Menkul e-magazine : pilot project to prevent violence and in specific gender-based violence among children

Abstract

Objective: With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has seen a dramatic increase in violence and abuse against children, particularly those who are already vulnerable. In response to this crisis, the team at the child protection Unit adapted the “Citadel of Protection" to their program intervention to better protect vulnerable children. As part of the remote needs and priorities from the field, KAFA’s child protection unit developed three modules of Menkhual magazine, which will be adapted into its online modality to be able to reach children at the national level in Lebanon. Methods: the magazine was shared with adolescents between 13 to 17 years old. Then, after reading the magazine and experiencing the activities that it contains, these adolescents were asked for their feedback. The feedback of the children was received as community discussions tackling the design, language, color template, characters, and the activities themselves. After the discussions, the readers provided recommendations to improve the development of the magazine highlighting small details that matter for them. The recommendations were categorized then divided depending on the team responsible of developing them. Results: The analysis of these results showed us how with age participants tend to become more knowledgeable and understanding of their society and environment. Moreover, it showed us that at an older age, children tend to become aware of the risk of being abused and how to protect themselves from it, and they come to know more about the different ways of abuse they may go through. Conclusion: This community-based project increased awareness of how GBV can happen every day without anybody noticing or acting to protect the victims. It planned to launch a campaign teaching kids and victims how to defend themselves and reach out. The intern's presence in all KAFA activities during the organization's response to and handling of urgent cases was a valuable learning opportunity, and the suggestions the intern made were especially beneficial for KAFA's growth of the violence hotline's strategy