Advocacy, Lobbying and Awareness
In the quest to provide resources and hope for the girl child in need, during the first few years, we made extensive use of media coverage to expose the problem previously hidden and denied by the authorities. Although a hazardous road, in the end not only did the children benefit by it but also the academic world was encouraged and assisted with empirical research.
We never 'made money' from media exposure so-to-speak in terms of donations because the issues were so shocking and traumatic that the public easily recoiled in horror from the sickness in their own society. But, in the end it all served an educational and awareness purpose and only the toughest of the tough individuals in society came forth to volunteer and work with us in the most dangerous, most violent suburb in the world.
What we aimed to achieve in the past with our extensive (and often aggressive) advocasy campaigns:
- Change the views and understanding of the public, of Government, various Government agencies and the academic world regarding the lives of our girl children in need.
- Prove to Government that the country has a problem with more than 50 000 young women in prostitution.
- Show the harsh realities of the lives led by children of all races and cultures trapped in prostitution, drug addiction, and sexual exploitation, and encourage the academic, therapeutic, and legislative worlds to take an interest in finding remedies.
Continuing Objectives for the Advocasy Program
-
To place as priority those problems associated with the commercial sexual exploitation of children, the girl child on the street, the destitute girl child, child exploitation, child abuse, and child and adolescent substance abuse.
- To facilitate adequate child protection legislation and resources.
- To create a greater awareness about the plight of the youth, specifically the girl-child and woman ensnared in a life of prostitution and drug addiction. Making use of the media in print, radio and television successfully created national and international awareness about the commercial sexual exploitation of the girl child.
- To educate about various issues of relevance to the youth. Speaking at seminars, conferences, workshops, schools, clubs, churches and organisations about various issues of relevance to the youth: such as coping skills, peer pressure, drug addiction, child-sexual abuse, HIV/Aids, and sexually transmitted diseases.
- To unite, network, inform and empower girl child organizations and services.
- To facilitate research.
- To maintain active and informative WWW web sites. Over the years, since 1996, our web sites served hundreds of thousands local and international visitors, providing awareness, education, and assisting numerous students with research and studies - facilitating many MA and PhD degrees.
