Childline Botswana Upholds Mandate Despite Covid-19 Challenges

CHILDLINE BOTSWANA UPHOLDS MANDATE

DESPITE COVID-19 CHALLENGES

By Chedza Mmolawa

In almost every African country, you will come across this famous proverb, 'It takes a village to raise a child,' which speaks to the positive upbringing of a child. The proverb is attached to many different cultures in Africa, but the meaning is always the same; it simply means that it takes an entire community of people to provide for and interrelate positively with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment. Based on this proverb, Doreen Khama and Kay Smith established Childline Botswana in 1990 to create and provide a safe environment for children who were victims of abuse and unfavourable social circumstances.

Childline Botswana is a non-governmental and non-profit-making organisation founded as a response to the escalating numbers of child abuse cases in Botswana and the need to protect children. The organisation seeks to address other related welfare issues through nurturing and intervention strategies like education, counselling, casework, and alternative care programmes.

CHALLENGES To an extent, the organisation has achieved the above-stated roles, but this did not come without challenges. Seitebatso Kegakilwe, a Social Worker at the Centre, gave an insight into the daily management of the organization. She stated that one of the challenges the organization faces is public education.

TRC: What are the challenges faced by the organization, and how have you overcome them? SK: We are challenged by a lack of awareness of child-related legislation among community mem-

bers and stakeholders, which exacerbates the child abuse cases in Botswana, and some cases go unreported.

There are also general misconceptions by the public regarding the mandate of the organisation, which is that our services are limited to the rights of children. On the contrary, we are open to helping everyone with life-threatening issues, including adults or adolescents. And the other challenge the organisation faces is that there is only one station in the whole country, which makes it difficult to reach out to clients outside Gaborone (there are limited resources). Childline Botswana has set up a crisis helpline to reach children outside Gaborone but unfortunately, this is not something that all children are aware of, or have access to. Most children who need our services are children in rural areas, and in most cases, they do not have access to a telephone. We are currently working towards being able to reach all our clients across the country despite the disparities in some geographical locations.

TRC: What effects did Covid-19 have on receiving funds for the organization? Did funds increase or decrease? SK: The country's entire economy was affected by the lockdown, and this is why we are currently experiencing inflation. The repercussions of COVID-19 did not spare Childline Botswana either; public donations from individuals and private and parastatal companies dwindled during this period. Companies were not able to make desired profits; and inevitably, this negatively affected (considerable decrease) the funds (cash-in kind, non-monetary donation) received from our donors and the public in general.

Childline Botswana relies a lot on the Department of Social Protection under the Ministry of Local and Rural Development and the 'Save the Children International' organization for funding. And we have other donors who make a significant contribution to the daily operations of our organisation.

Covid-19 did not only limit or reduce funding for the organisation, it also affected the level at which services were rolled-out to those who needed them the most at the time. Traveling and movement restrictions had an impact on the public education services that we had offered to the public, and the limitations of people attending meetings affected public education services. Some people outside Gaborone were restricted from travel which means they couldn't come to us to seek help. The organisation had to draw-up an adaptation plan to cater to COVID-19 procedures, but the impact was limited.

The COVID-19 lockdown affected victims of abuse more than anyone in the country. We experienced more cases than often when our helpline extended to the national helpline. People, families, and children called the number because of challenges they faced in their homes during the lockdown, especially the first lockdown.

Despite all these challenges, we continued to offer psychosocial support our clients (children) needed during the time. Moreover, Childline, through some of its projects, partnered with Save the Children International, provided food baskets and toiletries for migrant families with children during the first lockdown as they could not fend for themselves from their usual piece jobs.

TRC: How are your daily operations today? Is there hope for continued progress? SK: As things slowly ease back to "a new normal," we are confident that the organization's mandate of protecting children will go back into our desired effect. We are completely back in the swing of things and continue to service those in need. We implore the public and companies to continue donating to the organisation so that we can help those in need. We take donations in food, clothing, house maintenance, toiletry, house essentials, and monetary form.

Seitebatso Kegakilwe