COORDINATION
Partners working in Uganda included AAH, DRC, InterAid Uganda, IRC LWF Plan International, Save the Children, TPO, URCS, Windle Trust, WVI, UNICEF and UNHCR. Coordination of the child protection response to South Sudanese refugees in Uganda appears to have happened mostly as an organic process led by the field. Both field locations visited had specific coordination forums for child protection, and at least six actors involved in child protection. Building on multi-sectoral coordination meetings, child protection actors in the field reported that they had organized themselves weekly and/or monthly in order to ensure harmonization of activities. In the field, coordination is largely seen as positive, and the large number of actors involved is also seen as a positive contribution.
However, despite positive and proactive coordination activities in the field there have been some challenges in the distribution of tasks, leading to duplications. In some locations, child protection actors in the field have overlapping projects and plans and sometimes confusion around roles and responsibilities. This was partially due to partnership agreements that were decided at the capital level. For example, in Kiryandongo, child protection actors recounted how three separate agencies were undertaking case management for the same children. They now coordinate so that representatives of all three agencies visit the same child together, thus reducing the number of visits the child had to receive, although not the number of visitors. At Kampala level, coordination is being addressed with the formation of a new coordination group led by UNHCR, UNICEF and OPM. This group will be linked to the national CPWG