Sharing experiences: Coordinating Director, Ghana
Name: Jessica Fielding
Position: Coordinating Director
Organisation: Challenging Heights
Country/State where based: Accra, Ghana
1. Tell us a little bit about your role and how you're involved in supporting children affected by sexual exploitation and/or trafficking?
Challenging Heights (CH) is a child-centred organisation working in Ghana to promote children's rights to education and freedom from forced labour.
The mission of CH is to ensure a secured, protected and dignified future and life for children and youth by promoting their rights, education and health.
CH aims to protect and improve the lives of young people and their communities affected by child trafficking and the worst forms of child labour. The organisation believes education and the economic empowerment of women are the most important things for eliminating child slavery. Our work suggests that if children are educated, then they will know their rights, and the chances of them being forced into labour will decrease.
CH operates seven complementary community development initiatives, and stretches across four of the ten regions in Ghana. Our approach is to tackle the root causes of child trafficking within source communities while supporting child survivors of trafficking and the worst forms of labour. Our support enables children to access education and empowers parents and families, in particular women, to improve their financial resilience and ability to care for young families.
2. What activities and assistance does your organisation offer to children and their families who have been affected by sexual exploitation and/or trafficking?
CH has the legal mandate to physically rescue children that have been identified as either victims of trafficking or child labour. CH works in partnership with the relevant Government institutions at the district, regional and national level to ensure that child survivors of trafficking and the worst forms of child labour are reunited with their families and given the opportunity to go to school.
Children that are rescued are placed in the CH Hovde House, a transitional 65 capacity rehabilitation shelter where they receive intensive medical, psycho-social and educational support. While the children begin the process of healing, our programme team work with the families to ensure the children will be returned to a safe environment and not re-trafficked or subjected to further abuse.
Parents of survivors of trafficking are linked to micro-lending institutions including Opportunity International. These partnerships give the women an opportunity to develop sound financial literacy skills and business development strategies, which assists them to create financially viable businesses and care for their young families.
3. What are the biggest challenges in working in this area?
Rescuing child survivors of trafficking is dangerous. By removing children from trafficking networks, we are greatly affecting the income of traffickers and their associates. In response, our staff frequently receive threats from traffickers. Although our team have undertaken security training, we would like to provide further security provisions for our rescue team. Unfortunately at this time, we are unable to provide the requisite support due to shortage in funds.
The other great challenge, which is shared by many service providers, particularly at the local level, is the lack of financial resources available to meet the need. With greater financial resources we would be able to expand and reach a greater number of beneficiaries. Although very little accurate data exists pertaining to the issue of child trafficking and the worst forms of child labour within the country, anecdotal evidence suggests the need is much greater than what we are currently supporting. We continue to expand our supporter base in Ghana and abroad and diversify our funding streams however as we grow and expand, so does the need.
4. What are the highlights?
CH believes that education is key in the mission to end poverty. There is nothing more important to us than removing children from fishing boats on Lake Volta and fishing communities where they have been forced to work for up to 17 hours and have been routinely subjected to physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Placing children into a caring environment, providing the requisite support and giving children the opportunity to learn. Giving children the opportunity to be children. To run, to play, to laugh, to learn - this is the greatest highlight.
Often we are asked why parents give away their children, or worse, sell their children and then want them back. It is difficult to explain and the circumstances are very complicated, albeit poverty is the underlying causality. The context within each family is unique however in the majority of cases, the return of children to their families is warmly welcomed. CH believes that the family is the best possible place for a child to be. This is indeed a highlight - assisting families to reunite and be families once more.
5. What do you think works well or is important for children in their recovery and why?
For every rescued child that enters the CH Hovde House, the recovery and healing process is unique.
Although the children have been exposed to similar conditions and abuses, each individual has innate and unique survival mechanisms that have been activated in order to endure the abuse. Therefore the adjustment and healing process is very different for every child.
Our programme requires that children be assessed upon entry into the house, mid-way during their stay and upon exit. Our support programme has been developed in association with other leading international service providers and guides the support provided to each child. Our team closely monitors the development and progress of each child. This personalised approach is important to the child's recovery process and to ensure the child's transition back into the family home is unproblematic.
After a child returns home, CH continues to monitor the family on a regular basis. This follow up has ensured that none of our rescued children have been re-trafficked and that children remain in school.
6. What knowledge or information would help you and your colleagues strengthen your work?
Information sharing of best practice approaches and successful strategies to support the target group is always helpful to our work.
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