Our Impact in 2019

17-year-old Najnin comes from a deprived family in the state of Bihar, India, where more than 90% of girls reside in rural areas with limited opportunities. Many vulnerable girls like Najnin face immense pressure to marry before the legal age of 18. Unfortunately, early marriage often puts a child’s wellbeing at risk. It poses significant threats to a girl’s ability to grow up safe, healthy, and protected.

In April 2019, Najnin joined Save the Children’s Sashakt Kishori project – which means “Empowering Adolescent Girls” – as a Discussion Leader, engaging her peers on critical topics in self-protection, gender equality, and livelihoods.

“I feel a lot has changed inside me, especially my confidence on self,” said Najnin of her first months with the programme. “ I took training on financial literacy and now I am better placed to manage the money I earn or will earn in the future. I also underwent training on making paper products, and the small amount of money I receive helps me to contribute to the family income and support my studies.”

The Sashakt Kishori project works with girls, their parents, and other community members, including boys and men, to protect adolescent girls and help them succeed. It trains girls on life skills, vocational skills, and financial literacy, which empowers the girls to negotiate within their families and villages for a more hopeful future. The project has helped to break down some of the long-standing, harmful social and gender norms that prevent girls from reaching their full potential.

“I keep inspiring all the girls to dream big, secure a good future and stand up against child marriage by all means. Since I joined the programme, no case of early marriage has been reported in my group,” Najnin added.

In China, investigation into suspected child sexual abuse cases usually involves numerous rounds of questioning of the victims separately by public security officers, the procuratorate and lawyers court. Repeated recall and description of the traumatic experience can create additional suffering for the victims. To assist these victims, Save the Children partnered with the Public Security Bureau, judiciary, healthcare services and a social work organisation in Panlong District in Kunming to set up a local One-Stop Evidence Collection and Protection Centre in March of 2018. Children suffering from suspected sexual abuse can go through the inquiry, body and health check-up and injury assessment within one single visit.

Moreover, a multi-disciplinary working group comprising various professionals such as social workers, medical workers and psychologists conducts quick assessments on each case, then formulates a rehabilitation plan for the child and his/her family, and later carries out follow-up checks.

To cater for children’s needs, the centre is designed with a homelike setting, placing lots of lovely stuffed dolls and toys on the sofa and boxes of toys reachable to children, trying the best to let children feel safe and comfortable. Hidden synchronised audio and visual recording equipment is installed in rooms. When the police conduct inquiry on the victims, other professionals including procuratorates, social workers and psychologists in another room can understand the situation and observe if it is appropriate to continue the inquiry via video. They can communicate with the police through earphones to ask necessary follow-up questions, so as to avoid repeated questioning needed later. As the victims are mostly girls, policewomen are trained to conduct inquiry so that the victims will be more willing to disclose details.

The centre is the first of its kind in Southwest China. The Juvenile Justice Committee of China Association of Criminal Procedure and Law will conduct on-going research on its unique consultation mechanism.

A police officer from the Panlong Sub-district of the Public Security Bureau said, “The centre works on the principle of maximising benefits for children, which is conducive to combating crimes and protecting the rights of minors.”ment.