2011

www.sematanzania.org

THE REPORT ON ESTABLISHEMENT AND OPERATIONALIZATION OF CHILD HELPLINE (CSOs) WORKSHOP

The Workshop took place on 7th and 8th September 2011 at Millennium Hotel in Bagamoyo and was attended by over 20 participants including a representative from Child Helpline International

Contents
1.0 Background Information....................................................................2 1.1 Child Helpline Defined..............................................................................................................................................2 1.2 Child Helpline in Tanzania Progress on Operationalisation .....................................................................................3 1.3 Objectives of the Workshop .....................................................................................................................................3 1.4 Understand TCRF and C-Sema ...............................................................................................................................3

2.0 Government and CSOs Partnership for CHL (Kenyan CHL case)...4 2.1 Common Way Forward for Operationalisation of the Helpline in Tanzania .............................................................4 2.2 Roles and Commitment of Stakeholders ..................................................................................................................5 2.3 Pilot CHL Project ......................................................................................................................................................5

3.0 Conclussion ...............................................................................................................................................5 3.1 Resolutions/Recommendations ...............................................................................................................................5

Special appreciation goes to ICS who provided funds that enabled the facilitation of the Workshop from the entire planning to logistics.

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1.0 Background Information

Child Helplines (CHL) have been in existence for decades throughout the World. In Africa, however most countries started this initiative after the Tunis Declaration which was reached during the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis in 2005. The Tunis Declaration recognized the potentiality of young people in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and encouraged focus on those who have not yet benefited from (ICT). During these same meetings, Child Helpline International (CHI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to facilitate availability of easy-to-remember, accessible from all phones and free of charge numbers. The designed three digit numbers 111 and 116 were voted to be the best for the purposes of Child Helplines. In Africa, 116 is widely accepted and used by most countries across the continent. The Tunis Declaration and the agreements made with the CHI are recognized by the United Nations and progress of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) signatories in CHL implementation have been reported in the Committee on the Rights of the Child.

1.1

Child Helpline Defined

Child Helpline International defines a Child Helpline as a service provided for children and young people or adults contacting on behalf of children for counseling, referral or intervention via any means of (tele) communication be it a post card, radio station, phone or via text messaging and whenever they require assistance or need someone to talk to. Children inaccessible to (tele) communication medium due to lack of established infrastructure can be reached through awareness exercises such as outreach, caravans, walkins, etc. It is a central part of the national child protection system. Phone calls from children are received in contact centers. These contact centers can be large centers with several telephone lines, or small centers with one or two lines. A country can have one or more contact centers, depending on the size and the spread of the population, i.e. different factors and contexts of the country determine the structure of child helpline. The concept of Child Helpline is built on child rights framework; specifically on Child Protection. Children have the right to demand for care and protection. For some children, one call will be enough, but others need to call in more regularly. Children call in seeking assistance for a range of services like rescue from abuse, bullying, feeling suicidal to unwanted pregnancies or about difficulties in families. In developing countries like Tanzania, reason can also include assistance for shelter, counseling, medical, family crisis, or relationship problems, emotional support and guidance, just to mention few of them. Free helpline number ensures that a child can access help in any emergence situation, and are not made to pay for seeking help.

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Every call from a child may require different response from the child helplines call centre (Contact Centre). In developed countries, most of the helplines respond to a call by counseling the child or by guiding a child into making decision(s) by him/herself. For instance, if a child has a specific need, which a helpline cannot provide, the helpline refers the child to appropriate services. Therefore, a successful CHL operation requires multi-stakeholders cooperation. A well networked referral system with multiple service providers both from the private sector (CSOs, PLCs, Corporate, Enterprises, Bilateral Partners, etc.) and the Government.

1.2

Child Helpline in Tanzania Progress on Operationalisation

As a member of ITU, Tanzania Government (GoT) through Tanzania Communication Regulatory Authority (TCRA) took an initiative to allocate a Distress Call Code of 116 for CHL in 2006. Later in 2007 several consultation meetings and the need to have organized efforts toward establishment of CHL arose, then a steering committee was formed chaired by the Ministry of Community Development Gender and Children (MCDGC). A taskforce with technical status was formed chaired by the then Ministry of Infrastructure Development. These consultative sessions also identified roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders, reviewed and monitored the progress made, and in January, 2010 MCDGC called a meeting of experts and CSOs to satisfy itself whether Tanzania was technically ready for the helpline operationalisation. Later in May, 2011 there was yet another meeting organized by the MCDGC and Unicef whose recommendations/resolutions included a Public Private Partnership for CHL operationalisation arrangement. It was in line with this arrangement that C-Sema through Tanzania Child Rights Forum (TCRF) organized this session in Bagamoyo bringing in representatives from over 20 organisations in and out of Tanzania, including a representative from Child Helpline International. See Annex 1 for a list of participants.

1.3

Objectives of the Workshop

a) To develop a common way forward in operationalisation of the helpline in Tanzania b) To establish and cultivate a broad stakeholders support and partnerships for successful implementation of the child helpline c) To map out crucial roles of each stakeholder and encourage their commitment to roll out the helpline d) To inform other stakeholders that C-Sema is ready to launch a pilot CHL service in Tanzania by 2012 and seeks the hand of other stakeholders in support of these efforts

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1.4

Understand TCRF and C-Sema

Tanzania Child Rights Forum (TCRF) is a new initiative to popularize and implement the Law of the Child. This collaborative forum aims to Mobilise agencies and individuals to implement the Law of the Child Act, child related policies, regulations and child rights in Tanzania. It has a mandate of collecting and sharing information on success stories and challenges facing CSOs, GoT and other institutions with regard to the implementation of the Law of the Child Act. TCRF is also responsible to increase Tanzanian CSO's visibility by engaging CSOs in dialogue and discussions aimed at advocacy and lobbying for transformations nationally and internationally in areas of Child Protection, etc. C-Sema Sema is a private organization established and incorporated in Tanzania. The C means a child, civic driven change and culture while Sema is a Swahili word that literally means speaking. C-Semas main objective is to create an avenue for a Tanzanian Child who speaks; is listened to and whose needs are timely responded to.

2.0

Government and CSOs Partnership for CHL (Kenyan CHL case)

CHI gave the example of a Kenyan CHL which is a partnership between the Government of Kenya (GK) and a private organisation (Childline Kenya). Generally, all African CHLs are operated on partnership arrangement between the respective countries Governments and private organisations. A memorandum of Understanding (there is a Kenyan MoU module available at TCRF) is signed between the two parties before the commencement of the CHL service. This however, faces challenges including the sustainability of the entire CHL projects whose funding rests on donations from Charities, INGOs, Foundations, etc. Similarly, Tanzanias CSOs agreed that a comparable arrangement should be adopted for CHL operationalisation. Panelists held that initiatives to support the CHL pilot project(s) must be applauded and continued. One such initiative is a joint fundraising proposal for CHL pilot scaling up between C-Sema and Plan International-Tanzania (currently in the pipeline). CHL was unanimously accepted as opportunity that need to be tapped into individual organisations programme including GoT departments responsible for tackling incidents of violence against children. CHL is crucial in implementing the Law of the Child Act, and that the challenges towards a functioning CHL should be identified and collectively addressed as they mostly need a multi-player solution.

2.1

Common Way Forward for Operationalisation of the Helpline in Tanzania

It was overwhelmingly agreed that time is ripe now for launching the CHL service in Tanzania. The Unicef Tanzania VAC Study results recently shared outlines clear needs to respond to violence against children in our country. Partakers suggested that the culture of silence should be alleviated if there is a clear need to help the children. People should not keep quiet on abuse against children while delinquency must be brought to justice. CHL is fundamental to a countrys child protection system for it avails to children avenues to report incidents of violence committed against them. It was also apparent that CHL would be an information tool for GoT Social Workers assisting them with information on most vulnerable children and those that require immediate redress. All the same, participants agreed that CHL functionality requires a

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multi-sector framework whose key players are grassroots/street-level organisation, communities and GoT service providers all in support of the call-centre. In a nutshell CHL in Tanzania will eventually:(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) Break the culture of silence in matters of violence against children and general child protection concerns. Give voice to children and witnesses of incidences of child abuse to act. Bridge the gap between reporting and responding to incidents of violence against children general child protection issues. Facilitate creation of network, linkages and coordination among primary duty bearers (the Government), Secondary Duty Bearers (Communities and Social Workers) and Rights Holders (Children) on reporting and responding to issues of child abuse. CHL will promote Child Participation

(v)

2.2

Roles and Commitment of Stakeholders

The GoT through the Department of Social Welfare is ready to support the CHL in Tanzania by way of referrals, training to the call centre councilors, etc. CHL becomes a new thematic area of focus within TCRF under the championship of C-Sema whose main responsibility is to see through that an agreement is reached with the MCDGC for the deployment and usage of the 116 resource. See Annex 1 List of CHL
Stakeholders

2.3

Pilot CHL Project(s)

Various discussions during the workshop resulted in setting up standards for an ideal location for the CHL pilot project. The following are some of those benchmarks; (i) (ii) Availability of a sound Child Protection System resource; social workers, the police gender and children desk, a juvenile magistrate court; (referrals), etc. Availability of developed telecommunication infrastructures and other mass media infrastructures such as telecommunication and radio facilities etc to enable efficient delivery of both line and outreach services. Availability of good transport infrastructures to facilitate easy access to a large cross section of targeted vulnerable children and other stakeholders such as local government officials etc

(iii)

3.0

Conclusion

A cerebrated UNCRC quotation goes; No violence against children is justifiable, ALL violence against children is preventable. It was collectively agreed by participants that this is the right time to make 116 operational in Tanzania. We dont have to fear challenges related to the operationalisation of the CHL but Page | 5

rather plan to overcome and better still, the pilot elegant operations would avails us with the best lessons with which we may or may not scale up to the rest of the country. All the same, other models of CHL which are simple in operation such as CHL Radio/TV programmes, sad/happy boxes in schools, etc. are encouraged. Lets Work Together To Stop Violence Against Children.

3.1

Resolutions/Recommendations
Here under is a list of 5 recommendations from the Bagamoyo CHL Workshop; (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) Child Helpline (CHL) as an opportunity to be tapped into every organisation's Programme areas. The GoT harmonise/incorporate CHL into existing rules & regulations Existing CHL versions should be strengthened, continued and shared amongst stakeholders. Awareness creation about the CHL at all levels Make CHL a thematic area of intervention within Tanzania Child Rights Forum (TCRF) under the Championship of C-Sema.

Karibuni na Asanteni!! Its Possible!!

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ANNEX 1 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

S/No. Name of Participant Organisation/GoT Department TCRF Unicef CHI/CLK ICS-African Office Phone Number Contacts

1 2 3 4

Eric Guga Kathryn Leslie Irene Nyamu Beatrice Ogutu

+255789692678 +255765096866 +254722472678 Regional +254733790335

eric@childrightsforum.org kleslie@unicef.org irene.nyamu@childlinekenya.co.ke beatrice.ogutu@icsafrica.org

Jeanne K. Ndyetabura

(MOHSW) Assistant +255713335454 Commissioner, Social Welfare: Child Welfare/Child Protection Director for Children +255754689876 Development Department, MCDGC MCDGC Plan International +255784285901 +255714126806

jndeta@yahoo.com

Tukae Njiku

etukae@hotmail.com

7 8

Christopher Mushi Wilbert Muchunguzi

chrismushi@yahoo.com wilbert.muchunguzi@planinternational.org cmdemu@pactworld.org amanimahoo@yahoo.com dogodogo-mtc@hotmail.com davisgisuka@yahoo.com kchimo@fhi.org katri@kiwohede.org karesma@repssi.org

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Christina Mdemu Amani Lukas Joseph Makuvila Herine Odhiambo Davis A. Gisuka Kenneth Lister Sofia Temba Karesma Mushi

PACT - Tanzania Mkombozi CINO - Lindi Dogodogo Centre Right to Play, DSM FHI KIWOHEDE REPSSI

+255767247270 +255767881175 +255714253360 +255655898091 +255713663559 +255754377313 +255714615898 +255754563034

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17 18 19 20 21 22 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Suzana Mtandika Fikiri Elias Njeri Kagucia Dr. Jonathan Stephen Juma Masisi John Pinini Iraeneus Kasimbazi Revocatus George John Nyoni Francisca Silayo Emanuel Gimeno Michael Kehongoh Ishika Mshaghuley Marina Papadopulos Richard Manamba Kiiya, JK

Basic Needs, Tanzania Tamasha CCR TADEPA WOMEDA JIDA

+255713385357 +255655387044 +255787970925 +255768268599 +255754891867 +255754623715

suzan.mtandika@yahoo.com e_fikiri@hotmail.com njerikagucia@ccr-tz.org tadepatz@yahoo.com womadatz@yahoo.com Jonpin2002@hotmail.com kasimbazitena@yahoo.com rgeorge@worlded.co.tz jspnyoni@yahoo.com silayosisca@gmail.com gimeno.jnr@sematanzania.org michael.kehongoh@sematanzania.org ishika.mshaghuley@sematanzania.org marina.pj@sematanzania.org richard.manamba@sematanzania.org Kiiya.jk@sematanzania.org

Centre for Widows & +255787033441 Children Assistance World Education Inc +255784846819 Muheza Hospice Care Children Forum C-Sema C-Sema C-Sema C-Sema C-Sema C-Sema +255756411111

Dignity +255722472678 +255713807309 +255764842764 +255769439961 +255784432072 +255784888164 +255767269308

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