Since 2004, UNICEF has worked with a Sudanese NGO Al-Massara and the Khartoum Council for Child
Welfare to develop public awareness programmes on the issue of abandonment and adoption, in an effort
to promote the concept of alternative family care. One important vehicle for the campaign has been the
word of religious leaders; the State Minister of Social Affairs met with some 300 prominent Imams to engage
their support for the alternative care programme. Al-Massara undertook similar outreach through
women’s groups, public meetings and through the high school networks. The underlying message for these
various approaches has been the strong religious value placed upon fostering and adoption, which was
underlined in the 2003 research undertaken in Khartoum.
Parallel to the promotion of alternative family care, the programme also encouraged access to institutions—
viz. Maygoma orphanage—to show the public how the needs of children were not being met through the
centre. The Alternative Family Care Task Force advocated for an open door policy at Maygoma, to allow
the media and other interested groups to witness first hand how services were inadequate, and to underline
the need for alternatives.