A bit about my work

I must confess I've been putting off writing about my job here. It's difficult to put into words all the issues facing an organization working with sexually exploited children. I can tell you what I do day to day, and even though it won't really get to the heart of the issue, it's a start, right?

My official "title" is Child Protection Support Worker and my main job is to help Chab Dai's member organizations (of which there are around 40) write/update and implement their child protection policies (CPP). This consisted at first to go through each organization's CPP and assess it using an assessment tool I developed when I first got here. As per each organization's interest, I sit down with a director or protection worker and go through their CPP with them, showing them the assessment and giving them suggestions about additions or changes they may want to make to their policy.

Most organizations in Chab Dai have a CPP (it's a requirement for members), but few of them have any active implementation of the CPP in their activities. Usually, the only time their staff ever see the CPP is when they are first hired and must sign a statement of commitment to the guidelines of the CPP. Hardly any do any child protection training. That's where I come in again. We are planning to offer three workshops in November, January, and February on child protection. It will be a training of trainers, so organizations can send one of two staff to our training and then return to train the rest of their staff.

It would be a real shame if we did all this training and capacity development and, when I leave in March, it fell flat without any follow-up or support. This is the third part of my job. I am training a Chab Dai staff member to take over my position when I leave. So I'm bringing her through an in-depth training on child protection and she will soon start doing the assessments with me. She will also lead the Khmer child protection training after observing me lead the English training.

The children we are protecting with these CPP are at-risk children, coming out of sexual exploitation and/or abusive situations, they've been sold into, and now rescued from, brothels and bondage, some as young as 6 or 7 years old. Even though I don't work directly with these children, I am constantly reminded of why I am here and what I working for. More later...