List key partners

Working together

• Note some of the key things partners have agreed
• What agreements have been made about power, respectfulness, and how to talk to each other?
• How will partners manage differences of opinion?
• Key roles and responsibilities in the partnership

Language and definitions

• It is important to agree on what is meant by child sexual abuse. What is included/excluded?
• A commonly accepted international definition of childsexual abuse is: “....the involvement of a child in sexual activity that he or she does not fully comprehend, is unable to give informed consent to, or for which the child is not developmentally prepared, or else that violates the laws or social taboos of society. Children can be sexually abused by both adults and other children who are - by virtue of their age or stage of development – in a position of responsibility, trust or power over the victim.” (World Health Organisation, 2006).
• Child sexual exploitation is included in this definition. A child is defined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as anyone under the age of 18 years.
• Note any areas of disagreement or any exclusions.
  Your choice of language is important so it is helpful to agree on what terms you will use. Remember a person is only a “victim” during of the act of abuse. After the abuse they may be happier with a term like “survivor”. Also, an offender is not always an “offender”. Offenders can change their behaviour and learn to live safe lives. When young people do sexual abuse it is for different reasons to adults. So it is helpful to use the term “young people who have shown sexually harmful behaviour."
• For example, will you:
• Use the term sexual violence or sexual abuse?
• Use the term survivor or victim?Use the term paedophile, sex offender or sex abuser?
• How will you describe young people who sexually harm other children?
• How will you describe young people who are paid for sex?

Vision

Shared goals and a clear purpose are important. Does your vision apply to a particular community, region or country? This is an example of a vision statement:

All children have the right to grow up free from abuse. We are working together to:

• Prevent child sexual abuse from happening
• Protect those most at risk from child sexual abuse
• Detect the problem of CSA early and respond quickly when it happens
• Minimise the long term negative consequences
• Stop it recurring

Key stakeholders/people who need to be involved

For example, police, parents, religious leaders, youth workers, courts, survivors of abuse, children and young people.

For each of the above problems try to identify the causes, risks and safety factors in the following areas:

Problem 1

Problem 2, etc.

Use a different triangle diagram for each of the abuse problems. What needs to change, with each of the items on the diagram, for children to be safe?

What are the three most important child sexual abuse problems to change?
1 ___________________________________________________________
2 ___________________________________________________________
3 ___________________________________________________________

These mapping exercises will help you understand what is already in place, and where there are gaps.

Map existing interventions to prevent child sexual abuse:

Map the most significant local strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to prevent child sexual abuse:

Search on this website for interventions that could help with your problems (from step 2) and fill your gaps (from step 3):

Problem 1

Problem 2, etc.

Decide which of these interventions to consider further. Think about relevance, cost, local capacity and skills, fit with culture and norms, evidence of effectiveness, flexibility to your situation.