Senior government representatives from Indonesia and Cambodia as well as speakers from partner organisations convened to showcase the journey of ending violence against children as Pathfinding countries.
Meeting on 9 March 2023 at the High-Level Session on Ending Violence Against Children in Asia, speakers shed light on the processes of developing, implementing and evaluating the National Action Plans (NAPs), working across sectors and with multiple partners, costing and budgeting, the key challenges encountered, and the lessons learnt as well as linking the NAP to other high-level processes in-country such as the National Development Plans.
“I congratulate the Governments of Indonesia and Cambodia and its partners for driving important change with and for children,” said Dr. Howard Taylor, Executive Director, End Violence Partnership in his opening remarks. “Together, we can accelerate progress so that every child is safe at home, in school, online and in their community.”
H.E Mr. SH Nahar, Deputy Minister for Child Protection, Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection, Indonesia shared a presentation on Indonesia’s experience in developing its recently launched National Strategy on the Elimination of Violence against Children along with its plan on rolling out capacity building and strengthening services. Spotlighting how Indonesia – one of the first Pathfinding countries – is a pioneer in the global movement to end violence against children, H.E Mr. Nahar walked through all the action being taken to end various forms of violence – from sexual violence to child marriage, across settings, including online.
Protected children and empowered women will advance Indonesia.
This was followed by the presentation of H.E Mr. Toch Channy, Director General for Social Services, Ministry of Social Affair, Veterans and Youth, Cambodia and Pathfinding Focal Point, who spotlighted Cambodia’s evaluation of the National Action Plan drawing out lessons and insights from across sectors, and reiterated the government’s commitment to build on progress within and across nations.
We will continue to learn from the experiences of other countries…for any innovation for Cambodia to uptake and we will continue to collaborate with other countries.
Pointing to the crucial role that civil society and international organisations play to drive in-country change and progress Stella Aya-Odongo, Director of Pathfinding, End Violence Partnership introduced speakers from partner organisations working to end violence in Indonesia and Cambodia.
Ms. Lieve Sabbe, UNICEF, Programme Specialist (Children with Disabilities), UNICEF Regional Office of East Asia and the Pacific stressed the importance of working together and putting children at the centre of policies. “UNICEF is proud to be a core member of the End Violence Partnership. Around the world, UNICEF supports governments and their partners as they embark on their Pathfinding journey. We accompany senior government focal points to lead multi-sectoral cooperation, plans and actions, including in Cambodia and Indonesia,” she said.
Ms. Sabine Rakotomalala, Technical Officer, Violence Prevention Unit, Department for the Social Determinants of Health (SDH), World Health Organization WHO spoke of the five key ingredients that can help Pathfinding countries build progress – leadership, data, evidence-based solutions, cooperation and bringing together the often siloed fields addressing various forms of violence (be it corporal punishment, online violence, parenting or violence in schools). “Indonesia and Cambodia have not only proven that there are solutions – evidence based solutions – they have managed to document them,” she said.
She was followed by representatives from the CSO Forum – Ms. Reny Haning, Specialist, Child Protection and Advocacy, ChildFund International in Indonesia and Mr. Lay Yan, Executive Director of the Child Right Coalition (CRC) Cambodia who highlighted the role of governments and organisation working across levels to drive in-country change.
Image: © UNICEF/UNI101731/Purnomo