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Chronimy dzieci przed wykorzystywaniem seksualnym - innowacyjne narzędzia zwiększające wiedzę i kompetencje rodziców i profesjonalistów w obszarze ochrony dzieci przed wykorzystywaniem seksualnym
Start date: Oct 1, 2016, End date: Sep 30, 2018 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The project entitled „We protect children against sexual abuse” was designed to develop high-quality educational resources for parents, educators, as well as professionals working with children and their families. Such resources are scarce, both in terms of formal and informal education regarding protecting children against sexual abuse. Despite some alarming statistics made public by the Council of Europe and indicating that 1 in 5 children in Europe become victims of sexual abuse, and regardless of obligations under the Lanzarote Convention, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia lack systemic solutions and strategies to counteract the problem on the level of formal and informal education. At the earliest stages of life, it is parents who act as primary educators. Research suggests however, that in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe parents fail to discuss sexual abuse with their children, owing to insufficient awareness and knowledge of the topic. Another source of the difficulties is the fact that professionals are highly ineffective in identifying at-risk children and victims of sexual abuse, as their formal education does not provide them with necessary qualifications for that task. Standard academic curriculum of a psychologist, educator, teacher or social worker does not include any courses focusing on the area in question. A consortium bringing together organizations protecting children against sexual abuse in three countries, relying on collective expertise and over a dozen years of cooperation, will be able to face the above-described challenges specific to this region and to develop two training courses using the e-learning method. One of them will be addressed to parents of young and older children, and will focus on protecting children against sexual abuse in the real and the virtual world. The other one will be aimed at a broad spectrum of professionals (all kinds of educators, teachers and psychologist), providing them with knowledge and skill in the area of diagnosing symptoms of sexual abuse, as well as intervening if need be. Owing to the international character of the group of experts and considering the synergy effect, the new tools will satisfy the needs of not only specific countries, but the entire region. The e-learning method guarantees broad range of effect, in particular reaching geographically underprivileged individuals, i.e. parents and professionals from little towns and villages. The added value of the project is that it demonstrates and teaches how to use ICT in education. An estimated 800 people is to take direct part in consultations, pilot activities and promotion; all in all, within the first 12 months after launching the e-learning courses, they are expected to be used by approx. 5000 individuals. Project outcomes are to be disseminated during local conferences held in each of the partnership countries. Additionally, staff of the partner organizations will participate in the training with an international expert, focusing on building local strategies and effective preventive tools for counteracting child sexual abuse. It is assumed that project activities will further strengthen existing collaboration between the organizations making up the consortium, and that they will contribute to the transfer of knowledge and good practice. Parents from Poland, Lithuania and Latvia (after a while also from Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine) who decide to make use of the educational resources developed under the project, will expand their knowledge and skills in the area of protecting children against sexual abuse. Professionals, in turn, will learn to identify symptoms of sexual abuse and will find out how to intervene. In the long run, parents will be better equipped to recognize risky situations and threats to their children, thus improving child safety. Professionals, on the other hand, will find it easier to identify children who require support and will be more likely to intervene in cases of sexual abuse. The project will also contribute to fulfilling the obligations undertaken under Lanzarote Convention and will implement children’s rights to safety and protection against sexual abuse, as specified in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and in the Directive 2011/92/UE of 13.12.2011 on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child pornography in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
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