Help prevent sexual abuse of children in India

"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations".

- Charles R. Swindoll

The year 2017-18 for Arpan has been a year opportunities, new engagements and consolidation. When we embarked on this journey, 10 years ago, we saw a world that was seemingly blind, deaf and quiet to sexual abuse of children. Today most of our days begin with news of Child Sexual Abuse in the media. Along with this, the swift evolution of the technology is leading to a terrifying growth in online child sexual abuse material as well as new emerging threats to children. Without a doubt, the volume and scale of Child Sexual Abuse have reached unprecedented levels. It is this increasingly complex reality that governments, communities and NGOs need to navigate.

But these are also truly exciting times. Though Child Sexual Abuse is as rampant as ever, we have also seen more and more people wanting to join the cause and do something in their own ways. We may be the first generation that is able to understand the complex and systemic challenges surrounding Child Protection. Which means, we know where we are headed if we do not change course. It is our obligation, as global change-makers, to turn risks into opportunities, to act now and to shape a future where children are safe and protected. This is what Arpan embarked into doing in 2017-18. We are proud to proclaim that we have been able to touch the lives of over 56500 children and adults leading to 27% year on year growth.  Some of the key highlights of the year have been:

Empowering Children and Creating Safe Schools

Personal Safety Education Programme (PSE) is a life skill-based module which teaches children to identify safe and unsafe situations, skills to refuse and get away from incidents of Child Sexual Abuse and seek help. The programme also works with adult caregivers so that they can create a safe environment for children and respond effectively. Because of the recent upsurge of media reporting on Child Sexual Abuse cases, we have seen a lot of schools and institutions understanding the need for the programme. This year Arpan had the opportunity to empower children both in schools where Arpan had conducted the Personal Safety Education Programme earlier as well in new schools. It thus gave us the opportunity to provide age-appropriate updates on personal safety, refresh and re-assess basic skills, knowledge and understanding of children whom we have trained earlier through Step up Programme. It also provided the opportunity to equip new children with knowledge and skills to keep themselves safe through new schools.  We were able to reach out to over 13000 step up children and over 17000 new children through 102 schools. We also empowered over 17000 parents, 1600 teachers and 350 service staff.  After the programme, over 1396 children and 484 family members were supported through over 4650 counselling sessions and inappropriate behaviour, child sexual abuse and bullying were stopped.

Co-travelling with Clients on their Path of Healing

Low perceived need, attitudinal barriers and social stigma are the major obstacles for seeking help and accessing mental health services. It takes a lot of courage for the survivors and perpetrators of sexual abuse to take the first step towards healing. However, when they garner the courage, their stories offer hope and inspiration to many others to come forward. While Arpan has been working with children and adult female survivors of Child Sexual Abuse through 'Long-term Psychotherapeutic work', this year Arpan got an opportunity to provide psychotherapeutic services to a group of 10 boys who have been tried under Juvenile Justice Act for past sexual misbehaviour. They were referred to Arpan through Prayas, which is a social work demonstration project of the Center for Criminology and Justice, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. The sessions are focused towards supporting their healing journey and instilling empathy and respect so that they can lead a fulfilling life. In 2017-18, we have worked with 50 clients through 2 institutions and also supported the healing journey of 29 children and 17 adult survivors. We have also worked with their family members, caretakers and institutional staff. 

Building inroads with Diverse Government Bodies

Arpan participated in the 2 Day National Workshop titled Chintan Shivir organised by MHRD. This provided the opportunity to connect with Mr Anil Swarup, Secretary, HRD Ministry Government of India and initiate conversation on Personal Safety Education. After this, the dynamic and action-oriented Mr Anil Swarup personally attended a Personal Safety Education Session with children and visited Arpan to know more about our work and meet school principals on how Child Sexual Abuse can be prevented collectively with the involvement of all stakeholders and by making child safety an agenda for school education.

 Advocacy with MHRD also opened opportunities for training as well as the integration of Personal Safety Education at the national level in the school curriculum along with the National Council of Education, Research and Training (NCERT). We are also a part of the think tank that is creating the life skill education policy, framework and content for India with the NCERT, CBSE and MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development). Arpan this year had made considerable linkages with diverse government bodies such as Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy, Maharashtra, Department of Women and Child Development (WCD) and Department of Police, Mumbai.

Creating cadres for Child Protection - Crossing Borders

It is indeed critical that more and more individuals and organisations recognise the need to work on the issue of Child Sexual Abuse. Prevention of Child Sexual Abuse will only be possible when all stakeholders in a child's life take the initiative to work towards it. This year Arpan had the opportunity to go global with training and to work with Career Education and Counselling Division (CECD) of the Department of Youth and Sports of Bhutan along with Ministry of Education of Bhutan to enhance knowledge, skills, and competence of 82 school guidance counsellors in 2 different locations of Bhutan for five days each.

We also had the opportunity to initiate training and capacity building of special educators who in turn will reach out to children who are differently abled. Arpan has conducted training with 75 Government Teachers from the Special Education Department of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). Further, we also provided training to over 100 special educators and support personnel from other organisations such as Jai Vakeel Foundation and Research Centre, Victoria Memorial for the Blind and partner organisations of Atma. Along with these Arpan also conducted training with various schools, NGOs and Duty Bearers and reached out to over 1200 stakeholders.

 Engaging with the International Community

Arpan engaged with the international community on various platforms. Pooja Taparia, Founder and CEO of Arpan, spoke at the Global Education & Skills Forum, Dubai about 'Safeguarding Children through Life Skill Education in Schools'. In another gathering organized by AVPN (Asian Venture Philosophy Network) India Summit 2017 on "Investing for Impact in Education", Ms Pooja Taparia spoke about a social purpose organisation's ability to respond to and solve developmental issues being often constrained by its organisational capacity. Dasra, India's leading strategic philanthropy foundation, had hosted a roundtable discussion with Ms Sophie Gregoire-Trudeau on Violence against Women at Sophie College Mumbai. Ms Pooja Taparia was part of the discussion and spoke about the critical work Arpan is doing to address the issue of Child Sexual Abuse. Ms Pooja Taparia was invited by UNICEF to share Arpan's Personal Safety Education Program with Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium along with 4 children from 2 schools of Mumbai who had attended Arpan's Personal Safety Education programme. They shared their experience of the program and why they think it was useful.

Celebrating Arpan's 10 years

This year Arpan turned 10. It was indeed a proud moment for us as it gave us the opportunity to consolidate our leanings, cherish our accomplishments and regain energy to move with new vigour.

To mark the 10 years of Arpan's journey, we had organised a series of workshop by Prof David Finkelhor, and Dr Lois Engelbrecht on 27^th and 28^th November as well had an event on 29^th November. On this event, Arpan also launched 'Integration of Personal Safety Education Programme in Schools - A case study' that demonstrates the impact of Personal Safety Education Programme on the lives of children. The research found that all children who had faced an unsafe situation demonstrated the assertive and help-seeking behaviour. 

The launch was followed by a panel discussion on the research and issue of Child Sexual Abuse in the Indian and Global Context. At the event, Pooja Taparia, CEO and Founder, Arpan shared her experience of the 10-year journey of Arpan, the learnings and shared Arpan's Vision for the next decade.

Awards, Recognition and the Motivation

The path for this work had never been smooth and we have stumbled, learnt and moved forward with new vigour and determination. Though we faced hurdles what has helped us stay afloat is the faith that has been bestowed on us by our beneficiaries, partners, funders, well-wishers and children themselves. This year, Arpan received the Spirit of Humanity Award on 14th September 2017 in the Child Care category for the Personal Safety Education Programme. Spirit of Humanity was launched by AmeriCares India in 2010. AmeriCares India is a health-focused relief and development organization that saves lives & improves health for people affected by poverty or disaster. Arpan has been awarded the prestigious GuideStar India Champion level Platinum certification for 2017. With this award, Arpan joins India's largest pool of credible NGOs. GuideStar India's Platinum Certification is the Champion Level Certification indicating that the organization has adopted comprehensive transparency, accountability and good governance procedures with an exemplary level of public disclosure.