Child Advocacy

CINDI is a network that aims to improve linkages between local stakeholders and national and international policy and practice environments to increase the voice and agency of those working on the ground, leading to improved lived experiences for children and their families. Our focus is on local level networking, which involves connecting our members with each other and with other key stakeholders in their sphere of influence. To achieve this, we also participate in a number of national and international forums, such as the Yezingane Network, the South African Alternate Report Coalition, the National Child Care and Protection Forum, the Child Rights Network, and the Alliance for Children’s Entitlement to Social Security. Additionally, we are founding members of Family for Every Child, a global alliance of local civil society organizations working to improve the lives of vulnerable children around the world. We have had a significant impact in our 20-year partnership, and our CEO was elected as the first President of Family from 2014 to 2017 and is currently the Chairperson of Family’s Board.
Our research contributions to the global fight for improved care for children have been significant, including Actioning Alternative Care in collaboration with the Centre for Social Protection at the Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, and the Linkages between Social Protection and Children’s Care in South Africa research, which we led in collaboration with the Centre for Social Protection at the Institute for Development Studies in the United Kingdom. We have also participated in Family’s global scoping study on sexual violence affecting boys and implemented two phases of a project using Digital Storytelling for Transformation (DST) to explore the Meaning of Family. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, we developed the Covid-19 psychosocial support booklet for caregivers and children – We Care, We Play, We Are Brave, which was featured in Family’s How We Care series in 2020. We are committed to continuing our efforts to improve the lives of vulnerable children around the world and participate in various global perspectives webinars, including those on sexual violence affecting boys and kinship care.