Advocacy
To achieve our vision of a world where children and youth are empowered, achieve their dreams and become leaders, we need to ensure their rights are protected and respected – and we can’t do it alone.
We advocate for child protection through various programs and channels, cognizant of the fact that we can achieve much more if we are united in our community response to improve child protection locally, nationally and internationally.
Systems Change
SSI understands that the external influence of public opinion and internal influence of cultural norms within traditional community systems can play significant roles as either vehicles for change or barriers to it, with a great deal of nuance in between. SSI embeds our work into the fabric of the community, impacting change from the inside out and outside in. It’s this cross-cutting continuity and sensitivity that positions SSI to break cycles, and create opportunities.
Media and the press are well known as the fourth estate – this gives journalists and news outlets considerable power and influence over public reaction, discourse and response. SSI engages the press as a partner in our work, as a vehicle to increase awareness and mobilize advocacy for vital child protection issues facing our vulnerable communities. We therefore offer media trainings to journalists, outlining the most effective ways to narrate stories of child sexual abuse and children’s rights.
Further, in recognition of the importance of all community leaders in the protection of children and their rights, we regularly hold training sessions and dialogues with chiefs in the districts we work in. During these engagements we highlight the roles that chiefs can play in keeping children safe and discuss how we can best assist them to execute their roles effectively.
Children’s Act
As a child-focused organisation, our staff policies are aligned to the Botswana Children’s Act of 2009. We advocate for the full implementation of the Children’s Act by advocating for more funding to be diverted towards its implementation. Through our Child Protection Office we support child victims of abuse and ensure they have access to all essential services including:
- Health services
- Psychosocial support
- Justice advocacy
- Education
We also provide support to establish Child Protection Committees in many districts across Botswana, including Bobirwa, Southern, and Kgatleng districts and develop training manuals for those committees.
SASA! Training
Grandmothers play an extremely important role for SSI participants and beneficiaries. For most of them, their grandmothers are their primary and often their only caretaker. We therefore maintain a close relationship through our Grannies Tea Group, where we provide SASA! training. SASA! [Start, Awareness, Support, Action] is a community mobilization methodology used to fight violence against women in the community.
Our grannie trainee cohorts are empowered to identify cases of gender-based violence in their communities and learn what they can do about it. This initiative was launched as a way to empower key members of the community to help SSI break these cycles of inter-generational violence in response to the growing number of cases of violence against women and children that continue to emerge.
