Child Helpline International

Main reasons for contacting child helplines

Child Helpline International (CHI) is a global network of 178 child helplines in 143 countries (as of January 2014).^[1] Child helpline is a telecommunication and outreach service on behalf of children and young people.^[2]

History

In 1989, CHI founderJeroo Billimoria worked closely with street children in India as a social worker. She gave the children her telephone number and told them to call if they needed any help, after which her phone did not stop ringing. That is when Jeroo realised that these children really needed someone to speak to, someone to assist them. The idea of a toll-free number emerged. She set up Childline India - India's first and only child helpline.

Childline's approach was to have volunteers who answered the phone and who would go directly to the child in need. The volunteers kept a log of the calls. This log would then become very important data for the creation of child protection policies, thus placing the helplines at the centre of child protection policy.

After its success in India, Jeroo explored the idea of taking Childline India's concept globally with hopes to create a global network which provided technical assistance to countries who could start or expand their own helplines.

This led to international consultation meeting, held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and attended by representatives from 49 child helplines from around the globe, including members of European helplines, who had also attempted to form a European collaboration. In this meeting, Child Helpline International was launched.^[3]

Principle and Mission

The work of CHI is firmly grounded in the principle of United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which highlights the children's rights to privacy and protection from harm.

The stated mission of CHI network is to provide a forum for information sharing and mutual support, assistance with advocacy and lobbying, promoting the rights of children and child helplines as a medium of assistance to children, and to support the initiation and development of child helplines in countries which do not have such services.^[4]

Operations

Child Helpline International's secretariat is based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Executive Director of Child Helpline International is Nenita La Rose. Child Helpline International is a membership based organization with members from 5 regions: Africa, Americas and The Caribbean, Asia Pacific, Europe, and Middle East and North Africa. In 2013, Child Helpline International has reached the total number of 126 million contacts from children and young people in need for care and protection.^[5]

Knowledge Exchange Platform

A key role of the network is to provide platform for knowledge transfers between the members. Types of knowledge exchange activities are

1. Peer Exchanges: Members of the network learn from one another through visits, sharing solutions, comparing expertise and experiences.
2. Peer Evaluations: Member organizations compare and evaluate good practices, governance and operations of their own child helplines with other members.
3. Trainings and Workshops: Member organizations learn from trainings and workshops to make sure that each child helpline stay abreast of changing times and needs and possess the up-to-date skills
4. International and Regional Consultations: International and Regional Consultations are biennial events held in alternating years in which the members, partners, and stakeholders come together to find common ground, report and reflect on collective experiences from the existing child helplines.

References

External links

• Official website