Several service providers including police, local chiefs, health supervisors in Torit state mainly from government and local non-governmental organizations are attending a two-day workshop on child protection and gender-based violence.
The training that is organized by Plan International Torit Field Office, aims at capacity building of service providers in handling cases of child abuses and practice.
Speaking to Radio Emmanuel at the opening, the organization’s Child Protection Officer Fanan Simplicious Ongina says making alarm on tackling cases of child and gender abuses is very necessary.
‘It is good to have a protective environment for our children. It is good to look at the element that can bring our children up. We need to take concern of our children not to have physical abuse, emotional abuse to make children grow in the manner that they are successful in future. So we intend to conduct this training to our local authorities and service providers to make sure that we have child protection concerns all across the counties or the whole state for our people who are working with us. So this training is to build their capacity and to equip them with knowledge and skills for them to actually know what concerns that if they have cases of this kind come to them ‚Äì how do they address, how do they respond, how do they refer cases to relevant service providers’, he emphasizes.
Simplicious adds that there are several abuses such as physical, emotional, sexual exploitation and neglect of children in communities.
Meanwhile, Child Protection and Gender Officer for SPIDO Susan Iffe James believes a joint communal effort to child protection will yield more positive effects.
‘We need to protect our children because they the generation of tomorrow. We need to give them support, from the family and from outside. Without support the children will not find a good future. We are the right people to support them. We need to make sure that our country is very safe not to leave our children move anyhow to do whatever they want to do. They can do whatever they want to do but it is not right because they don’t know. So our community and the families ‚Äì we should put our hands together to protect them and to guide them in a good way’, she appeals.
After this training at Dynamic Business Centre, the participants are expected to reach out to the grassroots for mobilizations on child protection and GBV.