Child Fund, YWCA to promote gender rights in schools

THE Child Fund will work with the Young Women’s Christian Association to promote gender rights  and sexual and reproductive health education in secondary schools in Port Moresby.
Fund gender adviser Sally Beadle said the key aspect of the programme was to build literacy and identify skills in young people.
“In PNG, while services are increasing, many people are unaware of their existence or reluctant to ask for help,” she said.
She said due to the high rates of violence and other health and social problems, they would visit the schools to stress the importance of seeking help or counselling.
“During the education awareness, students will be linked to the 1-tok Kaunselin Lain to access telephone counselling,” she said.
The phrase ‘1-Tok Kaunselin Helpim Lain’ means a friend helping a troubled friend by providing counselling information and support.
“Our counsellors have been trained to listen to the problems or concerns of the client and suggest options of how they can resolve these,” she said. “The training allows the counsellor to make a client feel empowered to make a decision that they are comfortable with and will lead to a positive result.
“So far, over 6000 people have called the hotline from provinces all over PNG.”