ChildFund Cambodia and Educo in Cambodia formally sign a new collaboration agreement
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, 18 September 2015 – Child-focused development agencies ChildFund Cambodia and Educo in Cambodia announced a new collaboration agreement at a formal signing ceremony today.
Educo is the newest member of the ChildFund Alliance, a worldwide group of 12 child-centred development organisations working in 58 countries to implement long-lasting and meaningful change for children and families living in poverty.
The decision to create a formal partnership between the two organisations in Cambodia will ensure that programs are delivered effectively, efficiently, and for the greatest benefit of vulnerable children and families.
Prashant Verma, ChildFund Cambodia Country Director, says: “Both organisations have a strong education focus, while ChildFund is increasingly delivering interventions in the areas of child protection, rights realisation as well as our traditional areas of health, livelihoods and water and sanitation.
“A closer working relationship between ourselves and Educo means we can share our experience and learnings, as we seek to find new ways to improve the lives of Cambodia’s poorest children and families. It also gives us the opportunity to seek larger grant-funded opportunities which are only available to NGOs working in a number of provinces in the country.”
Jojo Pastores, Country Director of Educo in Cambodia, says: “We are committed to implementing programs that will ensure the well-being of children in the regions where we work, particularly in the areas of education, child protection and governance, as well as community development interventions that will contribute to realisation of child rights as embodied in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.”
“Being a member of the ChildFund Alliance and forging this agreement with ChildFund Cambodia means we can leverage future initiatives to improve policy and programme environments in Cambodia for the well-being of children and their families.”
Currently, ChildFund Cambodia and Educo in Cambodia deliver programs to rural communities in Svay Rieng and Kratie, while Educo also operates in Battambang and the capital Phnom Penh.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About ChildFund Cambodia
ChildFund Cambodia is the representative office of ChildFund Australia – an independent and non-religious international development organisation that works to reduce poverty for children in the developing world. ChildFund began work in Cambodia in 2007, and today implements community development programs in Svay Rieng and Kratie province focusing on the needs of children and their families in the areas of child protection, child rights, education, livelihoods, local governance, nutrition, safe migration, water and sanitation, and youth. In collaboration with the United Nations and other development agencies, ChildFund established the Child Helpline Cambodia, which responds to the needs and children and youth across Cambodia.
About Educo in Cambodia
EDUCO’s mission is to work with children and their communities to promote just and equitable societies that guarantees their rights and well-being. Our vision is a world where all children fully enjoy their rights and lead a life of dignity. EDUCO in Cambodia started in 2005 with community development projects evolving into our current child rights based programming with particular attention on education, child protection and governance. EDUCO in Cambodia works with partners as well as directly implements projects. EDUCO works with KAFDOC (Khmer Association for Development of Country Side Cambodia) in Kratie provinces, SSO (Santa Sena Organisation) in Svay Rieng, SCC (Salvation Centre Cambodia) in Phnom Penh and KHEN (Khmer NGO for Education) in Battambang. EDUCO directly implements a project in Battambang on improving quality of schools and education.
About Prashant Verma, Country Director of ChildFund Cambodia
Prashant was appointed to the role of Country Director with ChildFund Cambodia in 2014. During his 23 year career in international development, he has worked in more than 11 countries in Africa (East, Central and West) and South-East Asia Regions, holding senior positions with international non-government organisations including Plan, Concern Worldwide and Care International. In addition to his extensive experience in child-focused development, Prashant has led program interventions in the areas of water and sanitation, livelihoods security, education, community health and nutrition, and HIV and AIDS.
About Jojo Pastores, Country Director of Educo in Cambodia
Jojo Pastores joined EDUCO in Cambodia in April 2015. Prior to this, he worked with various organisations in Cambodia for 16 years including World Vision Cambodia, EveryChild, and VBNK. Jojo also provided consultancy services within the South East Asia Region on organisation development processes (including strategic planning, change management, values clarifications) and programme and project development and evaluations. Before moving to Cambodia, Jojo worked in the Philippines for 14 years with various NGOs and one corporation. During his 30 years of development practise, Jojo has implemented and managed programs in child protection, partnerships and capacity building, community development (including adult literacy, community organising, health and nutrition, malaria prevention, sustainable agriculture and food security) as well as advocacy initiatives.
ChildFund develops ‘first of its kind’ national crisis hotline in partnership with PNG’s Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee and FHI 360
Sydney, Australia, 19 August 2015 – Australians and New Zealanders are helping to tackle epidemic levels of violence against women and children in Papua New Guinea, through the launch of the country’s first nationally available, toll-free hotline offering crisis support to survivors of family and sexual violence.
The hotline, called “1-TOK KAUNSELIN HELPIM LAIN”, was launched today in Port Moresby by ChildFund in partnership with Papua New Guinea’s Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee and FHI 360.
ChildFund has pooled charitable donations from the Australian public with $2.3m (NZD $2.6m) from the New Zealand Government’s aid program to set up and maintain the vital support service over the next five years.
“Family violence is a devastating problem throughout our region. In Papua New Guinea, the avenues available for survivors to seek help are severely lacking, while entrenched attitudes around violence and gender inequality only complicate the issue,” said ChildFund Australia CEO Nigel Spence, speaking at the launch in Port Moresby today.
Children’s healthy development depends on having a family and community where they feel safe, loved and protected. This hotline is about providing those who are experiencing violence with a safe channel to seek help.
It is estimated that two-thirds of women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime in Papua New Guinea, which only outlawed domestic violence as recently as 2013. Many researchers and community leaders believe this is just the tip of the iceberg – a view supported by ChildFund’s research conducted in 2013, which found most women interviewed in Rigo District had experienced violence and said their children were often present when their partners were violent towards them.
With access to telecommunications widespread and growing rapidly across the country, ChildFund Papua New Guinea’s program manager Aydelfe Salvadora said a combination of common mobile phone access and a growing awareness of family and sexual violence within PNG had made it “the right time” to launch the hotline.
“The country is more connected than ever before through the now common use of mobile phones in PNG, which works very well for our service.
“At the same time, all important stakeholders in the community are recognising family and sexual violence as an issue and are implementing steps to educate and offer support – from Government to NGOs to corporate enterprises.”
Natasha Stott Despoja, Australia’s Ambassador for Women and Girls, said tackling family violence is no easy task but this hotline was an important step to reach survivors across the country.
“This has the potential to be life-saving for women and children who are experiencing violence in their homes and communities right now,” Ambassador Stott Despoja said.
“I’ve met women in Papua New Guinea who shared their stories of the most horrific violence levelled at them and their children. To know that these women will now have help available at the end of a phone line is fantastic.
“I congratulate ChildFund, the Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee and FHI 360 for securing the resources and support to get this vital service off the ground.”
The hotline will initially operate for eight hours a day, increasing to 12 hours a day from October. Professional counsellors fluent in Papua New Guinea’s three national languages will be available from 7am to 7pm, seven days a week. Calls to the hotline are free of charge within the Digicel network, with talks underway to extend the toll-free benefits to callers who use PNG’s Bemobile and Telikom networks.
Callers will have access to confidential crisis counselling and referrals to local service providers – for example, safe houses, family support centres, police and legal services. ChildFund is also working with the University of Papua New Guinea on a counselling qualification to ensure that there will be trained counsellors to continue and expand the work of the service into the future.
“Callers can speak privately to our counsellors and receive immediate help at the time of their call,” said Ms Salvadora. “Our counsellors can help them develop safety plans, provide crisis counselling and refer them to a service provider closest to their location.”
Ms Salvadora added that the service is also there to help perpetrators of violence change their behaviour, explaining that it is important to offer counselling not just to those abused, but the abuser.
“There are many good people who, for whatever reason, commit bad acts,” she said.
“Our counsellors are there to help these people too. We are not here to judge or condemn. We understand that speaking to someone on either side of the issue may help improve the situation.”
The”1-TOK KAUNSELIN HELPIM LAIN” is a partnership between ChildFund Papua New Guinea, CIMC (FSVAC) and FHI 360, supported by the New Zealand Aid Programme, USAID, ChildFund New Zealand and ChildFund Australia.
715-08000 is the number to call (within PNG only) to receive counselling for family and sexual violence.
Join the conversation online using #stopviolencePNG
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About the Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee
Papua New Guinea’s Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee (FSVAC) was set up as one of the sectoral committees of the Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Council (CIMC) in 2000. The recommendation to establish such a committee came from a workshop conducted in 2000 to address concerns about the alarming rate of family and sexual violence against women and children in PNG. The result was the setting up of a national body (FSVAC), specifically mandated to look into the problems associated with family and sexual violence and to come up with concrete ways of addressing these problems.
About FHI 360
FHI 360 is a nonprofit human development organisation dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Serving more than 70 countries, its activities in Papua New Guinea span nearly a decade. Working to improve HIV/AIDS services for populations most at risk for contracting the virus, FHI 360 programs in PNG have more recently expanded to address the problem of violence against women and girls.
