Child Helpline International Holds Fourth International Consultation Conference
Effectively Voicing Concerns of Children
Under the Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, Child Helpline International (CHI) is announcing the launch of its Fourth International Consultation Conference in Amman this month, with association with Jordan River Foundation.
Held on November 16th and until the 19th at Jordan InterContinental Hotel, this event is positioned to create a friendly platform for practitioners working in the field of social services, and more specifically people running child helpline operations, to network and share experiences, and the conference is sponsored by Ahli Bank.
Child Helpline International diligently organizes annual regional and biannual international consultation sessions like this one. These events are of vast importance to the organization and its member child helpline service providers. At such functions, people running such child oriented services often come together to create plans of action positioned to strengthen their organization and to take ownership of Child Helpline International.
From another angle, these consultation sessions provide opportunities for people working in the childcare field to evaluate the activities they have carried out throughout the year, and to accordingly construct operational strategies for future endeavors.
This session will be attended by key figures working in the social field including; Executive Director CHI Ms. Nenita La Rose, CHI Chair, Ms. Jeroo Billimoria, Vice Chair of UNCRC, Ms. Agnes Aidoo Akosua, Head of Protection at Save the Children, Mr. Bill Bell, and Ambassador of Egypt, Ms. Moushira Khattab, and Jordan River Foundation.
Commenting on the noble cause that child helpline serves, Executive Director CHI Ms. Nenita La Rose explained,” Millions of children around the world are repeatedly abused, exploited, and discriminated against. This grave reality inspired child help lines around the world to take action. In the year 2007 child help line services received around 10.5 million calls from children who needed crisis intervention, rehabilitation, counseling, or simply someone friendly to talk to. Over the years, child helpline services were effectively able to link children to immediate means of rescue and safety. Through the event we are hosting in Amman this month, we hope to significantly increase these figures, and with the help of those in attendance, and their insight , I am confident that we will be able to achieve our goal,”
“All children born into this world have the right to be heard, a right enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child. Our vision is a world where the evolving means of communication are effectively utilized to allow children to individually voice their concerns and complaints. Their voices shape up the world we live in. Therefore, we aim to facilitate the access of child help lines to children across the globe, document their concerns, and fill in identified gaps in the safety net of their living conditions. To this end, global networking and support are vital,” added Head of Protection at Save the Children, Mr. Bill Bell.
Remarking on the role played by CHI as a unit improving child services, CHI Chair, Ms. Jeroo Billimoria said, “We operate as a global network of child help lines and outreach services for children and young people. We work in approximately 150 countries. Our involvement in this field is not merely fashionable but mandatory, as our organization was founded on the belief that children and young people have rights, and that they alone are most capable of identifying their problems,”
“Since 2003, we, with the help of CHI, and other related entities, have been reaching out to children through all means of communication, including, but not limited to, telephones, regular post, radio stations, text messaging, and private internet chat rooms. Our aim is to have a child helpline in almost every country in the world by 2010, and we anticipate that this event will bring us closer to our common goal,” explained Vice-chair of the UNCRC, Ms. Agnes Aidoo Akosua.
Commenting on their sponsorship, Mr. Wassim Huwari, Deputy Assistant General Manager of Marketing & Corporate Communications at Ahli Bank said, "In line with her Majesty's Queen Rania Al Abdullah's direction to protect children's rights, Jordan Ahli Bank has the privilege to sponsor the Child Help Line conference, which was held for the first time in the Middle East".
"Children comprise a high percentage of the general population in both the Kingdom and the Arab World, and we being a leading financial institution have decided to invest heavily in supporting this important segment of our society by giving them better education to have a brighter future".
It is important to note that Child Helpline International adheres to four non-negotiable principles in all of its activities; including following a bottom-up membership-based approach to making decisions, acting on the needs of children as expressed via child help lines, evaluating its own performance, and acting as a helpdesk for child help lines in all stages of development. CHI primarily aims to improve Child Protection services through advocacy efforts, the UN CRC country recommendations, and other effective intervention tools.
Child Helpline International (CHI) is the global member network of child helplines, working to protect the rights of the child. We work in over 150 countries and were founded on the belief that children and young people not only have rights, but that they alone are the best individuals to identify their problems if they are equipped with the proper tools.
