TITLI- a right to be SAFE campaign | India (MSAI)

Name of the activity: TITLI- a right to be SAFE campaign

Country/NMO: India (MSAI)

Program: Children Health & Rights

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Education

General description:

In today’s age where all the information in the world is just one click away, we are all informed; yet we fail to bring reform. They say that education is the most powerful weapon to effect change in the society and I do believe that it is the sole premise for progress.

And what better way is there to bring reform than by starting with the young! After all, the foundation of each country lies in the education of its youth.

Sexual abuse has always been a taboo in our country and hence, the number of victims suffering from this horrendous crime keeps increasing. To inform and educate the young children of our country, who not only constitute a major chunk of our society but are also responsible for the vibrant future of the nation, would help to bring a social reform that will only grow as time passes. We are keen on taking up the opportunity to educate the mind while it is still young as it gives us the chance to mould it in a way that is beneficial to the well being and development of the society. If a child, since a young age, is informed of what sexual abuse is and how he should combat it, he will be able to look out not only for himself, but also for his near and dear ones.

To keep these traumatic experiences on the down low is only going to bolden the perpetrators to commit more such crimes. Every person needs to understand that if they have been a victim of sexual abuse, it is not their fault. They need to come out in the open and seek the support of fellow members of the society who will stand unflinchingly in the fight against sexual abuse. To raise awareness and consciousness would discourage the ill-minded from committing these atrocious misconducts.

The event aims at encouraging people to come out in the open with their experiences and shatter the stereotypes of being ashamed of talking about sexual abuse. It places strong emphasis on teaching the crowd of how to combat the perpetrator and how to protect themselves from wrongdoer.

This event will bring people closer, especially those who have suffered from similar traumatic experiences. We reassure people that they are faultless and encourage them to talk about the experience to get through the pain. The workshop will sensitize the children towards the topic of sexual abuse and aims at more case reporting which will propel for stronger reforms and a better tomorrow

Focus area:

Children’s rights, Child Sexual Abuse

Problem statement:

Despite one in every two children being a victim of child sexual abuse and every one in five children being at risk; there continues to be a huge silence. One out of four families still do not report known cases of abuse. Even though it’s the need of the hour, why talk about it in hush tones?

Target groups and beneficiaries:

Children will be the target group and they will be benefit in the long run by being self aware of what to do in a critical situation

Objectives and indicators of success:

-To create a population self aware about their rights.
-To encourage the idea that sexual abuse is not their fault.
-Motivate children to not hesitate to talk about it to someone they trust.
-Help children understand what to do immediately after such an act.
-Help children feel good about themselves even after an attack and talk personally to them and motivate not to loose confidence
-Increase the reporting of cases of abuse
-Form a strong policy against attackers

Methodology:

Approach schools for a workshop with children in school hours

Basic orientation and data collection via worksheets for the children.
Video demonstration
Discussion
Post event data collection

Plans for evaluation:

Having a pre and post event questionnaire with similar questions helps assess the situation better.
Since the questionnaires are anonymous children find it better to answer honestly and it helps report newer cases and check for general impact of the workshop.
The workshop aims to interactive and more of a discussion where taboo regarding the same is cleared and children and talk freely about similar experiences.
It doesn’t involve show of statistics to children as it isn’t required.