THE CFC CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

CFC is a global package designed to be adapted to different contexts and be integrated into or used in combination with other caregiver programmes across relevant sectors including nutrition, ECD and health. The content of the package draws attention to three UNICEF priority focal areas which are important for the developmental potential of young children and their caregivers. These focal areas are early childhood development, adolescent caregivers, and gender. CFC directly engages with discriminatory gender norms through its approach, messages, and activities. It includes essential skills training to increase the counselling capacity of frontline works and provides additional resources for managing high risk situations and developing community supports. In 2022/23 the team will also finalise a supplement for use with adolescent caregivers aged 15-19 years.

Following the prototype development and testing in Sierra Leonne and Mali, a large-scale validation project was completed in 2021/2022 with data collected in 6 countries across the globe. The map below shows the different sectors and entry points where CFC was tested, and the data collected in the validation study. CFC has been found to be highly acceptable and feasible in all these settings and data analysis of its impact on caregivers and families is currently underway.

An online introductory course for CFC has recently been launched and is available through UNICEF’s AGORA learning platform (https://agora.unicef.org/course/info. php?id=25325)