IICRD's Theory of Change
We bring child rights norms, policies, laws and community programs to life through five guiding values. These 'roots' guide our behaviour and are the principles by which we make our decisions, including:
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Lead with Children: We engage young people to try to understand their lived experiences
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Start with Strengths: We find and tap into the capacities of every person
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Build Partnerships: We focus on collaborating with others to expand the circles of support for children and their families
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Work from the Inside-Out: We use mindful, human-centred approaches to connect our inner and outer worlds
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Power of Ideas: We draw on the ideas of young people and new paradigms to foster social transformation
Our 'trunk' holds up our vision for children, their families and communities thrive in a world where there is dignity, belonging, and justice for all. We focus on approaching Child Protection and Wellbeing from a “contextualized” understanding that emphasizes evidence informed, developmental approaches to managing human adversity. This involves:
- Understanding current theory of children’s development, especially development in adversity
- Engaging children and their communities in identifying risk factors and mobilizing protective mechanisms and
- Placing children and child protection in the broader context of international development as both are significantly impacted and able to impact global change.
The 'branches' reflect our current core areas of work including: applied research, monitoring and evaluation, community based system strengthening, policy development and capacity building.
The 'leaves' represent individual project examples of our efforts catalyze change, transformation, and healing for the most vulnerable young people in our society, in Canada and in over 45 countries around the world.
Please note that our Theory of Change will be updated to reflect our next strategic plan - stay tuned!