Type of intervention     

Educational classroom setting  

Target group/s, level/s of prevention and sub-group/s:   

Primary, secondary and tertiary prevention

Children and adolescents

Child, adolescent and adult survivors of CSA

Stakeholder organisations including NGOs, schools, community groups, other institutions  

Target population     

Children and adolescents. 

Delivery organisation     

Arpan is a registered charitable organisation in India and the largest NGO addressing CSA in the country. It seeks to enable prevention and intervention skills to prevent and reduce occurrences of CSA and provide interventions to support survivors.

Mode and context of delivery  

The Personal Safety Education program is a two/three week long series of workshops delivered in schools, communities and institutions to all genders from grades I-X.

Aims are to provide children with the tools to prevent CSA by reducing risk factors and building supportive factors in both on and offline settings. This is founded in key life skills including decision-making, resilience and interpersonal relationships.

The model also demonstrates the importance of disclosure of CSA and how support can be accessed as well as providing post-disclosure counselling.  Adults around survivors are supported to create safe environments and effective responses to disclosures.   

Level/Nature of staff expertise required    

Arpan practitioners 

Intensity/extent of engagement with target group(s)    

Workshop delivery to young people over two/three weeks.  

Description of intervention 

Personal Safety Education: In school/organisation workshops focusing on private parts of the body, feeling safe, saying no, safety, asking for help and disclosing, and that CSA is not the victim’s fault. Prior to working with children an awareness session is run for caregivers and teachers plus a follow up session for the same.

Counselling for survivors of CSA (children, adolescents and adults). This includes long term therapy in addition to support for families coping with a disclosure.

CSA awareness and advocacy training sessions delivered to outside organisations/professionals including NGOs, teachers and health organisations. These seek to raise awareness of CSA to enable safeguarding, preventions and effective support for survivors. Advocacy work seeks to include CSA awareness and the Personal Safety Education program into the school curriculum at a national and global level via collaboration with government bodies and relevant institutions.

Online courses via: https://www.arpanelearn.com/.

• Facilitator: Targeting caregivers to help them support children as they engage with Personal Safety course
• Personal Safety: Targeting 8-10 year olds with information on safe and unsafe touches through videos and quizzes
• My Safety Book: Targeting 4-7 year olds to identify unsafe situations and how to seek help through an e-book
• Online Resources: A collection of resources for caregivers to develop their knowledge of CSA  

Evaluation     

An evaluation was conducted in 2014 with 770 youths, 15 teachers and 13 parents. Aided recall of the program stood at 100% with young people most likely to remember topic areas of private body parts; feeling safe/unsafe; saying “NO” and getting away; and ‘boss of my body’. Schools with a longer history of working with Arpan have better program outcomes and teachers feel their students are more knowledgeable in this area. Future recommendations included focus on building skills, more regular sessions and resources/study materials for teachers to use between Arpan interventions. Report available: https://www.arpan.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Arpan-IMRB-Report.pdf

A case study review revealed that children who have received the Personal Safety Education can identify unsafe situations and report them. Further evidence was given of children being assertive and using the ‘Get Away’ action plan when they had been in unsafe situations. Report available: https://www.arpan.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/PSE-EVALUATION-REPORT.pdf  

References     

Arpan. (2015). Rescue and Remedy: A Process Documentation of Psychotherapy with Children in Institutions. Retrieved from: https://www.antislavery.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Before-the-Harm-is-Done-report.pdf

Arpan. (2018). Between the Lines- An Analysis of Media Reportage on Child Sexual Abuse. Retrieved from: https://www.arpan.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/MEDIA-REPORT.pdf

Arpan. (n.d.). Recounting Abuse, Reporting Abusers – Reflections from Survivors on Mandatory Reporting. Retrieved from: https://www.arpan.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/MANDATORY-REPORTING-.pdf

Arpan. (2018). Classroom Lesson Based Personal Safety Education (PSE) Programme for Children. Retrieved from: https://www.arpan.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Classroom-Lesson-based-Personal-Safety-Education-PSE-Programme-for-Children.pdf

Arpan. (2017). Integration of Personal Safety Education Programme in Schools: A Case Study. Retrieved from: https://www.arpan.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/PSE-EVALUATION-REPORT.pdf

Arpan. (2014). Evaluation of Personal Safety Education Programme. Retrieved from: https://www.arpan.org.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Arpan-IMRB-Report.pdf   

Contact details     

Website: https://www.arpan.org.in/personal-safety-education/

Address: Delta Chemicals Pvt Ltd., J/1, Cama Industrial Zone, Off. Valbhatt Road, Goregaon East, Mumbai 400063, India.

Email : info@arpan.org.in

Call : 91 22 2686 2444 / 2686 8444

 

RATING: Promising

INFORMATION CORRECT AT JUNE 2021