Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/596653/protecting-the-vulnerable-two-units-to-be-set-up-to-address-child-rights-in-k-p/
ISLAMABAD:
Save the Children and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Child Protection and Welfare Commission (CPWC) representatives on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish child protection systems in the impoverished Battagram and Lower Dir districts, said a press release.
The ceremony was attended by Save the Children Pakistan Country Director David Skinner, K-P Social Welfare advisor Dr Meher Taj Roghani, Chief Protection Officer Dr Murad Ali Afridi and DOST Foundation Chief Executive Dr Parveen Azam Khan.
By signing the MoU, Save the Children has paved the way for the establishment of two child protection units that will engage community groups in sensitising key issues including birth registration, teacher absenteeism, early child marriages and child labour.
Once organised, these community groups will work alongside the government’s social welfare, education, health departments and law enforcements agencies to establish a district- based coordination and referral mechanism for vulnerable children, says the press release.
Save the Children is pro-actively engaged in training existing child protection unit staff members in eight districts of K-P.
The officials are being trained on case management, community mobilisation and the development of effective referral systems.
The non-governmental organisation will provide technical, institutional and financial assistance to K-P CPWC and Social Welfare departments in both Battagram and Lower Dir districts to put child protection systems in place by December 2015.
Skinner, in a meeting with Dr Afridi, discussed prevailing child rights issues including the rising number of street children, corporal punishment and early child marriages and explored how Save the Children and the K-P government can devise effective programmes to secure a better future for the province’s children.
Dr Afridi also highlighted that terrorist incidents had led to an increasing orphan population and rising numbers of disabled children.
In 2009, Save the Children helped draft the initial version of the K-P Child Protection and Welfare Act. This resulted in the formation of K-P CPWC, which now has the mandate to monitor, amend and propose new legislation.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 29th, 2013.