Empowering caregivers in a humanitarian crisis with parenting tips

Caregiving in a humanitarian crisis is extremely challenging, especially inside Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) and refugee camps. In South Sudan, CRDPH — in partnership with Parenting for Lifelong Health (PLH), through the Parenting for Children in Crisis (PCC) initiative — worked with six trained case workers to disseminate parenting tips to caregivers across Camp 1 and Camp 3 in Juba County.

The tips were adapted into local languages, including Juba Arabic and Nuer, and delivered through small peer groups of 10–15 caregivers who met twice to receive all 14 tips. Over a 30-day reporting period, the program directly reached 9,086 caregivers in person, and an estimated 800,000 more through a partnership with UN Radio Miraya broadcasting the tips nationwide — a combined reach of over 809,000 people.

Case workers also identified more than 250 caregivers to be trained as community Parenting Champions, and over 1,500 caregivers facing persistent violence, disability care, or foster-care circumstances were connected to home visits and basic counselling.

One caregiver described the shift after applying the parenting tips at home: "Now I find it easy to manage my children within my household because I give them time to play and assign them duties to do."

Looking ahead, CRDPH plans to integrate the program into existing health facilities — meeting caregivers during ANC/PMTCT, EPI, nutrition, and OPD visits — reducing costs while bringing child protection directly into the health system.

Adapted from a story originally published on the Early Childhood Development Action Network (ECDAN), August 2024.