Working in collaboration with Stop the Child Witchcraft Accusations (SCWA) partners, we have been analysing community feedback from trusted contacts in 12 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Three key themes emerged:

• Misinformation about the causes of Covid-19 leads to confusion and failure to take action.
• Covid-19 restrictions have caused severe socio-economic harm to local communities’ and households’ that were already facing disadvantage.
• Fear created by the above uncertainty and insecurity is linked to increased witchcraft accusations and abuse of vulnerable children.

These themes highlight the need for communities to be able to accurately explain why life has got tougher since Covid-19, building on local conversations around reliable information.

Misinformation and confusion

Our contacts told us that there is a lot of speculation about Coronavirus in their countries and communities. Reasons given for the spread of the pandemic include Coronavirus being: ‘a punishment from God’, ‘a ruse from the devil’, ‘an outworking of biological warfare between Chinese and American superpowers’, ‘the result of 5G technology’ or ‘a highly infectious illness’. Some believe that Coronavirus doesn’t exist at all or that African people are safe from it because it cannot survive warmer climates. Blame is most frequently attributed to either the Chinese, the West or the wealthy with their international travel. Government authorities rely on media to communicate health messages to their populations. However, our partners reported that a lot of additional information is being shared on social media and that this information is frequently unreliable. This confusion causes fear and discourages people from taking action to protect themselves and their communities.

Socio-economic harm

Consistently we heard that the impact of lockdown restrictions is far more severe than the impact of the virus itself. As people have lost their livelihoods, many are starving. Food insecurity is mentioned again and again. The pandemic has done long term damage to economies and livelihoods in Sub-Saharan countries and this is putting families under significant extra pressure. We heard from Mrs G in Kananga, DR Congo:

 “My husband, who lost his job, abandoned me and our three children. I don’t know where he is. I am trying to get by now by selling leaves to meet the needs of my children. I feed the same kind of cassava leaves that I sell on their own [i.e. that is all she feeds them] to feed my children once a day. The huge anxiety that plays on my mind is that one of my children is already suffering from malnutrition. I don’t know what to do or when coronavirus is going to end.”

 Witchcraft Accusations

A rise in witchcraft accusations is noted in Nigeria, Kenya and DR Congo, and this increase often happens at times of crisis. Families are under pressure and they want explanations for their changing circumstances. Children with behavioural or physical differences to local norms become scapegoats, accused of witchcraft or of bringing a curse on their homes. They are often abandoned to live on the streets in major cities like Kinshasa. Food insecurity is particularly severe for vulnerable groups such as children living on the streets. The COVID-19 impact is compounded by lack of access to clean water and to facemasks to protect them from the virus.

Beyond confusion and fear

Many of these injustices could be avoided through local communities being equipped to develop and disseminate more accurate explanations for misfortune, and through feeling empowered to develop their own responses to the hardships.

Our partners’ feedback identifies churches and radio as highly trusted sources of information, which suggests that these are good routes to starting community conversations based on accurate information. Social dialogues are essential for identifying common local concerns, for building healthy understanding of them and for developing sustainable local responses to COVID-19 and lockdown restrictions.

The post Misinformation harms the most vulnerable appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

In one location, a foster family was abusing a child refugee who had been placed with them. Some neighbours realised what was happening, and as a result of the Soot Semee podcasts, they knew how to report the situation. The NGO was able to remove the child from the abusive situation and place them with a new family.

In such sensitive situations, it is vital that community members know they can trust the NGO. By bringing community members and NGO workers together to develop podcast content, Soot Semee not only provides a channel for reliable information, but facilitates essential relationship building. As a result, people know they can trust the service providers as well as the information they provide. For children in Omugo zone, this is literally life-saving.

The post Building Trust – Saving Lives appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

‘I’m not a witch’ is a powerful, new short film produced by Congolese film maker, Tshoper Kabambi, designed to promote awareness of the problem. Shot in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this film is part of a media strategy to engage communities, churches, civic organisations and other stakeholders, with the aim of protecting children from child witchcraft accusations and the associated abuse.

The film features street-living children in Kinshasa that have been affected by the issue of child witchcraft accusations. Using their voices, the film introduces the issue of child witchcraft accusation and the impact it has had on children living on the street. The film includes a small dramatised scenario based on a real-life stories. It also features a pastor speaking about how he previously accused children of being witches and his recognition of the damage it has done to the lives of children and their families.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS SCENES THAT MAY UPSET SOME VIEWERS

Child witch accusation is a complex issue. Alongside the film are related materials for radio and downloadable audio podcasts for churches that will further engage people and raise awareness of this complex social problem.  The film and materials recognise that there are differing beliefs on this issue and challenges these from a credible position, enabling misconceptions to be challenged, and highlighting the stigma, discrimination and trauma experienced by children.

These resources were commissioned by Feba in response to requests from street living children and survivors of witchcraft accusations, who wanted to talk about this issue and tell their stories in their own words. HCR Associate, Stephanie Mooney, is active in facilitating this work and encouraging the use of these different resources across the DRC and other countries, to challenge harmful cultural practices and to stop children being abused.

HCR is part of the Stop the Child Witch Accusations steering group (SCWA), a coalition of individuals and agencies responding to the reality of children experiencing serious harm or the threat of harm due to accusations of witchcraft or belief in malevolent spiritual influence.

For more information about this issue and helpful resources please see: https://stop-cwa.org

If this article raises any personal issues please contact your local professional services or contact the helplines below.

In DRC (Kinshasa and Goma): Dial 117

In UK: National Domestic Violence Helpline 0808 2000 247

In Australia: 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

The post I am not a witch! appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

The station receives more than 300 phone calls per day and more than 200 sms text messages.  “In fact our call lines are getting so congested we are trying to get a third line and another phone to help ease the congestion,” says Harriet.

The station is using the Una Hakika SMS text reporting system, where listeners are given a short code which enables them to seek counselling or report any incidents where they feel threatened or at risk.

Harriet says the campaign is the talk of town and that the response has been overwhelming, hoping it will result in significant change in the community.

HCR is working across Africa and Asia, supporting communities in crisis, through community centred-media. For more information contact us.

The post Teen Pregnancy Campaign Jams Call-in Lines appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

Over the next three months Amani FM will be promoting awareness of underage pregnancy through discussion programmes, road shows, street theatre and visiting schools across the region.  In addition to this, the station is teaming up with Una Hakika to use technology to protect vulnerable children.  Using Una Hakika’s SMS text reporting system, listeners will be given a short code, which they will be able to use free-of-charge, to report any incidents where they feel threatened or at risk.

“Every text will be followed up and in the case of a rescue being required, we will involve the police,” says Harriet.  “I have spoken to the OCS of the area and he is ready to offer us all the support we need.”

HCR set up Amani FM in partnership with the Sentinel Project to promote peace and social development ahead of the elections in 2017 and an evaluation last year showed it had had a significant impact on promoting dialogue between different ethnic groups.

The post Using Technology to Tackle Teen Pregnancies appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

Any form of abuse leaves scars. A few years ago I participated in some focus group meetings with street living children, aged from 6 years to 16 years, to explore starting a radio project for Feba UK for these children in Kinshasa, DR Congo. It was particularly difficult to get street living girls to participate but we where able to include a small group of teenage girls. I was deeply affected by a 16 year-old girl who showed me several scars on her body that she had suffered from being beaten and being raped. These were her outward scars but she also had deep psychological scars from her suffering that couldn’t be as easily seen.

Shockingly, this girl’s experiences are not uncommon; as there are approximately 25,000 children living on the streets of Kinshasa and the number is growing. Many of the children are on the streets because they have been accused of being witches and as a result, been thrown out of their homes and excluded from their communities. Any child living on the street is marginalised, but girls are particularly vulnerable and to survive, many are coerced into sex work.

As the Feba UK radio project developed, the group of street living children helped develop a script for a radio drama series to address child witch accusations and the girls in the group were particularly keen on their experiences being reflected. The part of the drama that they wanted to include was the traumatic ‘baptism’ of young girls on the streets, which is when a girl newly on the streets is ‘initiated’ by being raped.  The girls were very vocal about ensuring that this was reflected correctly in the drama as their experiences and their suffering had previously been ignored.

By being based on the real life experiences of young street living children, the radio drama series and the wider radio project were able to give these children an opportunity to talk about their lives on the streets. Skills development was provided for these street living children to become youth journalists.  This innovative project helped the children find ways to improve their lives and helped change the perception and behaviour of the wider community towards them.

Improving the lives of street living children is a massive challenge and will not happen overnight; however, these youth journalists are persevering and using the media space to share stories, to promote healing and to protect the rights of street living children.

If this article raises any personal issues please contact your local professional services or contact the helplines below.

In Australia: 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

In UK: National Domestic Violence Helpline 0808 2000 247

The post Improving the lives of street living children appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

Each year, 12 million girls are married before the age of 18 (Girls not Brides).

Early marriage is a major obstacle for girls in acquiring education and has many physical, social and psychological implications. The girls are forced into this cycle of poverty, inequality and illiteracy. Early marriage can often expose girls to violence throughout their lives and trap them in poverty. This is an issue that cuts across countries, cultures and religions.

One of the solutions to assist girls to escape discriminatory customary practices like early child marriage is providing education and skill building opportunities. Education is the most valuable asset and ultimately empowers the girls to reach their fullest potential.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which define global development include target 5.3 ‘Eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilations’ (under Goal 5 ‘Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’).

HCR (now Amplifying Voices) faces these issues in some of the communities in which we work. Recently, in a village in Pakistan, an associate was confronted with child marriage at a women’s empowerment session. A girl, aged 15, had an eighteen-month-old baby and was married to a 45-year-old man. She is a mother, when she herself is still a child. In a culture that tends to be patriarchal, the birth of a son is celebrated as boys are considered assets who will provide support for ageing parents, whereas a daughter is often considered a liability. This traditional culture, along with poverty, reinforces practices like early child marriages.

Amplifying Voices has made gender justice a major priority in all its projects. We believe that human rights are essential to the full development of individuals and communities, and that gender equality is a basic human right. In Pakistan we use media to continue to work towards the education of girls and women and target many of the underlying issues that keep them in a cycle of poverty.

The post She is a mother, when she herself is still a child appeared first on Amplifying Voices.

I believe every person has a story to tell and it is often the people who have suffered the most whose stories can affect us the most deeply.

I met Precious* in Kenya and she is a truly courageous and inspirational woman.  She was married at fourteen and had to stop attending school as a result of her marriage. Precious wanted to return to school after she was married, which was not the done thing in her village. After giving birth to two sons, she tried to connect with other young students to keep learning from them and also asked a teacher if she could continue.

Precious was told she needed to enrol at the education office far from her city. She found a way there and persuaded them to enrol her. By the time that she was registered she had given birth to her third child. She was the first married woman in her village to continue going to school and was the talk of the town. Precious’s husband challenged her and made her suffer for the humiliation. She was beaten, raped and was made to sleep outside.

Precious had a fourth child and when her fourth child was seven months old she became pregnant again.  Despite all her difficulties, she completed her secondary school education. Precious did eventually leave her husband because her life was in danger. She started running a small business to provide for her family and now all her children are in school. She continues to develop her self and she wants to do more study. She has been a real example to other women in her village.

At HCR we are creating opportunities for women from different parts of the world to speak about their lives and the issues they face, so that their local communities become aware of these challenges and as a way of creating positive change in both the lives of women and the community as a whole. Everyone has a story. At HCR we strive to empower women to share their story.

*Not her real name

If this article raises any personal issues please contact your local professional services or contact the helplines below.

In UK: National Domestic Violence Helpline 0808 2000 247

In Australia: 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

The post Precious: Her Story appeared first on Amplifying Voices.