NEED ASSESSMENT IN TEN PROGRAM LOCATIONS OF SOS CHILDREN VILLAGE

8/1/2022 12:00:00 AM

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SOS Children‘s Village (SOS CV) International is a non-governmental organization that focuses its activities on supporting the fulfillment of children‘s rights, especially for children who have or are at risk of losing their family and parental care. SOS CV International has been established since 1949, and until now it has carried out its activities in 135 countries, one of which is SOS CV Indonesia. SOS CV Indonesia has been around since 1972 and was first established in Lembang Bandung. Currently, SOS CV Indonesia is spread over 10 locations from Banda Aceh to Flores. The youngest SOS CV is SOS CV Palu which is a form of emergency response to the earthquake, tsunami, and liquefaction that occurred in Palu in October 2018.

 

To develop new and sustainable intervention programs, SOS CV Indonesia believes that a needs analysis that provides an objective assessment of the needs of the target group is an important aspect of program development. In this regard, SOS CV Indonesia intends to conduct a needs analysis of its target group. The resulting needs analysis is expected to provide an objective assessment of the needs of the target group and present stakeholders in each specific CV SOS program. The needs analysis is also intended to guide SOS CV Indonesia staff on whether SOS CV is the best place for children, families, and stakeholders to respond to issues faced by the target group, and to provide up-to-date information on the context and most important needs of the target group. The recommendations provided in the needs analysis report are very important for developing service and intervention programs that are tailored to the needs and context of each program location. Thus, the needs analysis can be used as basic information to develop the concept of service programs and interventions.

 

This needs analysis was carried out in 10 SOS CV Program Locations, namely Meulaboh, Banda Aceh, Medan, Jakarta, Lembang, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Bali, Maumere, and Palu. Three stages so-called Module A, Module B and Module C of needs assessment were conducted. Module A is target group identification, Module B is community’s assets and needs to prevent and respond to the situation of children who have lost or are at risk of losing their parental care, and Module C is stakeholder perspectives in relation to the existence of SOS Children Village.

 

In Module A, a household survey was carried out in 10 program locations. The respondents were 1003 households, and the objectives of the survey were to obtain information regarding the living arrangements and risk factors of children in the community. The result of the household survey provided the target group identification based on the children‘s vulnerability, namely the number of caregivers when parents are away, number of children with special needs, the relationship between children and the caregivers, children‘s living conditions, access to government‘s health support, family‘s budget allocation for children‘s health, fulfillment of children’s need for three meals per day, potential to drop of school and violate the social norms.

 

In Module B, data collection was obtained from focus group discussions (FGDs) with five groups of SOS CV direct beneficiaries, namely (1) alternative care children, (2) FSP’s children, (3) parents participating in FSP, (4) alternative caregivers, and (5) group of SOS CV staff. PESTLE factors (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal/Law, and Environmental) were used as a framework for analyzing the data. In module C, data collection was obtained from key informant interviews (KIIs) with government as well as non-government or community-based organizations working for neglected children and child protection.

 

In Module C, an analysis was carried out regarding stakeholders’ views on the presence of SOS CV in dealing with children who are vulnerable to losing the care of their parents. Stakeholder analysis is carried out with reference to (1) Stakeholder collaboration in handling neglected children; (2) Assessment and monitoring of the conditions of children and assisted families; (3) Fulfillment of children‘s basic needs; (4) Quality improvement of parenting and childcare; (5) Preparing children to be independent and (6) Social impact of the presence of SOS CV.

 

From the three modules, it is clear that SOS CV has been still providing services to its targeted groups. The household survey shows that there are still many children living in vulnerable conditions for various causes. From the stakeholder analysis, there is no other stakeholders having the same interest in addressing the community needs for comprehensive parenting and child care improvement such as SOS CV. In that area, SOS CV is still the best-placed stakeholder in Indonesia.