PNG project rolling out safe spaces for kids
Children of the Andai tribe in Kaiam village in the remote East Sepik Province. (file image)
Photo:
AFP PHOTO/Torsten BLACKWOOD
A program supporting safe spaces for children has been rolled out in Papua New Guinea.
The
Child-Friendly Spaces Toolkit
supports setting up and managing safe community spaces, and has a focus on embedding protection into existing community structures, from churches and schools to ward offices and aid posts.
It was rolled out during a training workshop in Port Moresby, where 18 organisations gathered to learn how to establish and manage child-friendly spaces in their own communities.
HIV/AIDS charity Links of Hope national operations manager Seruma Numa said children in local communities face a lot of physical and emotional abuse.
"We see how stigma silences them. Many can't speak up about what's happening in their homes," she said.
"A child-friendly space gives them a voice, a space to talk, to feel safe, and to be heard."
The spaces also serve as entry points for access to legal, medical, and counselling services.
Unicef said up to 80 percent of children in Papua New Guinea experience physical or emotional violence and widespread neglect.
Numa said by working through trusted community spaces, help can be there when a child on the street is ready to reach out.
"Children are on the streets. We see it every day," she said.
"By working through trusted community spaces, we can be there when a child is finally ready to reach out. The support must be there, waiting."
CARE International's peace project Manager Benoni Masalo said child negligence is everywhere in PNG.
"Parents often do not realise the importance of emotional and educational support.
"A child-friendly space offers something simple but powerful: safety."
Masalo emphasised how trained facilitators use creative methods, like storytelling, drawing, and play, as bridges to healing.
"Children express their pain through play. When you create that environment, it helps them open up.
"And it also helps communities see that healing starts with connection. That's when referral systems and community support become essential."
Masalo said they've had policies and awareness campaigns "but very little that reaches the grassroots in a practical way".
"This toolkit changes that."
The
Child-Friendly Spaces Toolkit
has been developed with the National Office of Child and Family Services and UNICEF, in partnership with several other organisations.
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A majority of PrEP is being provided through key population led health services in Thailand. Eliminate legal and structural barriers Dr Praphan calls for eliminating all legal and structural barriers including stigma and discrimination that block access to existing HIV and other health and social support services - especially for HIV key populations. He not only calls for strong and sustained national political commitment which is essential to end AIDS by 2030 but also for accountability of political leaders if we fail to deliver on the promise to end AIDS by 2030. He acknowledges that USA President Trump's current policy decisions have severed research funding and development financing for a range of programmes including HIV in the Global South. "This could pose to be a big obstacle for ending AIDS in many developing countries," said Dr Phanuphak. 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