In communities where ChildFund’s local partner organizations already implement programs, our humanitarian response strategy is proactive: Our local partners apply approaches that reduce violence at the community level, especially during emergency onset. In Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, our PICMCA program to prevent irregular migration helped young people expand their agency and contribute within their communities by documenting their child protection concerns and engaging meaningfully with decision makers. Their civic engagement saw a 24% increase by the end of the program.

When crisis erupts, we deploy our StopGate programming to address immediate protection needs. This strategy strengthens our response within existing operational areas such as Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and Mozambique, while allowing us to selectively expand our response to large-scale crises beyond these areas through partnerships. Our participation in the humanitarian cluster system with other responding organizations also ensures that we are well-positioned, coordinated and resourced to ensure effective, relevant responses.

Because children’s needs are often sidelined in humanitarian responses, ChildFund builds Child-Friendly Spaces as places where children can learn and play in safety, with access to psychological first aid to address any mental health issues that arise, while their adults seek the resources they need. We also provide mental health support for caregivers and distribute emergency supplies like dignity kits. The aim is to stabilize the situation and prevent harm during low- to medium-scale emergencies.

Featured Programs & Resources

• Child-Friendly Spaces in The Gambia
• Preventing Irregular Child Migration in Central America (PICMCA) 
• ChildFund’s Child-Friendly Spaces Toolkit (2022)
• ChildFund’s Child-Friendly Space Training for Managers
• Psychological First Aid: Remote Training of Trainers Manual
• Psychological First Aid: Remote Training of Trainers Presentation

When crisis leads to significant displacement or long-term challenges that require a more comprehensive and sustained approach, StopGate gradually transitions to Children on the Move programming. ChildFund defines “children on the move” as all children directly and indirectly impacted by migration and displacement due to climate- and human-induced crises.

This set of interventions is designed to ensure focused and equitable protection for the most vulnerable and socially disadvantaged populations experiencing displacement. In transit, our programs establish safe spaces as a first-line response in settlements for displaced populations, including both mixed and gender-specific safe spaces for young people. Promoting community safety and increasing awareness about the risks of irregular migration is another safety-related strategy. Our Protected Passage program aimed, among other things, to strengthen or create safe spaces for children and to facilitate schools as safe spaces where children could connect with peers.

From safe spaces, we move toward long-term psychosocial programs and offering specialized protection packages, including legal aid, gender-based violence support and child protection services tailored to the unique needs of displaced and mobile children and families, no matter the cause.

Interventions addressing Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) in this context are key for identifying and prioritizing vulnerable groups, including young people at risk, women, survivors of gender-based violence and LGBTQ+ migrants. Tailored approaches, such as mobile outreach and roving teams, engage hard-to-reach populations, especially migrants outside the shelter system. Gender-focused approaches are incorporated into program design and implementation. Additional strategies include removing financial barriers through no-cost programming, coordinating efforts with public entities and NGOs to influence local practices, and advocacy efforts that lead to systemic changes, such as promoting children's rights and establishing educational boards.

Featured Programs & Resources

• The Protected Passage program, funded by the U.S. Department of State (PRM) and implemented in partnership with Plan International and EDUCO, aimed to preserve physical and emotional health of 60,000 migrants crossing the Mexican border from countries in Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Learn how local young professionals working with the Protected Passage program have played a pivotal role in ensuring that children and families on the move can access the care, services and information they need to make the journey safely and in good health.
• Our toolkit for Gender-Based Violence Against Children and Youth With Disabilities is adaptable to various settings to ensure consistent, inclusive support for all displaced children and their families.
• External Evaluation: 2023 Included and Empowered Youth Project by USAID, IOM, ChildFund (Spanish)
• Evidence Review of ChildFund’s Programming for Children on the Move in Central America and Mexico

When children and families are ready to reintegrate after arriving in a new community or returning home, our support focuses on economic recovery, integration into educational systems and protection. We offer programs for reintegrating children and families in two countries. In Ecuador, now home to about 871,000 migrants, we work with people who have arrived from Colombia or Venezuela; in Uganda, we work in the Palorinya Refugee Settlement to support Sudanese and Congolese people who have fled conflict in their home countries. Local conditions play an important part in defining the design of both countries’ programs.

Featured Programs & Resources

• Ecuador: Experiences and Challenges With People in Human Mobility
• ChildFund’s Humanitarian Response in Uganda: Working With South Sudanese Refugees in Palorinya

We help drive systems change through robust collaboration and advocacy, bridging humanitarian response and sustainable development. Leveraging ChildFund's extensive experience and partnerships, we influence local and national policies to prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable populations. Our approach ensures that the rights and well-being of displaced children and families are central to both immediate response and long-term recovery efforts.

Across all three programs addressing the migration cycle, a critical shared element is their unique localization strategy, implemented effectively in highly complex humanitarian contexts. This approach involves working closely with relevant authorities and stakeholders at multiple levels, from the community level to the national and international levels. The programs facilitate communication and cooperation among local partners and key actors, building relationships that extend beyond the programs' duration. Direct community engagement further increased accessibility and acceptability, ensuring that the programs effectively meet the needs of children and youth. All initiatives embody a holistic view of migration, focused not only on the young people — the core population of interest — but also on their families, their teachers, their communities and other stakeholders who can help build supportive structures and promote access to education and livelihoods.

Our work with children in crisis is gender sensitive and socially inclusive. Throughout all our efforts, ChildFund commits to:

Vulnerable, marginalized communities  

In Mexico between 2021 and 2023, ChildFund supported 2,118 people from the LGBTQI+ community and people living with disabilities.

Supporting gender equality

In Ecuador, we work to improve access to and quality of education for internally displaced people, especially girls.

Localization in protection

In Uganda, one of the aims of protection work is to facilitate sustainable local child protection. With support from ChildFund and other partners, local organizations built their capacity to do this within their communities.

Mitigating climate change

A pilot program in Ethiopia has developed climate-friendly technology for agriculture and livestock production, strengthening the livelihoods of 1,600 households in its first year. 

Community-led child protection

In Guatemala, local partners facilitate a community-led, power-sharing child protection process, amid and despite prolonged crisis.

Holistic child protection in emergencies

Our response to internal displacement caused by the conflict in northern Ethiopia included child protection, nutrition support, education and creation of safe spaces for children, supporting nearly 13,000 people between 2021 and 2024.

Protection, health and education

Our holistic program for migrants traveling through Honduras offers education and safe play spaces for children in shelters, community-based psychosocial and mental health support, support for frontline workers at the southeastern border, maternal and child health services including immunizations, and prevention and response for gender-based violence.