On March 8, International Women’s Day, the Child Protection and Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Sub-Working Groups launched an inter-agency child protection and SGBV awareness-raising campaign called “Amani” (which means “my safety” in Arabic). The overall campaign message is “Our sense of safety is everyone’s responsibility”.
The campaign is based on key inter-agency messages for communities, children and parents, on how to better protect children and adults from harm and different kinds of violence. These messages were developed by the Child Protection and SGBV Sub-Working groups, in collaboration with women, girls, boys and men in Zaatari camp and in urban settings, while drawing from best practices and examples from other contexts. The revision of the messages and the ongoing development of associated tools has been led by UNHCR, Save the Children International, IRC, UNFPA and UNICEF within the framework of the Inter-Agency “Strengthening SGBV and Child Protection Services andSystems Project”.
The overall message of the campaign is: “Let’s work together to make our communities safer. Everyone has a role to play in keeping girls, boys, women, and men safe.” The key protection issues addressed in the Amani campaign are:
1. Prevent violence and stay safe
2. Response for survivors of violence
3. Early Marriage
4. Psychosocial support
5. Disabilities
6. Child Labour
7. Birth registration
8. Separation
9. Humanitarian aid is free
10. Respect for diversity/discrimination
The Amani campaign consists of a series of images for each key message featuring a family of five – mother, father, 2 sisters and a brother, including an adolescent girl called “Amani”. Inter-agency tools based on these messages are currently under development, including animated videos about each subject, and brochures for outreach workers and facilitators’ guides for group activities on the messages. The campaign will also produce scarves, t-shirts, notebooks, balls, colouring and story books, etc. Each organisation will use these tools in their activities with community members in urban areas and camps to facilitate discussion, debate and action to better protect boys, girls, women and men from violence and other kinds of harm. Organisations will display these posters in their community, conduct individual and group discussions and community meetings around the key issues, screen the films and distribute the campaign products during their activities. They will encourage refugees and Jordanians to join in the campaign and arrange activities within their own communities to raise awareness of how to stay safe, and what to do if you or someone you know experiences violence, abuse or exploitation.