The Coordinator, Mr. Vidyaratha Kissoon made the disclosure last week Thursday during a roundtable discussion in the National Library Conference Room, Church Street,

Georgetown.
He said that networking was strongly promoted to enhance the effective outreach of the exercise, a collaborative effort between Help and Shelter and Every Child Guyana to improve the lives of children using a community-based approach.

Kissoon said, in its first year, it is concentrating on the Sophia community and, for the second and third years, the focus will be on Good Hope, East Coast Demerara and Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo).

He said, with its strategy, the undertaking will:

* provide psycho-social support and for children who have been abused or are at risk;

* develop parenting education workshops to transfer skills about non-violent methods;

* ensure that the needs of children with disabilities are considered in all activities and

* collaborate with Government, non-governmental agencies, community and religious leaders to share information and knowledge, strengthen referrals, monitor school attendance through the Education Ministry Schools Welfare Department and develop initiatives to resolve issues of child abuse.

Parameters
Kissoon explained that the parameters of the scheme include being accountable to the children and the community with which they work, advocate behaviour change, provide services for children, innovation and flexibility, knowledge sharing without discrimination and facilitation of related services.

He said, in line with the goal statement, which is to improve the lives of children experiencing violence and abuse and vulnerable others at risk in Georgetown, Sophia, Good Hope and Region Nine, the aims of promoting safety and protection of children have been met.

Kissoon’s colleague, Mr. Michael Gillis, who gave the formal report, identified the targets as:

* increasing awareness of child protection with parents, caregivers and the general community through public education, by 2011;

* working with the Guyana Police Force to ensure that it is responding to reports of child abuse in a professional manner which ensures victims are not further exposed to abuse, by March 2011;

* building the capacity of health care providers and teachers to detect and intervene in child abuse, by March 2010;

* increasing access to psycho-social support, including by child friendly counselling and the Court, for abused and at risk children, by 2011 and

* facilitating a network of organisations, faith and community based, youth groups, Government and non-government, which would work to support child protection and rights.

Gillis said, as it relates to creating awareness, several workshops were conducted and, by cascading efforts, information was filtered throughout.

He attested that collaborations with the Police proved fruitful through networking with the commanders to ensure effective responses.

Gillis said, with respect to the capacity enhancing, much headway was accomplished, as well.

“Additions to the Continuing Nurses Education Curriculum were approved by the Ministry of Education to work with teachers of Sophia Primary and Special schools and Redeemer Lutheran Primary,” he reported.

Gillis added that a counsellor has been on hand for the past month and dealt with 75 cases in the area of psycho-social support and child friendly counselling.

“We have, in addition to all this, encouraged networks and developed coalitions which yielded benefits,” he asserted, noting that a community cooperates best if members are involved at each stage of development.

Once a community knows that an organisation will deliver, it is more inclined to assist that entity to achieve its objectives, Gillis said.

He said the ‘Pickney Project’ team is committed to fulfilling their tasks and will continue community consultations in Sophia every Sunday.