Tulir - Centre for the Prevention and Healing of Child Sexual Abuse (CPHCSA)

Through school-based curricula, training and consultancy, research and resource development, and advocacy and networking, Tulir-CPHCSA hopes to provide information, link individuals and organisations, and - ultimately - empower both children and adults in ensuring that the right of every child to feel safe is respected. The organisation's work is based on the belief that changing attitudes and behaviour is only possible by providing accurate information; to that end, creating and raising awareness and sensitisation is a key priority of Tulir-CPHCSA. It works toward this goal by periodically organising public awareness and sensitisation programmes and campaigns, and by making use of different platforms to bring the issue to the forefront of public consciousness. This includes joining with individuals and organisations; partnering with the media; and networking with different professional sectors, such as law enforcement, judiciary, health care and education.

The core of Tulir-CPHCSA's work is child-based, and focuses on fostering children's participation in their own protection against abuse. "Personal Safety Education" is a school-based curriculum that focuses on providing age-appropriate information, developing assertiveness and decision making skills, and promoting self-esteem to translate learning into practice. The curriculum teaches children that their body belongs only to them and nobody has the right to touch them in a way they don't like or understand. It is designed to provide children with strategies for standing up for their own rights without violating the rights of others; children are encouraged to use emotions like fear and anger in positive ways.

Tulir-CPHCSA also focuses on strengthening the capacities of those professionally, socially and morally responsible for the protection of children - that is, the government, parents, schools, and the larger community. Tulir-CPHCSA training programmes include sensitisation and skill-building workshops for teachers, social workers, doctors, parents, and others. Training workshops also extend to non-profit and academic organisations working on related issues - such as child labour, child rights, and HIV/AIDS; the use of interpersonal communication here is part of an effort to build a support system for children by equipping adults with the skills and knowledge required to effectively respond to CSA.

Tulir-CPHCSA undertakes various research and documentation projects in an effort to expand the knowledge base, advance practice, and stimulate new strategies within the Indian context to combat CSA. Tulir-CPHCSA has a resource library containing a collection of books, manuals, studies and multimedia resources, focused on CSA. The organisation also develops and publishes booklets, posters, training guides, and multimedia resources, including materials specifically designed for different stakeholder groups. Some of these resources - as well as additional details about CSA in the Indian and global context - are accessible on the Tulir-CPHCSA website. Tulir-CPHCSA also manages an interactive blog on CSA in India. Aawaaz, the quarterly newsletter of Tulir-CPHCSA, is another vehicle for spreading awareness, stimulating networking, and engaging in advocacy around the issue of CSA.

To cite one example of how Tulir-CPHCSA combines several of the above-mentioned strategies in specific public awareness events, to mark the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse on November 19 (2005), Tulir CPHCSA (supported by UNICEF-India) used a range of platforms in Chennai, including:

• Printed materials, such as: a) 5 large billboards with the message "World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse is not November 19th. It's every day" placed at various strategic sites in the city; b) a poster exhibition including approximately 25 awareness posters on CSA created by 7 advertising agencies, which were displayed in one of the major shopping centres; and c) 3000 handouts for children titled "Smart Ways to Keep Yourself Safe", and 2000 handouts for adults and professionals, in English and Tamil;
• Live performance: Students from the Women's Christian College performed a mime street-play on personal safety information to help children to keep themselves safe from child abuse. The media (English and Tamil newspapers as well as television channels) covered the event;
• Film/video, and personal contact: a) Tulir-CPHCSA arranged for the screening of the movie "Everybody Says I'm Fine", a feature film made in India that aims to address CSA in an informative and sensitive manner. This was followed by a discussion focusing on breaking the silence around CSA and the role communities can play in preventing and addressing violence against children; 50 people attended. Advertisements on the screening were published in newspapers; and b) 2 documentaries on CSA were screened in the South Indian Film Camber Theater, followed by a discussion; 60 persons attended. The media also informed their readers about the event and its significance;
• Mass media: Tulir-CPHCSA actively collaborated with the media to engage them in the World Day celebrations. For instance, The New Indian Express and The Hindu issued messages on child abuse, and one of the organisation's members also wrote an article for the Hindu newspaper; and
• Use of information and communication technologies (ICTs): Tulir-CPHCSA sent an email notice to approximately 4,000 organisations and individuals interested in and working on child rights informing them of the significance of the World Day and urging them to organise activities.

To mark this same World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse in 2007, Tulir-CPHCSA engaged in a social marketing billboard campaign as part of a corporate social responsibility (CSR) partnership between retailers, advertising agencies, and civil society organisations (CSOs). Visit the archives of the Tulir-CPHCSA blogspot to view these billboards as they appeared in busy intersections, with eye-catching messages such as "Don't ignore this ad like you ignore child sexual abuse" and "Not everyone is who you think they are on the Net". Details about a film screening and other World Day 2008 Tulir-CPHCSA events may be accessed here.

Children, Rights, Health.

"Tulir" in Tamil means the first tender leaves of a plant - leaves that have emerged following a period of adversity. The word symbolises children and the belief in the resilience and resurgence of the human spirit.

According to Tulir-CPHCSA, CSA is a universal problem affecting millions of children across the world; a 1999 World Health Organization (WHO) report found that 1 in 10 children is sexually abused. A Tulir-CPHCSA study conducted in 2006 among 2211 school-going children in Chennai indicated a CSA prevalence rate of 42%, with children of all socio-economic groups found to be equally vulnerable.

Tulir-CPHCSA was one of two first-prize winners in the 2006 Women's World Summit Foundation (WWSF) Prize for Prevention of Child Abuse.