Child Protection

In the Philippines, the Protection Cluster was established by the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) Circular No 5 series of 10 May 2007 (Institutionalizing Cluster Approach in Philippine Disaster System). The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is designated as the government lead and UNHCR is the co-lead of the Protection Cluster. The Child Protection Working Group (CPWG), which is a sub-cluster to the Protection Cluster, is led by the DSWD and the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), with UNICEF as a co-lead.

Child Protection Working Group (CPWG) provides coordination support to government offices from the national to municipal levels in ensuring prevention of and response to child protection concerns in humanitarian settings. The group brings together NGOs, UN agencies, academics and others under the shared objective of ensuring more predictable, accountable and effective child protection responses in emergencies. In the humanitarian system, we constitute ‘an area of responsibility’ within the Global Protection Cluster. The efficient management or functioning of National CPWG is the joint responsibility of the cluster lead agencies (CWC and UNICEF), and all cluster members at the national level. Sub-national CPWGs were established on the basis of Regional Sub-Committee on the Welfare of Children (RSCWC)’s expanded function to include CPWG coordination, and as mandated by Republic Act 10821 or the Children’s Emergency Relief and Protection Act of 2016.