The fifth conversation, pre-recorded in 2021, examines the ways that humanitarian and development actors design and implement child development and family support programs, especially ways in which paternalistic, colonial, and racist thinking can imbue such programs. Child protection, child rights, and family support workers’ implicit biases may impact, for example, how programs conceptualize children of diverse backgrounds in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, socio-economic status, or migration status, among other factors. Such biases may also include assumptions about the ability of families to care for their children, about gendered roles in a society, and about the capacities of communities to care for children. Left unchecked, such biases and assumptions may manifest themselves in programmatic work and undermine the very work of empowerment and strengthening that they purport to do in enhancing children’s and families’ resilience. The speakers unpack all of this for us and outline different ways to design and implement programming. Click through below to view the briefing paper which includes more information regarding the session topic and speakers and a targeted list of resources, to listen to Conversation #5 five-minute trailer, and to listen to the full hour-long conversation.
