DILI, 30 september 2022 – (TATOLI) – Today, UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and Inclusion (MSSI) and NGO Ba Futuru, conducted a Positive Impact Workshop, intending to present the results and impacts of the Community Based Mental Health and Psycho-Social Support (MHPSS) intervention in reducing violence against children and Gender-Based Violence (GBV), which have been implemented through Child-Friendly Spaces (CFS).
The workshop was attended by 61 CFS volunteers, community leaders where the CFS is located, along with entities from MSSI, civil society organizations, and development partners, including European Union and UNICEF.
Initially, the CFS was implemented in april 2021 after Timor-Leste was hit by the massive flood, due to Seroja Cyclone, where 31.029 households across the country have been affected—of those, 82% are in Dili municipality, and damaged multiple critical public infrastructures. This all happened, while the country was in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once the flood had receded and the families with their children began slowly to move back to their homes, there was a need to ensure that children still receive necessary support and protection from domestic violence, child abuse, and neglect.
Therefore, in july 2021, with the support of the Spotlight Initiative, UNICEF and the MSSI, in partnership with Ba Futuru, developed the community-based MHPSS interventions and tailored a toolbox to support children and families in vulnerable and emergency settings, in concordance with the Child and Family Welfare Policy, where the government commits to encouraging community-based programming, aiming at preventing and addressing domestic violence, child abuse, and neglect.
To date, Community-based MHPSS activities are held in 16 child-friendly spaces, and 61 trained volunteers provided support to more than 1800 children and their parents.
“The objective of the CFS is to provide psycho-social support for children and their parents who were affected by the floods or are living in vulnerable settings, with access to structured play, recreation, and leisure, in a way that strengthened their resilience and existing protective factors,” said Bilal Aurang Zeb Durrani, UNICEF Country Representative in Timor-Leste, at the John Paul II conference hall, in Dili, today.
Although the Community based MHPSS were mainly designed for children, the intervention also includes sessions for parents to better understand their children’s emotional needs and increase their ability to talk about challenges, change gender norms and seek help.
It also provides parents with positive coping skills to care for their mental health. Through it, parents receive parenting sessions such as child protection, nutrition, early stimulation, hygiene, positive discipline, health, education, and adolescent issues.
Prior to the implementation of the activities, the volunteers had to undergo intensive training in Psychological First Aid and facilitation methods. They were equipped with knowledge and skills to provide MHPSS to the children and to facilitate the parenting session. The Volunteers are always prepared to support the children and parents during the CFS activities and continue to show their strong teamwork and good communication skills.
Moreover, MSSI and UNICEF also provided training to Child Protection Officers, GBV-focal points, technical teams of NGOs, representatives of faith-based organizations, and volunteers on Psychological First Aid and the MHPSS toolbox so that the social welfare workforce becomes better equipped to provide psychosocial support for children and families.
In this workshop, UNICEF and its partners are launching Child-Friendly Spaces Booklet.
“Child-Friendly Spaces Booklet contains information about the CFS, stories from some children, parents, and volunteers, and fun photos from the activities, including drawings from the children who were excited to share their art with all of us here,” said Durrani. “We hope that those who read it can also learn more about the activities that children and volunteers usually do at the CFS and identify the need to scale up this kind of community-based intervention, that has an impact on the life of children and prevents violence, abuse, and exploitation,” he continued.
The Community-based MHPSS is supported through Spotlight Initiative, a partnership between United Nations and European Union, to eliminate violence against women and girls in Timor-Leste, and around the world.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Nelia Borges
