About us

Proteknôn is derived from two Greek words: "in front of" and "child". As our name implies, we are focused on what children and young people are facing, especially as it relates to their care, protection and wellbeing. In order to do this, we are committed to learning with and from children and young people of all backgrounds, and capacities, as well as their caregivers.

Proteknôn is led by senior child protection researchers, practitioners and writers. We have worked in development, early recovery, post-conflict and humanitarian contexts, providing a range of services.

We are also

Vision & Mission

Proteknon’s vision is a world in which all children and young people are cared for, protected, and actively contribute to their own well-being and others.

Our mission is to collaborate with others to advance the care, protection, agency, and wellbeing of children and their families through participatory research, innovation, and learning and development.

Approaches

Together, we work to strengthen child protection systems through collaborative, inter-sectoral partnerships at all levels, from the individual to the family, household, community, state and global. Our competitive advantage is the inter-disciplinary nature of our backgrounds coupled with extensive field work. Our approach is:

Rights-based
Equity-focused
Gendered
Intergenerational
Locally-informed
Environmentally-aware
De-colonising the humanitarian and development space

Services

Proteknôn provides a full range of services related to the care, protection and wellbeing of children, including: research, evaluation and assessment; technical support; learning and development; and innovation.

Collaboratively-designed programmes and user-friendly technical guidance on:

child protection in humanitarian action
child migration and forced displacement
child protection systems building
prevention and response to violence against children and child exploitation and abuse, including trafficking
justice for children
social welfare
alternative care
UASC
children affected by armed conflict, including CAAFAG
case management
community-based protection

social and behavior change/supporting social change
mental health and psychosocial support
child and young people's participation
prevention and response to gender-based violence
early childhood care and development; adolescent engagement
cash and child protection
children with disabilities
inclusive education
education in emergencies
advocacy
child rights-based, human rights-based approach and equity programming
safeguarding

quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods research
child-centred and child-led research methods
child protection systems mapping and analysis
desk reviews and legal-policy analysis through a child rights, human rights and IHL lens
social impact assessments
KAP studies
child protection rapid assessment
situation and response monitoring
formative, summative, developmental, empowerment, impact and meta- evaluations
participatory and transformative designs
action research

Seeking solutions for pressing gaps in children and young people's protection, resilience, wellbeing and participation.

This is how it works:

Together - Together we wrestle with complex problems related to the care, protection and wellbeing of children.
Research - We learn the nature and root causes of problems that children and young people face by considering with them their, their caregivers and other relevant actors' perspectives.
Innovation - We identify, implement and test possible solutions.

Innovation areas:

Harnessing conversational AI - Proteknôn and partners developed a chatbot to support young people to access vital information related to adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Child protection & climate action - Proteknôn has developed a checklist to minimise the ecological impact of the child and young person-focused programmes we and our partners conduct.

IrindeBot

Checklist