Training for Social Protection Professionals: Protecting Children from Violence by Common Approach
Two-day training on application of referral mechanisms in cases of violence against children was held in Blagaj on 20 and 21 September 2012. The training is a part of the Progreamme “Enhancing the Social Protection and Inclusion System for Children in Bosnia and Herzegovina – SPIS”. It was designed for health, education, law enforcement and social work centers professionals who are in direct contact with children in the municipalities of Posušje, Gornji Vakuf-Uskoplje, Kupres, Livno and Stolac.
The trainers were a senior inspector of the Federation Administration of the Police and an expert advisor for prevention of juvenile crime in the Federation Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.
“All of us have a certain a certain degree of competence pertaining to violence against children. Only multidisciplinary approach will yield maximum results. Workshops have rarely fostered dialogue between representatives of several sectors. It therefore gives me great joy that we can all learn and share experiences and opinions here” said Mr. Hidajet Bešo.
“The aim of the training and the component of the program “Introducing Social Protection and Inclusion Models to Municipal Level” is to strengthen municipal capacities in order to create safe environment for every child by strengthening institutional coordination and communication mechanisms between social protection service providers and decision makers on the local level”, said Stela Dukić from the partner organization “Initiative for Better and Humane Inclusion” (IBHI)”.
Participants in the training were grateful for the opportunity to exchange experiences with representatives of different sectors. They used real-life examples in order to find answers to certain issues regarding identification of cases of violence against children and who to address for a specific type of assistance. They were able to reach joint conclusions and recommendations for further improvement of child protection.
Already in the introduction certain doubts were discussed, including ways to identifying potential victims of violence in cases of children with limited abilities; how to overcome an institutional flaw favoring a safe house accommodation for the woman and child(ren) over removal of the abuser from the family home, which heavily affects children, etc. The participants noted good cooperation in the municipalities covered by the project through Steering Boards and Protocols of Cooperation. However, they frequently faced problems in contacts with higher tiers of the government.
The Project has foreseen the total of four trainings about response to violence against children. They will be delivered to representatives of 10 current target municipalities (Posušje, Čelinac, Tešanj, Gornji Vakuf/Uskoplje, Velika Kladuša, Kupres, Gacko, Mrkonjić Grad and Derventa, and the Brčko District), as well as municipalities included in the earlier phase (Bileća, Kotor Varoš, Laktaši, Livno, Novi Travnik, Novi Grad - Sarajevo, Novi Grad, Stolac, Sanski Most and Višegrad).
“Enhancing the Social Protection and Inclusion System for Children in Bosnia and Herzegovina” is a joint EU and UNICEF project. The European Union has been funding the Project since 2008 with 4.1 million Euros from the Instrument of Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). The Project aims to help the building of a system which will provide adequate social protection policy and inclusion to children and their families.
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