Evaluation of Child Friendly Spaces - Iraq Field Study Report

This study was funded by UNICEF and facilitated through a research collaboration between World Vision International, Columbia University and partners that – as a major strand of a prioritized Child Protection Working Group agenda – is addressing the impact of Child Friendly Spaces through a series of field evaluations. The goals of the series are to document the protective and restorative effectiveness of Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs), to identify good practice in their design and implementation, and to contribute to the development of better monitoring and evaluation tools for this type of programming. Little robust evidence exists related to outcomes and impacts of CFSs even though it is one of the most widely used interventions in humanitarian settings for child psychosocial support and protection.

This study was conducted in Domiz Refugee Camp located in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of the Government of Iraq and UNICEF. This study marks the third evaluation completed as part of this collaboration and the first in the Middle East region responding to the crisis in Syria. Evaluation tools were selected to assess impact with respect to three key areas: (1) the protection of children from risk, (2) the promotion of children’s psychosocial wellbeing, and (3) supporting caregivers and communities in strengthening systems of child protection.