Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Training
Break the Silence
Capacitating Organizations towards becoming Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Resource Centers
About Stairway Foundation and the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program
With more than 20 years of working directly with marginalized children in the Philippines, Stairway has come to understand the gravity of the problem regarding child sexual abuse and exploitation within the country. Using creative advocacy, particularly theater and animations, Stairway is addressing the problem by networking with various stakeholders and putting the agenda of child sexual abuse prevention into their respective programs.
Over the past decade Stairway has developed tools and training methodologies to effectively address the precarious issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation. The need for intervention greatly exceeds the resources of Stairway or any other single organization. To combat child sexual abuse and exploitation we need a united and well-orchestrated effort from government and private organizations alike. The Break the Silence Campaign and the training modules presented here are efforts to effectively address this issue through networking and capacity building.
These training packages have been formulated based on past trainings that Stairway Foundation has developed and implemented. The contents and methodologies used have all been tested in the field and have undergone adjustments and modifications based on participants’ feedback, as well as emerging trends on the issues of Children’s Rights and Child Sexual Abuse Prevention.
Each level is divided into different training modules that are conducted in what we refer to as “training blocks”. Each Training Block is designed to allow for much interaction and sharing amongst the participants. For most participants this is a new and delicate issue, so there is a need to start the training process by checking individual feelings, attitudes and biases towards the subject.
This info package will briefly describe each training block and the topics included in each module. The training manuals contain instructions on how to run the trainings. The manuals will be supplied together with power point presentations (CDs/DVDs) during training of facilitators and trainers. The manuals are not designed to be used without initially undergoing facilitators or trainers training. The Stairway animation trilogy forms an integral part of the BTS training and will also be part of the hand out materials.
‘Break the Silence’ Campaign: A Network against Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation
Child sexual abuse is a horrible crime that exists and thrives under a blanket of silence. In the Philippines, Stairway is setting up and training a national network of NGOs to address the issue of child sexual abuse and exploitation. The Break the Silence (BTS) Philippines network will count no less than 50 capacitated organizations spread around the archipelago within the coming 5 years.
In addition, Stairway is spreading the BTS campaign to South and Southeast Asia. Our animation toolkits have been translated into several languages and we have been working to expand and further capacitate our network of international partner organizations.
To learn more about the Break the Silence campaign, click here.
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Banco De Oro
Account Name : Stairway Foundation Inc.
Bank Name : Banco de Oro UN Avenue – Philamlife Branch G/F Philamlife -UN Avenue Building, United Nations Avenue, Manila, Philippines
SWIFT : BNORPHMM
Account Number : 303 940 631 978 (EURO Account)
Account Number : 103 940 623 347 (USD Account)
Account Number : 394 0591 216 (Peso Account)
Contact Details : (632) 526-0775; 404-1403
[email protected]
For in-kind donations or major funding partnerships, please send an email to: [email protected].
Philippine Law Enforcement Project
PNTI: Capacity Building on Children’s Rights and Child Sexual Abuse Prevention for the Philippine Law Enforcement Sector
The Rationale behind our Collaboration with the Philippine LawEnforcement
In the Philippines, it is the law enforcement that carries the mandate to respond to cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation, which is the reason that Stairway began to initiate and cultivate a strong partnership with them. We have experienced that while many police officers have the necessary knowledge to handle cases of child sexual abuse, many seem to lack the understanding of how severely this crime affects child victims. It is not uncommon that sexually abused children are further traumatized during the process of reporting at the police stations. There is an evident need to affect change in attitude towards children in general and towards child sexual abuse in particular within the police force. To respect and to treat children as human beings with rights, we need police officers who are technically equipped to handle cases involving minors, and even more so, they need to be truly empathetic towards children and their special needs. Because the intent of our collaboration with the Law Enforcers is aimed more at effecting a change of attitude than simply the passing of knowledge, Stairway’s advocacy and training program with the law enforcement is anchored in creative expressions.
The Training
The training of the officers and the cadets consists of one full day of discussions and exercises and covers a wide range of topics having to do with children’s rights and child sexual abuse prevention. The sessions are designed to be engaging, interactive and thought provoking for the participants. Topics in the sessions include the following:
- Gender and sexuality
- Children’s rights
- The dynamics of child sexual abuse
- The child sex offender
- The victim
- As law enforcers, how to respond to victims
- Technology related crimes against children
The Tools
Over the past decade, Stairway has produced three animation films for the promotion of children’s rights and the prevention of child sexual abuse. The 3 films, addressing different aspects of child sexual abuse and exploitation, have earned international acclaim for their unique qualities to communicate an unspeakable issue to a wide audience. They confront incest, pedophilia, sex trafficking of children and children abused in pornography. These 3 films make up the pillar of the trainings of the cadets and the officers, and in special cases the creative approach is enhanced further through the presentation of the theatre piece “Cracked Mirrors”. Like the animations, the theatre piece was developed at Stairway. It confronts the issues of child sex trafficking, pedophilia, pornography, and the plight of street children, and is performed by 3 young people, who themselves are survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation. “Cracked Mirrors” has toured extensively in South East Asia and Europe, and wherever it shows, it leaves an indelible impact on all audiences.
History of Collaboration with the Philippine Law Enforcement
Stairway initiated collaborations with the Philippine Law Enforcement at different levels within the sector back in 2005. Our first memorandum of agreement was signed with the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) in 2007, after having conducted several trainings with them in 2006. Through recommendations within the ranks of the directors of the various training schools, we saw a steady increase in the demand for training over the following years. In 2009 we gave training to police cadets and officers in 8 of the 17 schools nationwide. From 2006-2009, we completed training sessions for a total of 4,504 law enforcers, including those in service and those still in training. A breakdown of those trained each year shows how we gradually expanded the collaboration, as a result of recommendations from directors, who realized the relevance and the quality of the training we offered. :
- 2006: 150 law enforcers
- 2007: 427 law enforcers
- 2008: 1,789 law enforcers
- 2009: 2,138 law enforcers
In 2010, we had the heads of eight (8) of the Police National Training Institutes (PNTIs) gathered at Stairway for a consultation on the importance of including children’s rights workshops and trainings in the curriculum of the training institutes. At the conclusion of the visit and after watching the animation Red Leaves Falling and the Cracked Mirrors performance, the National Director of PNTI expressed how he would like to see Stairway’s advocacy work available not only regionally, but nationally. Following this visit, Stairway was officially endorsed as a national partner in conducting CSAP training for all of the police training schools around the country.
Moving Forward
With our new national partnership with the PNTI, we will be conducting CSAP trainings in 17 training schools nationwide. Each school will graduate 2 batches of cadets per year. The approximate number of cadets to be trained per year is 13,000-16,000. In continuation of the 2010 consultation at Stairway with the directors from 8 of the regional training schools, we will facilitate an annual consultation with all the directors of the 17 regional training schools. The consultations will include discussions and debate pertaining to child protection in relation to the training and curriculum at the PNTIs.
Our projected budget for the PNTI Partnership Project is around 1.15 million pesos per year. The initial agreement with the Philippine Law Enforcement regarding this PNTI nationwide training runs for 3 years, representing a total budget of 3,475,287 pesos, or approximately 79,000$ US.
NGOs working with the Deaf community come to Stairway to learn about CSAP
February 2011
Deaf children present a particularly high vulnerability to sexual abuse as compared to their hearing counterparts. One of the largest barriers in raising awareness on child sexual abuse prevention for this sector is the lack of access to information.
To address this issue, Stairway developed a project aimed to capacitate NGOs working with the Deaf community. Last Feb 1-4, through the assistance and recommendation of its partner, DLSU-CSB SDEAS, Stairway conducted its first training block for two NGO partners working with the Deaf community: Support and Empowered Deaf Abused Children- a volunteer group working with deaf and abused children; and Gaulandi Volunteer Service Project-a volunteer group working with the Deaf community in Cebu City. With 8 participants of mixed hearing and Deaf, the partners underwent training on Gender Sensitivity, basic child sexual abuse prevention and an introduction to handling disclosures. The participants also went on a field demonstration to try out what they learned through a session in Adriatico Memorial High School in Calapan City, for 2 groups of Deaf school children.
Empowering members and organizations of the Deaf community will enable them to reach hundreds of Deaf children in order to raise the awareness and prevention level of these especially vulnerable children.
Break the Silence!