Child Safety Project

According to the organisers, the project draws on the principles of participatory communication that start from existing knowledge in the community, draw out underlying challenges, and shape new actions to address them. The project is working to address a number of key questions, including: how safe are children in the community?; in the past, what kept children safe?; and what has changed this situation? The project will also use community mapping techniques to explore what places were known to be safe for children in the past and what places are considered unsafe now, as well as what can be done to make children safe on both a community and individual level. Other questions will focus on the role played by individuals such as mothers, fathers, and siblings in providing a safety net for children in the home and community. These questions will challenge gender stereotypes around whose responsibility it is to look after children.

The organisers are using a number of tools to gather answers to these questions, including small group discussions, telephonic/in-studio listener interaction, community meetings to support in-studio interaction, and questionnaires. Sekgosese FM, in Limpopo province South Africa, will be the central medium to collect and disseminate information within its community and surrounding areas. ABC Ulwazi will produce radio inserts to support the discussions generated from community members.

Children

In 2009, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the National Department of Social Development in South Africa worked together to use the opportunity of the annual Child Protection Week (from May 25-29 2009) to intensify public awareness on issues of child protection and to promote the role of communities in providing the safe and protective environments in which children can grow up to reach their full potential. A 5-year strategy was adopted under the theme: "Caring Communities Protect Children", which is based on the premise that child protection is not the sole responsibility of formal child protection services but, rather, is the responsibility of all.

According to organisers, South Africa's children continue to be exposed to high levels of violence, abuse, and exploitation, including sexual violence. For many communities, children have ceased to be the responsibility of all, and are considered the responsibility of their parents or the state. In developing this project, the organisers wanted to answer 2 key questions: can communities provide avenues of care and protect children from abuse?; and can community radio be used as a platform to get communities to advocate and take action for the safety of their children?