Save The Children Initiative For Improving Indigenous Children's Lives In Canada: Programs And Community Capacity Building

The growing concern for Indigenous children and youth in Canada

Question:

Discuss about the Indigenous Support for Children and Families for Youth.

One of the greatest rising concerns for the Canadian government has to be the growing rate of the indigenous population growing and the various issues that these populations are facing. According o the recent statistics, the indigenous children and youth can be pegged as the fastest growing population in Canada, and they represent a glaring figure of 50% of the 1.4 million indigenous individuals residing in Canada. However, there are various life style issues pertaining for the indigenous children and youth that continues to impact the lifestyle and opportunities given to these children (Brown & Nicholas, 2012). Although, it has to be mentioned as well that there have been many initiatives that has been taken both from government sectors and not for profit agencies to improve the living conditions of the Canadian indigenous children and support them. This assignment will focus on the program ‘savethechildren’ and explore the impact this program has had on the children and how it relates with community capacity building.

It has to be mentioned in here that the Save the children initiative is an international child support program that has been operating as an independent not for profit, non government privatized organization; this organizations operates in a varied range of different nations with the motto or promoting the children’s rights and providing all kinds of relief and support services to the underprivileged or backward children all around the globe. This organization started its journey back in 1919, and ever since has been working both independently and in collaboration with different national authorities to provide better educational opportunities, improved access to healthcare, and better living conditions to the children in need (Savethechildren.ca., 2018).

Save the children Canada is the member of this world leading organization for children and is run on funds raised both domestically and internationally. The primary motto of the Canadian venture of Save the children us to provide a safe and healthy environment for the children along with safeguarding all the rights and needs that the underprivileged children are entitled. According to the Elias et al. (2012), the indigenous children represent an underprivileged sector of the society that trail behind the children of the mainstream society in every aspect of their life including education, financial background and health outcomes. The main purpose of initiatives and programs of this organization has been to obliterate this inequality and let the indigenous communities provide an environment for their children that are equivocal to the rest of the Canadians in every aspect (Savethechildren.ca., 2018).

Introduction to Save the Children Initiative

Needless to state the major emphasis of the programs and initiatives run by this organization are focused at the indigenous communities, their living conditions and its direct or indirect impact on the health and welfare of the indigenous children of Canada. It has to be mentioned in this context that apart from family income status and educational statistics, the factors like the rate of homelessness, infant mortality and suicide are also a significant concern for the indigenous communities of Canada. As pr the mission and vision of this organization, the impact of all the above mentioned socio-economic determinants have a huge impact on the growth and development of these children. According to the Kinney (2012), the indigenous children in Canada are being robbed off of their rights to develop to their full potential as a valued and respected citizen and hence the organization collaborates with different authorities to support not only the indigenous children, but the entire community to improve the overall living environments for them.

The organization till date has collaborated with National Indigenous Advisory Circle in the past to develop a relationship framework that has taken into consideration the different indigenous cultural values and tradition and introduced revitalization of cultural teachings and languages o support the cultural heritage of these communities and provide a chance to the children to understand and appreciate their cultural heritage. In the year of 2014, the organization had also partnered with Kenora Chiefs Advisory (Ontario) in order to support the youth peer help training program for the indigenous communities. This program has facilitated traditional and mainstream approaches to create a critical and accessible helpline within the indigenous community. The organization also acknowledges the deteriorating condition of the maternal and neonatal health of the indigenous communities, and hence collaborated with National Aboriginal Council of Midwives, to bring forth the birthing experience program as well (Savethechildren.ca., 2018).

There are various different programs and initiatives offered to the indigenous communities by this organization. Apart from the above mentioned two initiatives namely, youth peer helping training program, and the birthing experience; there are 4 more actively operating programs that are aiming to improve the health and welfare outcomes of the indigenous communities. First and foremost, the emergency preparedness and response and recovery programs helps the communities to protect themselves and the children during any natural calamity or emergency situation. The next program offered is adolescent skills for successful transition which helps the indigenous community to build skills and livelihood opportunities to make a smooth transition to a safe and decent living condition. Journey for hope is the program helps to build resilience among the younger members of the indigenous communities who have been through any trauma or addiction problem. And lastly the prevention of sexual exploitation program has been a key facilitator for protecting the indigenous girls and generating safety awareness among them (Savethechildren.ca., 2018).

Save the Children Canada's goals and objectives

According to the Hacker et al. (2012), the concept of community capacity building encourages and supports any community to build upon the ability and resources to solve their collective issues. As defined by the Leeuw, Cameron and Greenwood (2012), in the context community health and welfare, the community capacity building approaches correlates the factors such as human capital, organizational resources, and social capital to not only solve the prevalent issues in the community but also helps to continually improve the living and wellbeing status of the community over time. There are many initiatives taken by the Save the children organization that has close correlation with the community capacity building concepts. The primary principle of the community capacity building is to generate a  community identity by building different frameworks that aim at bringing a sustainable change and a sense of empowerment (aifs.gov.au., 2018). The relationship framework implemented with collaboration to the national indigenous advisory circle has attempted to revitalize the cultural identity among the indigenous individuals and help them reinstate their traditional values in every aspect of their lives including solving different issues. Along with the youth peer training program helps to unite the indigenous individuals as a community network to help and support those in need effectively (Savethechildren.ca., 2018).

Along with that, it has to be mentioned that with respect to child and family welfare, community capacity building to strengthen community as a more protective and nurturing entity to support the children and their families. There are several programs initiated by this organization which has attempted similar initiatives; the birthing experience program had been an excellent example of the same where the community capacity building methods have been utilized to reduce the need for forced maternal evacuation and encouraging the recruitment and retention of health providers that have a indigenous origin and background understanding. In terms of community development, community strengthening and community mobilization are two very important aspects. Programs like Adolescent Skills For Successful Transitions and Prevention Of Sexual Exploitation Of Indigenous Girls have been great contributors to the overall community enhancement, these programs have helped the young indigenous individuals make a smooth transition to an secure and dignified life and also help protect and aware the abused and harassed women of the community taking the approach of uniting and empowering the community following the principles of community capacity building (Savethechildren.ca., 2018).

References:

Brown, D., & Nicholas, G. (2012). Protecting indigenous cultural property in the age of digital democracy: Institutional and communal responses to Canadian First Nations and M?ori heritage concerns. Journal of Material Culture, 17(3), 307-324.

Education – Save The Children Canada. (2018). Savethechildren.ca. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from https://www.savethechildren.ca/what-we-do/education/

Elias, B., Mignone, J., Hall, M., Hong, S. P., Hart, L., & Sareen, J. (2012). Trauma and suicide behaviour histories among a Canadian indigenous population: An empirical exploration of the potential role of Canada's residential school system. Social science & medicine, 74(10), 1560-1569.

Hacker, K., Tendulkar, S. A., Rideout, C., Bhuiya, N., Trinh-Shevrin, C., Savage, C. P., ... & DiGirolamo, A. (2012). Community capacity building and sustainability: outcomes of community-based participatory research. Progress in community health partnerships: research, education, and action, 6(3), 349.

Health and Nutrition – Save The Children Canada. (2018). Savethechildren.ca. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from https://www.savethechildren.ca/what-we-do/health-and-nutrition/

Indigenous and Canadian Programs – Save The Children Canada. (2018). Savethechildren.ca. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from https://www.savethechildren.ca/what-we-do/national-indigenous-programs/

Kinney, B. (2012). Community Capacity Building. Democracy in motion: Evaluating the practice and impact of deliberative civic engagement, 163.

Leeuw, S. D., Cameron, E. S., & Greenwood, M. L. (2012). Participatory and community?based research, Indigenous geographies, and the spaces of friendship: A critical engagement. The Canadian Geographer/Le Géographe canadien, 56(2), 180-194.

Understanding community capacity-building. (2018). Child Family Community Australia. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/applying-community-capacity-building-approaches-child-wel/understanding-community

Where We Work – Save The Children Canada. (2018). Savethechildren.ca. Retrieved 5 March 2018, from https://www.savethechildren.ca/where-we-work/#canada