December, the month of reflection and warmth. Unfortunately, a warm and loving situation is not the reality for everyone. And that is exactly what the power of having a family can bring. In this newsletter we share news about the videos and awareness campaigns by the Family Power participants and the progress within the Mutual Learning Program. We also reveal a bit about the continuation of Family Power next year.

Showing HOW family-based care is possible
The international participants of Family Power have developed 22 inspiring videos. They share stories about their experiences, family-based care approach and practical examples of family-based care. The videos will be used in awareness campaigns in the local context of the participants. For example, exhibitions will be organized in Sri Lanka, community meetings in Kenya and meetings in former orphanages in Indonesia. We are also working together on an international (even intercontinental) awareness campaign. Curious? Watch the story of Phalla and Phally from Cambodia below.

The Mutual Learning Program is running at full speed
With three sessions left, the pilot group (consisting of 11 organizations from Armenia, Ghana, Kenya, Peru, Sri Lanka and Syria, among others) is approaching the end of the Mutual Learning Program. During the first module, the group delved into the methodology behind collaborative and dialogic practices. The second module was about working with families and communities. We are currently in the middle of the 'how' of transformation to family-based care. We can conclude that there is a lot of movement and the Mutual Learning team learns from the participants as well. The program honors its name.

Mutual Learning will start with the next group at the end of February. Visit www.mutuallearningprogram.org for more information.

‘This training has been dear to me. I thought it was a regular training, chatting about how to do this. But it was a real learning program. What I learned is that you do not have to agree with each other. That it is about listening, that it is about changing your own way of seeing things.’ - Otto Sestak, Hope and Homes, Romania (facilitator MLP)

Working together for children in development: the thinktank
In September, Family Power came together with Dutch sector partners Wilde Ganzen, Better Care Network, Partin, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lilianefonds, Defence for Children, ICDI, ISS, Red een Kind and Wereldouders. Together with DCDD, Plan International, Radboud University, Save the Children and SOS children's villages, they will form of a structural think tank. The group works towards seminars that inspire practice, science and policy, and explore opportunities for collaboration to support the child development sectors.

The continuation of Family Power
At the start of Family Power, a program with a clear head and tail was chosen. The collaboration is running at full speed and  is bearing its fruits. Of course we cannot just put an end to that! As of March, Family Power will merge with Mutual Learning. We will devote a separate newsletter to this in the new year.