Child Friendly Spaces in Emergencies: A Handbook for Save the Children Staff

Child Friendly Spaces, one of Save the Children’s emergency interventions, provide children with protected environments in which they participate in organized activities to play, socialize, learn, and express themselves as they rebuild their lives. This handbook will guide Save the Children emergency response personnel and implementing partners in the rapid implementation of effective Child Friendly Spaces for children during and immediately after an emergency such as a natural disaster or situation of armed conflict. It is based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), reflects the Interagency Network for Education in Emergencies’ (INEE) Minimum Standards on Education in Emergencies and the INEE’s related good practice guide, Emergency Spaces for Children: Draft INEE Good Practice Guide, and the Sphere Project’s Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response. It also reflects the programming priorities set out in Save the Children’s Child Protection in Emergencies: Priorities, Principles and Practices.

This handbook is meant for staff who have limited experience with Child Friendly Spaces programming in emergency situations, as well as for more experienced staff who would like to strengthen their understanding and expand their skills by using additional resources and tools. The first part of this handbook is an Overview of Child Friendly Spaces. It includes nine sections that give a general introduction to Child Friendly Spaces and highlight key concepts and guidance for developing and implementing Child Friendly Spaces. The second part is an annex of 40 Implementation Tools and Resources. The tools and resources include examples of assessment tools, activities, indicators, job descriptions, materials/equipment lists, and more.