Empowering Youth on OSAEC Awareness

by World Hope International | May 12, 2022 | Civil Society & Governance, Philippines, Protection, Youth Empowerment

World Hope International believes that young leaders in the community can help minimize the prevalence of Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children. WHI wanted to equip these leaders with the necessary information about OSAEC and referral protocols, empowering them to become advocates of child protection; therefore, they conducted training programs consisting of eight sessions.

Their seminars were held for two days, where the first part was conducted last April 23, 2022, at Hotel Elizabeth in Cebu City, while the second part was held a week after at the Castle Peak Hotel in Cebu City.

The first day focused on the first five sessions and was facilitated by Ms. Adesty Dulawan and Ms. Glaiza Torres. Ms. Dulawan started the day by discussing OSAEC’s prevalence and nature. In her discussion, she also talked about how technological innovations contributed to the rise of these malicious activities.

She also highlighted the different kinds of sexual abuse and exploitation online. In her second topic, Ms. Dulawan discussed the OSAEC victimization process. She taught the participants how they could identify the facilitators of OSAEC abuse and their roles. She also wanted them to understand the process involved in these malicious activities.

In her third topic, Ms. Dulawan discussed OSAEC’s impact on the victims. She emphasized that these operations significantly affect the victim’s physical health, mental health, and interpersonal functioning.

She ended her discussion by emphasizing that these activities can result in trauma.

Ms. Torres was responsible for discussing the last two topics of the day. She started by discussing the laws governing OSAEC. She wanted the participants to understand the laws governing OSAEC and be aware of these. Her last discussion was about the red flags on OSAEC activities.

Ms. Torres wanted the participants to be able to identify red flags of OSAEC operations and be on the lookout for these signs in their community. In addition, she wanted them to understand the barriers to identifying OSAEC operations.

The second part of WHI’s training was held a week after the first one at the Castle Peak Hotel in Cebu City. Its speakers were Ms. Shalamel Sollano and Ms. Theresa Malazarte.

Ms. Sollano started the day by discussing the reporting protocols. In discussing this topic, she wants the participants to understand how they can respond to abuse in their community. She also wanted them to know which agencies respond to such cases and learn to handle basic responses and disclosures.

Furthermore, she wanted the participants to understand how reports are handled.

She also taught the participants how they could keep themselves safe online. Through her discussion, she wanted them to determine practical ways that will help them keep themselves safe while browsing online and gain the skills needed to uphold safety and privacy.

Ms. Malazarte ended the day with her activity that centers on the participants’ commitment to child protection. She wanted to encourage the participants to value their roles in upholding child protection and have them pledge their support in all the activities geared towards protecting children.

She asked the participants to write their commitments on colored paper, especially in ensuring the children’s safety, either personal or online and from different kinds of abuses and injustices.

Then, she asked some participants to share their commitments to the bigger group.

Ms. Malazarte ended her discussion by discussing the protocol for case management.

Through these activities, World Hope International wants empowered youth to curb the rise of OSAEC and be more attentive to their surroundings. WHI-Philippines tried to teach them that prevention starts in the community and with an empowered young leader ensuring the children’s safety.

World Hope International has been working in the Philippines to address OSAEC through several projects. Learn more about PAVE II and our OSEC Research and Response.

You can also make a gift today to The Hope Fund, which allows us to work where and when it matters.