Real life stories

Real life stories

Children’s issues

Children’s issues

Child Protection

Child Protection

Education

Education

Health and Sanitation

Health and Sanitation

HIV and AIDS

HIV and AIDS

 

Treating Children with Care

As we sit in Hillary’s village the children begin to gather around to observe the visitors. They play a simple game with colored rubber bands, causing many stifled giggles. Hillary absently ties up her little girl’s hair as she describes how being a Community Volunteer has affected her and her family of four children. The training made her change, Hillary says, by leading her to better understand the needs of her children.

The village we are sitting in, like many in Western and Choiseul Provinces of the Solomon Islands, has been striving to recover from the powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami which hit on April 2 2007, destroying houses, displacing families and killing 52 people. Children feared the sea and refused to play on the beach for weeks afterwards. To support the children’s recovery UNICEF teamed up with the Social Welfare Division and launched the Community Welfare Volunteer scheme. Part of a long-term effort to strengthen the welfare system in the Solomon Islands, the Community Welfare Volunteers not only play a key role in ensuring communities understand the effects of the disaster but also to recognise the strengths they possess in caring for their children.

So far UNICEF and the Social Welfare Division have conducted three separate week-long training sessions for a total of 126 participants, who are now working as welfare volunteers for their villages across Western and Choiseul Provinces. Hillary believes the community must take action and the training made her realise that, she says. Taking a strengths-based approach the training equips volunteers to identify good practices for children’s welfare within their own communities. The week is packed with role plays, group activities and games to increase participants understanding of child protection and to help them facilitate the same activities in their communities.
In a community with very low literacy and where children often do not attend school, affecting change can be difficult. The key for Hillary is to get the whole community involved. “We’re making a new community committee”, Hillary tells me. “I have a role in the new committee so now I can really start working to help my community.” The course also identifies some of the protection concerns and vulnerabilities children growing up in the area may experience. These range from harsh discipline to sexual abuse, topics which ignite lively discussions during the course. A community mapping exercise identifies areas in which children feel safe and where they are more likely to be protected, as well as those that may pose a risk so this can be reduced or eliminated.

The Social Welfare Division in Gizo, Western Province, supports the Community Welfare Volunteers through the training and then later with monitoring visits. Any concerns the volunteers have over specific situations or events are referred to the Social Welfare Officer and followed up if necessary. In this way, the volunteers are not only strengthening their communities but are also expanding the welfare system and enabling villagers to access more focused help if it is needed.

Judy Basi, the Social Welfare Officer in Gizo, and her team of two have their work cut out for them to support so many volunteers, but believe the system will ensure communities can better care for their children and in the long run improve the welfare of their respective villages. “The Community Welfare Volunteers connect community members to the Social Welfare Division so we can support them to support their children,” Judy says. With more communities gaining volunteers, and with the support of UNICEF and the Social Welfare Division, communities will enhance their children’s wellbeing and lead to Hillary’s aim. Her summary of what is needed is powerful in its simplicity: “We must treat the children with more care.”