.6 earthquakes struck Türkiye, with 83 aftershocks, impacting 11 cities. Türk Kızılay / Turkish Red Crescent launched a Cash for Protection programme in November 2023 in 6 of the most earthquake affected provinces. The aim was to alleviate economic difficulties, mitigate possible protection risks, and prevent adverse negative coping strategies like child marriage and child labour. Among the groups accessing the Cash for Protection programme are separated children and their caregivers who require cash for protection to overcome the financial barriers for their legal processes or to empower their family support systems.

This technical guide can be used by the IFRC and National Societies when designing and delivering programming to prevent or respond to child marriage, either in humanitarian settings or in longer-term development settings. It can also assist in developing protection, gender and inclusion (PGI) programming focused specifically on child marriage prevention or response.