The Country Director of International Justice Mission (IJM), Anita Budu, has called for the establishment of a dedicated child protection fund at the district level through the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) Allocation Framework.

She said the dedicated funding would provide district authorities with predictable resources to respond to child protection concerns and strengthen efforts to safeguard vulnerable children within their communities.

Speaking on the theme “Beyond Policy: Financing Child Protection to Secure Every Child’s Future” at the Mensvic Hotel on September 17, Mrs Budu said child protection challenges were experienced within communities and required resources to enable district authorities to respond effectively.

She said the proposed fund will enable district authorities to identify vulnerable children, respond to child protection cases, support affected families and strengthen prevention efforts.

“We call for a dedicated child protection fund at the district level through the District Assemblies Common Fund Allocation Framework,” she said.

“Child protection challenges, as we all know, occur within our communities. And district authorities need predictable resources to identify vulnerable children, respond to cases, support families, and strengthen prevention efforts.”

Ms Budu said IJM’s work with district-level actors had highlighted the importance of ensuring that local authorities had the resources needed to address child protection concerns.

“As an organisation that is International Justice Mission, we work alongside district actors each day, and we know that dedicated local funding will make a significant and tangible impact for outcomes for children in these communities,” she said.

She said predictable funding at the district level would strengthen the capacity of local authorities to respond to cases involving vulnerable children while supporting measures to prevent child protection violations.

Ms Budu said the proposed funding mechanism would also help ensure that child protection remained a practical priority at the local level, rather than being addressed only through policies and programmes without adequate resources for implementation.

She said increased investment in child protection was necessary to complement existing policies and programmes and ensure that vulnerable children received the protection and support they needed.