Save the Date: 12 November 2024
Driving Care Reform and Celebrating Progress Across Asia - A BICON Roundtable

Since 2014, the Biennial Conference on Alternative Care for Children in Asia (BICON) has been a major event focusing on the rights of children and young people without parental care.The BICON initiative is becoming so much more than a conference that happens every 2 years. Having grown from its original focus on South Asia to covering the whole of Asia, it is a forum that captures the growing momentum for care reform for children in Asia. It is a celebration of the passion and ideas that exist among care experienced young people, children and those that work with them. It is a call to action to bring about meaningful change for the millions of children across the continent in alternative care or at risk of being separated. BICON is becoming a movement for care reform in Asia and that movement is growing.One year ago, the 5th BICON was hosted in Kathmandu, Nepal, and online. During two days, over 300 child rights practitioners, government actors, academics, and care experienced (young) people discussed regional and national challenges around alternative care and trends related to care reform and children’s rights in Asia. During BICON, participants agreed ambitious recommendations and calls to action which can be seen in this report: www.bicon.asiaOne year from now BICON will gather again, stronger and more ambitious than ever before. Please join us for a roundtable discussion to reflect on the recommendations of last year’s BICON and look forward to next year’s gathering. Be part of the growing momentum.

Date 12 November 2024
Time: 2 hours 8am-10am GMT/UTC
Format: Zoom webinar – to be recorded.

• Register here

Speakers

Dikshya Thapa - Co-founder, Shine together - Care Experienced Network Nepal (CENN)

Watch videos from the 5th BICON

Day One

Day Two

• Watch videos from the 4th BICON

BICON Conference 2023

More than 300 delegates from across the globe participated in BICON 2023, which included interactive workshops, plenaries and panel discussions to explore:

Previously hosted by Udayan Care and now, most importantly, delivered by young people as experts with lived experience as well as a coalition of organisations consisting of Better Care Network; Family for Every Child; Forget Me Not, Hope and Homes for Children; Lumos; Save the Children; SOS Children’s Villages; Udayan Care. BICON has SAIEVAC as technical partners.BICONs are conceived as a regional advocacy platform to bring stakeholders working on child and youth care together for sharing, learning and connecting. The BICON 2023 is an important event for stakeholders to work together to drive regional care reform and encourage governments to prioritise this topic. The conference directly cements Asia’s place in the global debates around children's rights, children in alternative care, care reform and related topics informed by those with lived care experience are at the heart of BICON.

Reflections from BICON 2021

Since 2014, the Biennial International Conference on Alternative Care for Children in Asia (BICON) has been an important event focussed on the rights of children and young people without parental care (CWPC). Due to the unprecedented and unpredictable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, we hosted the 4th Annual BICON online, with practitioners, policymakers, academics, young people with lived experience, discussing regional challenges, best practices and emerging issues related to alternative care and child rights in Asia.BICON 2021 was a platform to reflect on the best practices and experiences that had transpired so far and consider the next steps and implications for country-level systems reforms for the future, building regional momentum, and maintaining an ongoing global discussion.Key recommendations emerged around the following themes :

• Click here to download the report

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