Building protection networks
To support and orientate groups of adolescents and young people, mainly through the secure use of ICT, so that they can have a multiplier effect on prevention and protection strategies regarding the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and adolescents.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sector Focus
Civil society
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2004
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Web site (url)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Invisibility of problem
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Mobilize peer groups and communities to raise awareness
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic
Promoción de los derechos de niños/as y adolescentes.
Name Your Project
Building protection networks
Describe Your Idea
To support and orientate groups of adolescents and young people, mainly through the secure use of ICT, so that they can have a multiplier effect on prevention and protection strategies regarding the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and adolescents.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
To support and orientate groups of adolescents and young people, mainly through the secure use of ICT, so that they can have a multiplier effect on prevention and protection strategies regarding the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and adolescents.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
The ICT have an important role on the daily lives of a large part of the population in Uruguay, which has caused behavior schemes and inter-personal bonds to change significantly. Uruguay, together with Argentina and Jamaica rank sixth in the world in the Digital Opportunity Index. At a regional level Uruguay ranks well regarding access to computers and the internet.
However, in Uruguay there are no projects related to promoting the secure use of ICT as a way to prevent the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents or to provide adolescents with strategies. Gurises Unidos will help, guide and support groups of adolescents to develop prevention strategies for their communities: they’ll prepare awareness material, carry out workshops, design screensavers for computers in cybercafés, among other things.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
Gurises Unidos trains adolescents to promote participation and citizenship. Since late 2004 and until now, many groups have been formed and are working to defend children and adolescents’ rights, especially sexual rights. They have developed prevention strategies against the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents by promoting the secure use of ICT and by using the ICT multiplier capacity for the prevention of risks. Gurises Unidos will develop training opportunities related to this issue and to the secure use of ICT as a way to start the initiative.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
The multiplier logic of awareness, articulation and coordination strategies will make this issue visible and more people will join this proposal.
At the same time, the tendency since the first groups of adolescents were formed has been to permanently incorporate new people, mainly through the primary networks of these group founders.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them?
Throughout 19 years of working in the defense of children and adolescents’ rights, Gurises Unidos has developed multiple alliances for the coordination of joint actions and work with governmental and non-governmental organizations, companies and international cooperation. As regards the commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents, it also serves as an alliance, as this NGO is a member of ECPAT International. At the same time, at a regional level Gurises Unidos coordinates REDLAMIC and works with institutions that are worried about the insecure use of ICT by children and adolescents.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
Make visible the issue of commercial sexual exploitation of children and adolescents to start asking for institutional answers.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
There is a strong resistance to deal with the issue on the part of communities and institutions. This resistance comes from the deep emotional shock caused by this topic and from the difficulty in questioning the system of cultural beliefs that covers this invisible issue. In the rest of the country, this problem is even worse, as communities are smaller and there is great pressure to silence this and even worse issues.
How many people have you served or plan to serve?
The proposal has an impact on several levels:
• As regards the groups of adolescents (three), we will work on their training and support them in the development of initiatives. This will have a positive impact on them and their communities.
• As regards children and adolescents with whom the groups work directly (approximately 200) there will be a positive impact on the prevention of sexual exploitation.
• As regards users of cybercafés and other public spaces with internet access, we plan to reach 1000 children and adolescents through electronic communication (desktop wall papers and screensavers)
• As regards the communities where the initiatives will be carried out (three cities with 30000 to 40000 inhabitants). We hope that at least 30% of the population will be aware of the prevention actions related to sexual exploitation and will be able to visualize the problem.
Directly
This field has not been completed. (166 words or less)
Indirectly
citizens, community
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation?
Information about sexual exploitation by local institutions (with information gathering both before and after the actions are carried out).
Information about this issue by the citizens of the communities involved (with information gathering from 200 randomly selected people both before and after the actions are carried out).
Incorporating this issue in the local institutional agendas (Inter-institutional Board and Social Council mainly).
Presence of the topic in the local media.
Identifying institutional answers for this problem (stable activities or strategies regarding proposals arising from diverse sectors: education, health, civil society, etc.) once the planned awareness raising actions have been executed.
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation?
The participation of adolescents and the development of these activities are meant to have a political impact coming from the civil society, consisting on placing this issue on the institutions’ agenda through the visualization of the problem.
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation?
The beneficiaries are the children and adolescents in the communities where the groups of adolescents develop their initiatives. Finally, all the actions are meant to make this problem visible and turn it into a social worry. They are also directed towards strengthening the mechanisms that protect children in each community regarding sexual exploitation and insecure use of ICT.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
At this time, the groups of adolescents who work in the communities are part of Project ECOS, carried out by Gurises Unidos and the Ministry of Public Health, with the support of UNFPA (United Nation Population Fund).
However, we don’t count on economic support to carry out this specific task regarding sexual exploitation and insecure use of ICT. This has limited the actions executed by the groups to valid but low reach initiatives, due to the costs of transport, materials and development of electronic media.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization
This field has not been completed. (166 words or less)
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
On the one hand, we ask for financial support to develop the initiative. As regards the proposal’s technical development, our organization is trying to foresee all the necessary elements to make the initiative viable.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
We relieve that one of the main barriers has to do with the lack of projects or initiatives that finance specific proposals that deal with this issue.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
The sexual exploitation of children and adolescents is a very serious and invisible issue in Uruguay and it should undoubtedly be present in the research and political agenda of the country.
The origin of this initiative comes from Gurises Unidos experience on the defense of children and adolescents’ rights, advocacy and lobbying for public policies as well as on educational and social work done with children, adolescents, adults and diverse institutions throughout the country and the propulsion of the groups of adolescents.
The Department of Gender and Sexuality in Gurises Unidos has generated an integrated modality of intervention in the field of sexuality, gender and generations through: Prioritizing operation in inter-institutional networks; Adolescents participation on citizenship education; Incorporating an approach on rights and diversity; Training of professionals and community leaders in these issues, including domestic violence and commercial and non-commercial sexual exploitation.
Gurises Unidos permanently receives requests from institutions and experts who work with children and adolescents all over the country in order to intervene socially and educationally and provide answers to the issue of sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.
The possibility of working with a validated methodology, with experience and institutional recognition, with several groups of adolescents as well as committed institutions constitutes a favorable context for the implementation of this project.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material
GURISES UNIDOS is an NGO that has been working since 1989 in defense of the rights of those children and adolescents in a situation of social vulnerability.
Objectives:
- To defend children and adolescents’ rights in accordance with the United Nation’s International Convention on the Rights of the Child.
- To contribute to improving the quality of life of those children and adolescents who are in a situation of social vulnerability and live in the streets, through innovative initiatives that have real and immediate effect.
- To work together with the public and private sector in proposals that foster the holistic development of the child and adolescent.
- To carry out actions towards the social development of childhood that can then be replicated and done by the social actors themselves.
Emphasis of Work
Prevención
Otros:
Violencia Sexual hacia niños/as y adolescentes (principalmente explotación sexual comercial _ ESCNNA).
Uso seguro de las TIC
Participación adolescente
Género
Derechos
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