SENEGAL

OUR PARTNERS: ASSOCIATION OF SENEGALESE LEGAL PROFESSIONALS (AJS), EDEN, ENDA JEUNESSE ACTION AND THE NATIONAL SCHOOL FOR SPECIALISED SOCIAL WORKERS.

Six volunteers were deployed, specialising in social work, child protection, organisational management, monitoring and evaluation, teaching, and gender equality.

The partner organisations now give greater consideration to child protection and safeguarding principles when carrying out their work, thanks to specialised training and newly developed policies and tools. ENDA earned a special certification and international recognition for its ability to protect children in vulnerable situations and enforce their rights.

Eden, a non-governmental organisation, developed a protocol for managing cases involving children who have experienced violence. As a result, their case intake and support processes are more child-friendly.

A Story Of Change

A PRIDE volunteer provided support for the development of a child safeguarding policy and training on the same subject. Her insights helped Eden become more aware of its responsibilities as an organisation that works with children and for children. A change in the mindset and behaviour of Eden's staff was observed, creating a more protective environment for the children the organisation serves.

Eden and ENDA have made the prevention of child sexual exploitation and abuse key concerns for their organisations. They have given consideration to the risks inherent in their activities and developed a policy to reduce these risks.

AJS implemented a monitoring system and created a database so that it can track its performance and adjust its interventions accordingly. This will help the organisation improve the protection and legal support it provides to women and girls who experience violence, abuse or sexual exploitation.

Prior to the sharing session on safeguarding, I didn't realise there was a difference between protecting and safeguarding. Now I know that safeguarding is about responsibility and goes much further than protection.

The KEKELI Centre has succeeded in diversifying its sources of income. Notably, the organisation held its first fundraising gala and intends to make it an annual event. The centre also developed stronger partnerships, reinforced its capacity to advocate for child protection, and created a communications and mobilisation handbook to gain increased visibility and raise funds to support its operations.

CEJUS has positioned itself as a national centre of expertise in the field of juvenile justice and has incorporated child rights into its core mission. The centre is now able to provide training on children's rights and justice to other organisations across the country.

The WAO initiated a number of studies on child rights violations after developing a guidebook on how to collect information on cases quickly. The organisation's personnel gained a deeper understanding of children's rights, enabling them to provide more child-friendly interventions.

Girls at a WAO centre learned about sexual abuse prevention and are now more informed on how to recognise sexual abuse and how to respond, report and cope with incidents.

A public workshop held jointly by the KEKELI Centre and CEJUS emphasised the importance of child protection and safeguarding the dignity of the child in the interventions carried out by civil society organisations. As a result of this initiative, the issue received front-page media coverage.