Break the Silence

Summary

Three animations on DVD accompanied by discussion toolkits which examine child sexual abuse:
1) A child sexually abused by her father (Daughter)
2) another child abused by a paedophile (A Good Boy)
3) The story of two sisters who end up as sex slaves in a brothel.

Type of intervention

Classroom setting, film

Target groups, level of prevention and subgroups

  • Children and Young People (Victims) | Primary prevention | Children (6-11 years), Young People (12-17 years) | Male and female | Classroom setting |English, Filipino, Cebuano, Khmer, Nepalese, Thai, Sinhalese, American Sign Language, Filipino Sign Language

Target population

Children aged 10-15 years old.

Delivery organisation

TASK (Talented, Ambitious, Street Kids; Stairway Foundation), based in the Philippines.

Mode and context of delivery

Three animations on DVD accompanied by discussion delivered by trained facilitators. Any organisation that wishes to learn how to prevent child sexual abuse may apply for facilitator training for an individual from their organisation.

Level/nature of staff expertise required

Ideally, people who deliver the Break the Silence programme should be trained by The Stairway Foundation. The foundation provides various levels and modules of training to become a facilitator:

Level 1: Introduction to child sexual abuse

  • Module 1: Gender sensitivity (1 day module)
  • Module 2: Introduction to child sexual abuse (3 day module)
  • Module 3: Basics of handling disclosures (1 day module)

Level 2: Advanced topics on child sexual abuse prevention

  • Module 1: Advanced CSAP topics (1 day module)
  • Module 2: Technology-related crimes against children (1 day module)
  • Module 3: Personal safety and protective behaviour for the prevention of child sexual abuse (3 day module)

Level 3: Training of trainers (3 day module)

Level 4: Communication skills handling sexually abused children (5 day module)
A manual is provided, along with the DVDs, for delivering the Break the Silence programme. The manual is not designed to be used without initially undergoing facilitators’ or trainers’ training. However, inclusion of the manual, along with the DVDs, means that even those who have not attended the Stairway’s training would know how to discuss the films with the children.

Intensity/extent of engagement with target group(s)

DVD running time:

  • 'Daughter' - 12 minutes
  • 'A Good Boy' - 18 minutes
  • 'Red Leaves Falling' - 23 minutes

Description of intervention

With the realisation that the issue of child sexual abuse is not something that people could easily talk about, Stairway has found out that using creative means helps them connect more with the issue. The decision to use animation considered the fact that children are Stairway’s primary targets. Animations are colourful and non-threatening so their attention is easily caught. Even adults, however, find the animations engaging. Used in trainings and capacity-building activities, the animations provide a concrete and realistic picture of a child sexually abused by her father (‘Daughter’) and another child abused by a paedophile (‘A Good Boy’).

The animations, when distributed or sold to partners, come with their own toolkits so that even those who have not attended Stairway’s trainings would know how to discuss and process the films with the children. Included as well is a section on handling disclosures, to prepare for the possibility that a child in the audience would find the courage to break their silence about the abuse.

The value of the animations in the drive against child sexual abuse has been recognized internationally. Both the Daughter and A Good Boy toolkits have won international awards. These have also been widely distributed and translated in several languages, including Spanish, French, Khmer, and Thai. The animations are also in both the Filipino and Cebuano languages.

‘Daughter’;
How many times does a child have to tell an adult about being sexually abused before he or she is believed? ‘Daughter’ is a heartfelt story about a young girl who is left with the responsibility of taking care of her father and her siblings while her mother works overseas. The role becomes distorted when her father starts to have an incestuous relationship with her. She attempts to tell various adults about the abuse, but no one believes her.

Written by Monica D. Ray
Directed by Monica D. Ray, Paw Rayn and Oscar Perez
Storyboard by Paw Rayn Animation by Philippine Animation Studies
Translations: English, Filipino, Cebuano, Spanish, Khmer, Thai and French
Running Time: 12 minutes

'A Good Boy';
A powerful depiction of the crime of paedophilia. It is a tale about how a young street kid named Jason is entrapped by Bob, a paedophile. Bob befriends Jason and his family with money and gifts. He gains their trust and invites Jason on a little “business trip” where he abuses him. Out of deep obligation to provide for his family, Jason keeps the abuse a secret until one day, Raffy, a street educator, helps him.

Written and directed by Monica D. Ray
Produced by Stairway Foundation
Animated by Dog n’ Bone Post Production by Wild Fire and Katrina Nyholm
Translations by International School Manila and Euro-Campus
Languages: English, Filipino, Cebuano, Spanish, Khmer, Thai and French
Running Time: 18 minutes 

‘Red Leaves Falling’;
A story of child sex trafficking and online pornography. Under the stress of poverty and a dying child, a mother agrees to send her daughters off to work in the city as house help--but the girls end up as sex slaves in a brothel.

Written and directed by Monica D. Ray
Produced by Stairway Foundation
Animation by Neko Animation Studio Manila Post Production by Wild Fire and Hit Sound Studio
Languages: American Sign Language (ALS), Cebuano, English, Filipino, Filipino Sign Language (FLS), Khmer, Nepalese, Thai and Sinhalese
Running Time: 23 minutes

The three animations were adapted from short stories found in the collection called ‘Black Angels, Street Children Realities’ by Monica D. Ray. It has been used extensively in Stairway’s Personal Safety workshops and the films have proven an innovative and invaluable tool for children and young people to help them open up and to discuss the issue of sexual abuse. As young people watch, listen, discuss and tell their stories, they learn to connect to themselves, to each other and to the world of ideas, which cultivates the imagination and heightens social awareness by exploring the conflicts depicted with simplicity and wisdom.

Evaluations

The Stairway Foundation (2013). Evaluation Research on the Effects of “A Good Boy” and “Daughter” Animations. Available from: http://www.stairwayfoundation.org/stairway/index.php/articles.

This evaluation utilised questionnaires to explore the effects of showing ‘A Good Boy’ and ‘Daughter’. Effects are gauged in terms of the learning in the areas of (1) disclosure, (2) knowledge about the dynamics of sexual abuse and (3) pre-empting abuse that takes place among the audience, after watching the two videos. The variables included in the study are gender (male and female), grade level (Grades 5-6, High School Year 1-2, High School Year 3-4), type of school (private, public) and the type of community (urban, rural). 935 students were included in the sample from the areas of Manila, Pasay, and Oriental Mindoro; 44 further students served as a control group. The intervention subjects learned significantly more than the control subjects about the dynamics of sexual abuse after watching the videos, across gender, grade level, type of school and type of community. They also learned more than controls about disclosure and how to prevent abuse. These videos could play a significant role in protecting children from sexual abuse.

References

Contact details

Telephone: +63 917 843 1922
Email: info@stairwayfoundation.org

https://www.stairwayfoundation.org/

Image result for break the silence philippines

INFORMATION CORRECT AT MAY 2020

RATING: Promising

Download this intervention as a PDF