Convened by: Alastair Ager of Columbia University

Child protection professionals are increasingly recognizing the need to measure protection concerns and systems response, and to situate these findings within broader frameworks of child well-being.

Ongoing challenges include collecting valid and reliable data on children in an ethical and efficient way; finding consensus on indicators of child well-being; a lack of tested methodologies and tools; and of consensus regarding essential elements of an effective child protection system and how its efficacy can be evaluated.

Despite these challenges, a number of organizations are now dedicated to moving these important issues forward, and a body of evidence is beginning to emerge around good practice in the field of child protection.

The Frameworks, Assessments and Systems GTG seeks to identify, develop and promote effective frameworks and tools for identifying and measuring child protection needs in crisis settings and guiding appropriate response. Group members will work in collaboration.

1) To provide a context for sharing and integrating learning from existing activities of CPC Network members, CPWG members, and others regarding child protection frameworks, systems and assessments.

(2) To develop, support and refine field-friendly tools for documentation and assessment in crisis settings (though collaboration with CPWG partners, Program Learning Groups and others)

(3) To identify other shared initiatives, as appropriate, in support of the targeted vision

(4) To promote within the CPC Network and beyond comprehensive and coherent approaches to the specification of child protection needs, systems for addressing such concerns and means of documenting the effectiveness of interventions