ALEXANDRIA: “My life has changed 100 percent; I learned sewing and became literate, said 16-year-old Hala Ibrahim, one of 8,000 children who benefited from the UNICEF Child Protection Program in Alexandria.
Ibrahim joined the Egyptian naval scouts association, one of the civil associations cooperating with UNICEF, who then invited her to attend a meeting in the neighborhood club. She joined and then invited her friends.
UNICEF and a number of NGOs under the umbrella of the National Foundation for Family and Community Development (NFFCD) announced the official launch of the Child Protection Program under the auspices of Alexandria Governor Adel Labib at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
The program will identify children in squatter and low income areas who are at risk of abuse, dropping out of school, working at an early age or even becoming street children. Social workers and local monitoring committees working with the project will then asses the children s situation and provide them with the necessary services and support.
“Egypt is on track, they have done a great job until now, Erma Manoncourt, UNICEF Egypt representative, told Daily News Egypt.
“Egypt has been working on this issue for a very long time and they are ahead of similar countries in this field, she added.
Labib, who attended the ceremony, described the issue as one of the most important, complicated and pressing problems facing the country. He also said that decentralization was the most appropriate approach in dealing with this issue.
The governor said that there are no accurate statistics for the number of children in danger in Alexandria, adding that the governorate is cooperating with universities and social workers to perform an accurate and reliable enumeration.
Until now, the program has helped save 3,941 children at risk – defined as any child who is exposed to any condition or action that can or may affect him/her physically, psychologically or mentally in a negative way, or that may deprive him/her of one of his fundamental rights. It has also helped more than 8,000 children learn a skill and complete their education.
To ensure that all these efforts go beyond lip-service, UNICEF plans to extend the project’s reach through two venues. “First we depend on the media by giving it a greater role by making announcements on TV and in newspapers to inform and motivate people to participate, Manoncourt said. “Secondly, we cooperate with several NGOs and community groups that can reach people door to door, they are the ones who can make a real difference.
NGOs participating in this program include Save the Children, Ters D’hommes and the Egyptian Red Crescent.
In Alexandria, the program is slated to cover the fourth district during 2008, with a goal to reach six districts in Alexandria by 2011.
After the inauguration ceremony, participants discussed ways to expand and sustain such programs in addition to the recently approved amendments to the child law.
Khalil Mostafa, legal advisor to the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM), explained that the new law is the result of realizing the gravity of youth-related problems. “We are now convinced that the problem is real and dangerous, new international accords are signed and we are obliged to follow them.
The new law, which was drafted by the NCCM, enables parents to issue the first copy of a child’s birth certificate for free (certificates are essential for getting state-sponsored vaccination and education); and raises the legal liability age to 18. It also covers controversial issues such as criminalizing female genital mutilation.
Adel Azer, a consultant and a law professor, considered the new child law a major transition in both perspective and policy. Instead of just superficially treating the problem, the new law, he says, gets to its roots.
Manal Shahine, director of the child helpline, spoke about the role of the helpline which received about 873,224 calls from July 1, 2005 to May 31, 2008 with an average of 832 calls per day.
“We use the authority given to social workers to intervene in cases of high risk [to the involved children] because we lack the authority. Our role is only to try to solve the problem, said Shahine.
Participants in the seminar requested that due attention should be given to rural areas in Upper Egypt and the Delta because children there need more help than those in major cities like Cairo and Alexandria. Statistics show that children in Upper Egypt are at the most risk.
Manoncourt advises that other governorates should consider Alexandria’s experiment and apply what they think is appropriate for each governorate.
Participants also discussed the wellbeing of social workers. “How can a specialist who isn’t comfortable in his own life comfort a child? they asked.
They recommended that those working in this filed should be taken care of economically and professionally so that they would be able to help children.
UNICEF is launching similar programs for child survival, nutrition, health and education.
