Description:

Evidence suggests that family strengthening programs (FSPs) are effective in reducing violence against women and children, improving child and parent mental health, and enhancing child development. Yet without meaningful engagement with- and leadership of the communities for whom these programs are intended, they risk not achieving these outcomes, particularly as they are scaled up and out. Co-creating FSPs with and for underserved and crisis-affected communities has numerous benefits, including ensuring programs are culturally and contextually relevant, effective, and rooted in local knowledge and ways of knowing. Importantly, it allows communities to lead in program conceptualization, delivery and evaluation in ways that can themselves be transformative. ​​

Participants will explore the transformative potential of co-creating FSPs with and for marginalized families, drawing on the benefits, challenges, and lessons learned from four innovative projects on targeted and universal FSPs. Projects range from formative research to co-create interventions, feasibility testing, and community-based randomized controlled trials. Participants will also learn various methodologies (e.g., combining arts-based- and prevention science methods, novel participatory action research methods, human-centred design) and partnership models (e.g., with local community members and organizations, governments, faith-based organizations, international agencies, academia) for supporting community co-created FSPs.

Four presentations will center community leadership across the topics of violence prevention, gender equity, parenting, mental health, and adverse childhood experiences, including: 1) a film-based parenting program for displaced families on the Thai-Myanmar border, 2) a youth-informed family strengthening program to prevent recruitment of children into armed groups in Central African Republic, 3) a gender-responsive group-based program for mothers and fathers in street situations in Kenya, and 4) family support tip sheets for diverse caregivers in Canada in the wake of COVID-19.

All four presentations will convey that celebrating and centering the voices and strengths of marginalized and crisis-affected populations offers an opportunity to challenge the historical approach of doing 'to' or 'for' underserved groups, to instead doing 'with' and 'by'. Asset-based approaches that position communities as leaders can enhance the relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of FSPs while simultaneously promoting the health and rights of communities throughout the process of co-creation.

JOIN ZOOM MEETING

LIVE TRANSCRIPTION