The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, DFWAC, has launched a new initiative to raise awareness about child abuse by organising educational workshops in 2015 to educate more than 560 students, teachers and administrators in 14 kindergartens in various parts of Dubai. DFWAC recently organised the first workshop in Al Huda Kindergarten with the participation of 22 children, 15 teachers and administrative staff.

Afra Al Basti, Director-General of The Dubai Foundation for Women and Children, said that this initiative aims to provide complete awareness of child abuse to all parties that deal with children every day, either in school or at home, by offering three workshops in each kindergarten, targeting parents, teachers and specialists as well as the children themselves.

She added that educating the school community of students, parents, and professionals about the importance of the awareness of children's rights and the right methods to protect them from abuse, with a focus on the prevention of sexual harassment, is a part of DFWAC's initiatives to improve community education service in accordance with methodology to improve services in Dubai Model Centre in Executive Council, where the Foundation is involved this year for the second time in a row in the number one agenda award to improve social services in the emirate.

She added that awarding the Foundation with the Number One award in care and rehabilitation services area during the previous session of the award gave all employees in DFWAC a great incentive to double their efforts this year to maintain the level of outstanding performance and implement greater achievements and initiatives that are in favour of this community service.

Ghanima Al Bahri, Care and Rehabilitation Director at DFWAC, said that the initiative also aims to provide professionals and parents with the skills necessary to meet the psychological needs of the child, and how to monitor any signs that may indicate children's exposure to any kind of abuse.

She added that the initiative is mainly focused on the kindergarten level because the cycle of child abuse begins at a young age, which, in turn, when the child grows up, leads to abuse of younger children, saying that, "to protect our society from child abuse, we need to give more attention to prevent the abuse of our children first, which will be reflected in the future on the whole society."

Al Bahri explained that the initiative includes three types of workshops: the first, on child abuse, is designed to educate professionals in schools about the issue of child abuse, and the definition of the types of abuse and display signs, symptoms and effects. The second, on children's rights from a social and psychological perspective, is targeted at parents in which they are introduced to children's rights and needs according to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as the role of DFWAC and the services offered to this category. The third type of workshop, entitled, "My body is mine, and my safety is my priority" is aimed to educate students from ages 4 to 8 years on the body and the methods which children can adopt to protect themselves from being harassed or abused in different situations.
Source: WAM