Pema Gatshel will now have a better-informed childcare and protection network to identify and refer child abuse related cases to relevant authorities. The National Commission for Women and Children (NCWC) trained the focal persons to make appropriate referrals to relevant stakeholders. Until now, according to the officials, the designated focal persons were challenged due to a lack of awareness concerning child abuse rules and regulations.
Childcare and protection network in Pema Gatshel comprising mostly of health workers, village health workers, and school staff attended the training on early identification and safe referral of child protection cases.
The training is being provided for the first time for the childcare network. Around 50 participants attended the two-day training.
The participants said the training provided them with the platform to interact with relevant officials to understand child protection laws, rules, and regulations. It also empowered them with the skills for early identification and safe referral of children with protection concerns.
Kinley Dorji, the deputy chief programme officer of NCWC said, “We wanted to ensure that, through this capacity building workshop, teachers and health workers become capable of identifying and refering child protection issues and also understand how they are going to contribute to strengthening the child protection system.”
Mitsi Wangmo, a teacher of Yalang Primary School said, “I have learned how to recognise signs and symptoms of child abuse and how to handle such cases accordingly.”
Choni Dorji, a village health worker of Dechenling Gewog said, “Now we will explain these rules to the people, which will make it easier to solve the problem for us.”
The participants learned how to identify signs of child abuse through various methods. The knowledge gained through the training will not only help them refer cases to higher authorities, but will help protect the child according to the country’s laws.
Additionally, the focal persons will advocate for children’s rights in their respective areas.
It was supported by UNICEF.
Thinley Dorji, Pema Gatshel
Edited by Phub Gyem
