Workshop for child welfare protection

A WORKSHOP was held to equip provincial disaster coordinators, including child welfare officers, with the best practices to prevent and respond to children’s protection and emergencies.
The three-day workshop also looked into documenting good practice principles to support provincial and national leaders in the coordination of child protection emergency preparedness and response.
Child Frontiers’ Joanna Wedge said some of the workshop’s objectives were to draft Riskland Boardgame for emergency risk reduction and explore the coordination mechanism that should be developed to guide child protection in PNG.
The coordinators and welfare officers from the eight provinces and Community Development Department participated in the workshop organised by the department and facilitated by the United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) and Ms Wedge.
Boungainville disaster coordinator Franklyn Lacey and Oro community development adviser, Lawrence Pagere said the workshop was an eye-opener in the area of child protection.
“When disaster strikes, the plight of the children is often forgotten.
“This workshop will actually help us to come up with mechanisms targeting child protection during disasters,” Mr Lacey said.
He added that the timing of the workshop was appropriate especially at the time when the Autonomous Region of Bougainville was facing a difficult task in relocating thousands of atoll islanders into mainland due to threats of rising sea levels.