Technical Reports

Background and Justification:[Back to table of contents]

In Cambodia, one in five women aged 15 to 49 has experienced physical violence since the age of 15. There is a culture of unequal power relations between men and women. Gender violence is common especially among vulnerable group such as migrant garment factory workers. Many Cambodian women still remain living in an abusive environment. Over 30% of women who have ever had a partner have experienced some forms of violence from their intimate partner in their life time (CDHS 2014). Sadly, women who have experienced violence never talked to anyone about it and only a quarter of them sought help from formal service providers including police, local leaders and health care providers, according to a survey done by WHO in 2014 (National Survey of Women’s Health and Life Experience in Cambodia). Gender inequality and gender violence is not just a woman’s problem. It affects the entire household and society. As at 2018, Cambodia has had over 19 million telephones/sim cards, which is more than its total population of over 15 millions. The increased advance of internet and smart phones in Cambodia present women and girls with possible risk of online abuse, exploitation and violence. Reports from local partners indicate an increase of perpetrators using the internet to contact victims and children accessing pornography being linked to abusive sexual behaviours (Sexually Harmful Behaviours: Understanding the Needs of Children and Families. FSC, Cambodia, 2016). CHC, a unique free helpline service, offers free phone counselling, information, referral and follow up service to young people via the free phone 1280. It is the only helpline that provides children and young people with helpline services across all domains, including body change, domestic violence, HIV, managing stress, reproductive health, safe migration, sexuality awareness etc. CHC services in response to the threat of online abuse and for the protection of children and young people have been operational 24/7 laying its community gender and child friendly reporting and response mechanism in Battambang, Tbong Khmom, Siem Reap and Ratanakiri provinces. CHC has worked to promote gender equality and combat gender violence since 2012 with a focus on raising awareness of gender equality among boys and girls via workshop and mass media such as radio and social media. CHC's interest in resolving gender inequality via the use of digital development and innovation that girls and women could learn and receive information on gender equality, violence against women and girls. In addressing gender violence, CHC has operated its free telephone helpline mechanism and online question and answer platform 24/7 to receive complaint and respond to gender violence and gender inequality issues and deliver psychosocial support services based on the needs of children, girls, women and parents/caregivers. CHC has tried to solve the issue of gender inequality and risk of online abuse, exploitation and violence when they are using the internet and smartphone via educating them about the self-protection, online safety, and gender equality. Women and girls are the target of online predators compared to men and boys. However, men and boys also have their own problem such as violence, sexual abuse, lack of understanding about gender equality, and how to practise anger management and access psycho-social support services when they commit violence against women and girls.

Project Implementation:[Back to table of contents]

The project was kicked off from 1 August 2018. CHC has operated the free helpline telephone mechanism and online question and answer platform 24/7 to answer calls and text messages from children and young people across Cambodia. From 1 August 2018 - 30 September 2019, Child Helpline phone counselors answered 81,587 calls from 52,438 callers across Cambodia. Of 52,438 callers, 2,126 callers were children, 868 callers were youth, 995 callers were adults, and 48,449 callers were unknown aged clients. Of 52,438 callers, 10,697 callers were male, 9,454 callers were female, 38 callers were LGBTQI and 32,249 callers were unknown gender clients. This indicates that female and LGBTQI are accessing the services. Of 81,587 calls, CHC phone counselors handled 4,221 cases of clients who have serious problems as in the table below.

No	Type of Serious Problems	Number of Cases
1	Offline Abuse	160
2	Offline Exploitation	13
3	Disability	27
4	Discrimination	8
5	Family Relationship	772
6	HIV	26
7	Homelessness	7
8	Legal Matters and Juvenile Justice	37
9	Violence Against Children	20
10	Physical Health and Health Care	55
11	Psychosocial and Mental Health	1,189
12	Poverty	215
13	Sexuality and Sexual Awareness	80
14	Children with Addiction	78
15	Love Matters	444
16	School Related Issues and Education	385
17	Employment Related Issues	36
18	General Violence	390
19	Human Trafficking	20
20	Unsafe Migration	78
21	Child Sex Tourism	1
22	Children on the Move	50
23	Cyberbullying	17
24	Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse	2
25	Early/Child Marriage	39
26	Parenting and Child Rearing	72
Total		4,221

A co-design workshop was organized on 2 December 2018 with the participation of 23 young people (14 female) to develop the training contents on gender equality, safe use of internet, respectful online relationship and self-protection. The participants were divided into two groups, i.e. a discussion group on the gender equality and discrimination and another discussion group on respectful online relationship and self-protection. By completion of the group discussion, the participants provided inputs for inclusion into the training contents as follow. 1. Gender Equality: the content should include the learning about stereotypes of roles and works of men and women in society, male domination and women value, leadership, equality in education, social-cultural factors, freedom of life partner selection, discrimination against women wearing short clothes, risk of sexual abuse and trafficking, equal rights between men and women in politics, child rearing, sports, house chores, work forces, decision making and incomes. 2. Respectful Online Relationship and Self-Protection: the content should include the learning about password setting and protection, privacy setting, strangers and friend request, log out at all times, non-acceptance of meeting with online strangers, no nudity post, and how to contact the free helpline when feeling unsafe. By end of the co-design workshop, each participant was provided with opportunity to make learning reflection and workshop evaluation. Most participants agree that the workshop was a good opportunity for them to share inputs on key contents of the training documents on gender equality, safe use of internet, and respectful online relationship. On 11 and 12 February 2019, a two-day training workshop on awareness session facilitation, gender equality, safe use of internet, respectful online relationship, and self-protection was delivered to a group of 14 helpline ambassadors in Battambang province. The pre-test to measure the capacity of the participants were organized, learning expectation from the workshop was recorded, and a presentation about Child Helpline and Project "Increase the Safe Use of Internet for Women and Girls" was made to ensure the participants know about the project. The participants were divided into four groups. Two groups were assigned with a topic of "Gender and Discrimination" and another two groups were assigned with a topic of "Gender Equality" for discussion during the morning session on day 1. In the afternoon session, two groups were assigned with a topic of "Internet, Impact and Respectful Online Relationship" and another two groups were assigned with a topic of "Self-Protection and How to Report Online Abuse" for discussion. By end of day 1, the training facilitators/trainers made the learning reflection and each participant was provided with an opportunity to voice up what they learnt the most on Day 1. On day 2, the facilitators/trainers reviewed what the participants learnt during day 1 and began day 2 with strengthening skill of helpline ambassadors on child friendly awareness facilitation, leadership, active listening, and self-care. The participants were assigned to perform awareness session role play while the rest observed and reflected what's done good and areas of improvement. Each participant was assigned to prepare an awareness session plan and submit to the facilitators/trainers for review and comment. Before completion of the training workshop, the participants were provided with opportunity to make the learning reflection, do post-test and workshop evaluation. The pre-test showed that 7 participants out of 14 had poor knowledge about gender equality, safe use of internet, facilitation skill, and respectful online relationship. Only 5 participants had good score before the training. By completion of the training, the post test showed that 13 participants had good score and only 1 participant had poor knowledge. From 14 February till 26 May 2019, the trained youth/helpline ambassadors led and organized 2 awareness sessions in Peam Aek commune, 1 awareness session in Prek Narin commune, 1 awareness session in Chamkar Somrong 1, and 1 awareness session in Chamkar Somrong 2 with the participation of 279 young people (142 female). The 5 echo awareness sessions were organized with the aim to deliver knowledge on gender equality, safe use of social media and internet, non-gender discrimination towards all genders inclusive of LGBTQI, online respectful relationship and self-protection from abuse, threats and exploitation. 5 youth/helpline ambassadors who led and organized these awareness sessions are Mr. Ly Lin, Ms. Voet Savorn, Ms. Seng Chantrea, Mr. Yorn Yapheakey, and Ms. Ponna Lisa with support from Ms. Thoun Sreypov, Referral and Follow up Coordinator and Mr. Seng Samnang, Senior Phone Counselor. The agenda of the awareness sessions included pre-test, expectation and concern, self-introduction of participants, presentation of gender equality, safe use of social media and internet, non-gender discrimination towards all genders inclusive of LGBTQI, online respectful relationship and self-protection from abuse, threats and exploitation, group discussion, participant presentation of group discussion results, cartoon video show on online abuse and how to report, post-test and session evaluation. The pre-test showed that 61% of participants had poor score reflecting that they had poor knowledge about gender equality, online respectful relationship, and self-protection. By completion of the awareness sessions, the participants with poor score were decreased from 61% to only 3%, the participants with average score increased to 17.5%, good score increased to 47.5% and excellent score increased to 32%.

Project Evaluation:[Back to table of contents]

The project evaluation was organized between 12 June till 30 September 2019. The evaluation was prepared by the Child Helpline Cambodia team. The team was led by Mr. Sean Sok Phay, Executive Director with field survey supported by all telephone counsellors, counselling supervisor, Ms. Pen Pidorkunthea, and Referral and Follow up Coordinator, Ms. Thoun Sreypov. The work would not have been possible without technical supports provided by Dr. Sonal Zaveri and Ms. Vira Ramelan, Independent Consultants and the committed participation of Child Helpline Youth Ambassadors, Commune Committee for Women and Children and project beneficiaries, who devoted their times to answer phone calls and joined the telephone survey. We are thankful for their works and commitment. The objective of this project evaluation is to determine the extent that CHC services are effective in response to the need of boys, girls and LGBTQI regarding the online abuse and cyber-bullying; and evaluate the effectiveness of the free child helpline service delivered to its project beneficiaries. METHODOLOGY OF EVALUATION

No	Target Group	Tool	Number of Participants	Lead Staff
1	Database review	Electronic database	20,573 clients	Counselling Supervisor, Ms. Pen Pidorkunthea
2	Client service monitoring and evaluation	Key Informant Interview	18 clients	Independent Supervisors, Mr. Lor Van Thary and Ms. Sok Phaneth
3	Awareness session participant interview	Key Informant Interview and Focus Group Discussion	10 youth and 250 children	Referral and Follow up Coordinator, Ms. Thoun Sreypov

Part A: Database review CHC has an electronic case management system for recording and documenting all cases of callers/clients. The case management system is used by all frontline phone counsellors to capture and follow up the progress of callers/clients. The case management system could only be accessed by the frontline phone counsellors, counselling supervisor, follow up and referral coordinator, and executive director with a standard of confidentiality. Counselling supervisor leads the review on:

• Extent and numbers of calls,
• Types of calls and text messages,
• Types of services provided,
• Referral and follow up.

Part B: Client service monitoring and evaluation As a part of the evaluation methodology, CHC randomly selects 18 clients from a pool of 20,573 clients, who have contacted the free child helpline with problems regarding online and offline abuse and exploitation, violence, unwanted pregnancy, sexuality and relations, forced abortion, bullying and information request. CHC chose only 18 clients from a pool of 20,573 clients due to limited financial and human resources, and time for the evaluation. 18 clients were interviewed based on the guided interview questionnaire as in Annex 1. Client satisfaction was measured with the following key questions.

1	How satisfied were you with the service? Please rate us on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best.
2	What did you like about our service?
3	What motivated you to call?
4	What are your challenges in calling up?
5	What are your barriers in following up?
6	What can we do better to improve our service?

Part C: Awareness session participant interview There are 14 youth/helpline ambassadors that CHC has built their capacity and 279 community children that CHC has reached out. CHC selected the sample size for awareness session participation key informant interview and focus group discussion as follow.

• Youth/Helpline Ambassador – 10 out of 14
• Community Children – 250 out of 279

The focus group discussion and key informant interview were organized to evaluate the level of knowledge on the following focused topics:

• Gender equality,
• Respectful online relationship,
• Self-protection,
• How to contact the free child helpline for reporting and accessing support services.

The focus group discussion and key informant interview were done based on the guided questionnaires as in Annex 2. Limitations There are some limitations in data collection and financial resources that limit the sample size for focus group discussion and key informant interview. First, some clients did not answer the phone calls. Some telephone numbers of the clients could not be contacted and closed. Secondly, this is not an in-depth research survey. It’s merely an evaluation of the project “Increasing Safe Use of Internet for Women and Girls” and it’s not a longitudinal study, which means our team does not survey the same clients and project participants in the previous years. Thirdly, our team does not have enough resources to travel to interview relevant stakeholders such as commune committee for women and children in the target provinces. The available resources could only allow our team to make phone calls interview with clients, children and young people in the communities. FINDINGS Reporting and Intervention via Helpline Structure The project “Increasing the Safe Use of Internet for Women and Girls” was running from 1 August 2018 till 30 September 2019. CHC has its existing electronic database for documentation of all calls and client records. To make comparison and review the trend of calls and clients including online and offline abuse, exploitation and violence, CHC uses the past year data, i.e. 1 August 2017 till 31 July 2018 as the baseline. The baseline data reveals there was report of 176 cases of offline abuse, 2 cases of offline exploitation, 49 cases of violence against children, 104 cases of sexuality and sexual awareness, 537 cases of children with addiction, 295 cases of general violence, and 3 cases of child sex tourism. The baseline data confirms that there is no report about online abuse, exploitation and violence. Only 51 clients were referred for direct services, i.e. intervention, legal and psycho-social support services. Not all clients, who called Child Helpline, are referred because CHC abides by its referral policy, which shall respect the rights of clients, who can make decision to accept or not to accept the referral services. The database review has revealed that reporting of online abuse, exploitation and violence occurred from late 2018 (after the start of the project). The report period of 1 August 2018 till 30 September 2019 includes 17 cases of cyberbullying, 2 cases of online child sexual exploitation and abuse, 20 cases of commercial exploitation, 39 cases of early/child marriage, 1 case of child sex tourism, 50 cases of children on the move, 20 cases of human trafficking, 80 cases of unsafe migration, 390 cases of general violence, 78 cases of children with addiction, 80 cases of sexuality and sexual awareness, 20 cases of violence against children, and 160 cases of offline abuse.

Gender of Clients/Callers with Serious Cases
N	Types of Serious Problems	Male	Female	LGBTQI	Unknown
1	Cyberbullying	6	11	0	0
2	Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse	0	2	0	0
3	Commercial Exploitation	10	10	0	0
4	Early/Child Marriage	2	37	0	0
5	Child Sex Tourism	1	0	0	0
6	Children on the Move	16	34	0	0
7	Human Trafficking	0	20	0	0
8	Unsafe Migration	26	54	0	0
9	General Violence	149	236	0	5
10	Children with Addiction	46	31	0	1
11	Sexuality and Sexual Awareness	32	41	0	7
12	Violence Against Children	10	10	0	0
13	Offline Abuse	32	118	0	10

The data clearly shows that girls and women are exposed to more violence than boys and men. Females using the helpline report greater general violence (60% more than males), offline abuse (almost four times more than males), unsafe migration and cyberbullying (twice more than boys). In terms of human trafficking and child marriage, females have maximum calls. The gender gap is extremely serious in terms of vulnerability and violence. The data indicates that girls are calling the helpline for very serious violence related issues. This indicates a strong need for such service. 50% more boys than girls have called for help for addiction. Support to boys regarding addiction is extremely important as well. Only 61 clients were referred for direct services, i.e. intervention, legal and psycho-social support services. Of 61 referred clients, 36 were female and 25 were male. Of 61 referred clients, 26 were children, 3 were youth, and 32 were adults. Based on the review of data provided during the key informant interview with clients, it seems like offline and online abuse and violence are inter-linked, but an in-depth study on the link between offline and online abuse, violence and exploitation is needed. Helpline Service Satisfaction Access and Reason of Contact All 18 clients who were interviewed had similar responses regarding the free child helpline services. They could easily remember the free telephone 1280 as it’s short, easy to remember, free of charge and operational 24/7 with gender and child friendly phone counsellors. They knew about the free child helpline from friends, brothers, sisters, village chiefs, social media, radio and neighbours. The reason of calling ranged from feeling lonely, depressed, worried, being in difficult situation, being in dispute and crisis, being abused, having witnessed violence, experiencing sexual harassment, forced abortion, life threatening, cyberbullying​ and online abuse and violence. Satisfaction 14 interviewed clients ranked the helpline service at number 5 and 4 interviewed clients ranked at number 4. It’s revealing 78% of the 18 interviewed project beneficiaries felt excellent with the free helpline services that they have received. 22% of the 18 interviewed project beneficiaries felt very good with the free helpline services. The interviewed clients said about their experiences with Child Helpline that “they felt happy, comfortable, confident, trusted, encouraged, and empowered to speak up. The counselors were helpful, friendly, caring, respectful, non-blaming, and non-judgmental. The counselors are supportive, empathetic, listening, and sharing options to pave ways for solution”. Of the 18 interviewed project beneficiaries, 1 client suggested that Child Helpline counselors should increase follow up works with the clients so that clients would feel more connected and attached. The rest 17 interviewed clients said it’s not an issue for them regarding follow up because CHC counselors have made regular follow up. The 18 interviewed project beneficiaries said that “offline abuse and violence was somehow linked to online abuse and violence and vice versus. Of the 18 interviewed project beneficiaries, 3 clients described some of their experience of knowing someone in the village offline and later the communication went into online relationship and abuse.” One client mentioned about the offline sexual relationship began before the online abuse happened. First, there was a sexual intercourse and the abuser took the photos and videos during the sexual intercourse and posted them on social media and xxx website. One client expressed about the online relationship, i.e. from chatting to naked photo exchange via Facebook messenger and moved on to make dating appointment and sexually abused in the private guesthouse. Face to Face Education and Awareness in Communities 97% of the 260 participants marked the satisfaction level to the highest. Only 3% scored the satisfaction level to average. Reasons behind the high satisfaction level of the training workshops were:

1. Relationship building: the training workshops brought the participants with new friends.
2. Good content: the training workshops helped the participants to increase knowledge on the safe use of internet, equality between boys and girls, and self-protection as this was not taught in schools.
3. Good facilitation: the training venue and snack were well arranged; the training methods were student centred; there were lots of pair works, group discussion, role plays and energizing games; there were visual aid such as video screening to make the participants understand about online abuse and how to call or report to the free child helpline 1280.

Knowledge: the participants were able to talk about possible risk of online abuse and how to make self-protection to their friends at schools and in communities. Belief/Attitude: The participants said in the focus group discussion that they have developed the mindset about gender equality between boys and girls and began to remove the discrimination perception against LGBTQI. Practice: Majority of the participants began to remove stranger accounts from their friend list on social media and accept friend request from those who they knew offline. Equally important, all 260 interviewed participants expressed that they knew how to protect themselves from online abuse via talking to their parents, relatives or someone that they trust or call the free child helpline 1280 to report or contact the local authorities and police in their communities for complaint submission and intervention. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusion Observation from staff working directly with project beneficiaries shows that internet and social media use among children and young people have noticeably increased due to the widespread of cheap smartphones in Cambodia. Children and young people have little or no knowledge about online abuse and underestimate the negative impact of online abuse as they think it’s not a problem if the abusers are not in their offline communities. The satisfaction of the helpline services among the project beneficiaries was very high as it’s a unique gender and child friendly free helpline with gender sensitive frontline phone counsellors to deliver services for all genders i.e. boys, girls, men, women and LGBTQI across Cambodia. The number of calls into the free helpline is still around 12,000 calls per month from children and young people across Cambodia based on the call record comparison between 1 August 2017 – 31 July 2018 and 1 August 2018 – 30 September 2019. The real case stories of the project beneficiaries indicate that offline and online abuse and violence are inter-related, but further in-depth study is needed to explore its nature, root cause, option for solution and come up with key strategies and actions to tackle online and offline abuse and violence in the Cambodian context. Gender and violence are closely inter-related and helpline data indicates that females are highly vulnerable, reporting more violence than males. Recommendations CHC with its appreciated gender and child friendly service tailored specifically for children and young people across Cambodia has steered its financial hardship to deliver the free helpline services 24/7 to serve the best interest of children and young people. In the findings, there is a gap of an in-depth study on the link between offline and online abuse, exploitation and violence. It’s recommended that an in-depth study on the inter-link of offline and online abuse, exploitation and violence be organized so that abuse, exploitation and violence both online and offline could be defined and tackled with better outcomes. Online abuse, exploitation and violence is volatile requiring professional phone counsellors and frontline staff dealing with the challenging issues to have strengthened and updated their capacities all the times. It’s worth to invest in building and strengthening the capacity of phone counsellors and frontline staff of Child Helpline in term of dealing with online and offline abuse, exploitation and violence in all settings. ANNEXES Annex 1: Helpline Service Monitoring Questionnaires

1	How would you describe your experience with CHC, after the calling?
2	Were you happy or unhappy with the service you received at CHC?
3	What was the usefulness about talking to CHC?
4	Was there anything that you did not find helpful about talking to CHC? What was it?
5	Has talking to CHC helped change things for you?
6	What are your feelings about the counsellors’ attitude?
7	Is there anything that you wish CHC should do differently? What is it?
8	How satisfy were you with the service? Use scale 1 to 5 (5 is the best) What did you like about our service? What can we do better to improve our service? What motivated you to call? What are your challenges in calling up? What are your barriers in following up?
Questions of How Online Abuse Links to Offline Abuse and Violence
1	Did you experience offline abuse/violence before online relationship problem? What was it? Explain.
2	Did online abuse/cyberbullying lead to offline abuse/violence? Explain.
3	What service at helpline would help you address this?
4	What other resources needed to address offline-online abuse and violence?

  Annex 2: Feedback/Evaluation Form for Focus Group Participants

	Strongly Disagree	Disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree	No answer
I understood what the training workshop was about gender equality, safe use of internet, respectful online relationship, self-protection from online abuse, and how to contact the free helpline for assistance.
I felt this training workshop provided knowledge about gender equality, possible hazards when I was using internet, and self- protection from online abuse.
I felt I was encouraged to join the training workshop for learning about gender equality, safe use of internet and how to protect my self-form online abuse.
I felt this training workshop made me more cautious about cyber-bullying or online abuse, gender equality and self-protection.
I thought this training workshop is important for women, girls, boys, man, and LGBTQI and help avoid of being abused.
Overall, I know when I feel unsafe while using internet; I can find ways for help from online abuse.
What were the three best things about the co-design workshop you just participated in?
What are three ideas you have for improving the co-design workshop in the future?
Effectiveness Questions
What are your actions after training on online abuse?
What are your actions after training gender equality?
What are your actions after training on self-protection?
What motivated them to take such action? Explain
What are the barriers to take such action? Explain
Who did they share knowledge with? What effect does it have?
What supports do they need for community awareness and education?
What supports do they need for using the helpline?
Pre and Post Test
Is gender and sex same?
What is gender?
Who defines the role of gender?
Who defines the role of sex?
What is gender discrimination?
What can gender equality help men, women and LGBTQI?
What is internet?
What is the safe relationship when using internet?
Who are you looking for help when you feel unsafe while you are online?
What type of people do you accept as friends in social media?

 

Gender Equality and Inclusion:[Back to table of contents]

Many Cambodian women still remain living in an abusive environment. Over 30% of women who have ever had a partner have experienced some forms of violence from their intimate partner in their life time (CDHS 2014). Sadly, women who have experienced violence never talked to anyone about it and only a quarter of them sought help from formal service providers including police, local leaders and health care providers, according to a survey done by WHO in 2014 (National Survey of Women’s Health and Life Experience in Cambodia). Gender inequality and gender violence is not just a woman’s problem. It affects the entire household and society. As at 2018, Cambodia has had over 19 million telephones/sim cards, which is more than its total population of over 15 millions. CHC has worked to promote gender equality and combat gender violence since 2012 with a focus on raising awareness of gender equality among boys and girls via workshop and mass media such as radio and social media. CHC's interest in resolving gender inequality via the use of digital development and innovation that girls and women could learn and receive information on gender equality, violence against women and girls. In addressing gender violence, CHC has operated its free telephone helpline mechanism and online question and answer platform 24/7 to receive complaint and respond to gender violence and gender inequality issues and deliver psychosocial support services based on the needs of children, girls, women and parents/caregivers. Women, girls, boys and men as well as LGBTIQ are able to call the free helpline and access psycho-social supports based on their need. From 1 August 2018 - 30 September 2019, Child Helpline phone counselors answered 81,587 calls from 52,438 callers across Cambodia. Of 52,438 callers, 2,126 callers were children, 868 callers were youth, 995 callers were adults, and 48,449 callers were unknown aged clients. Of 52,438 callers, 10,697 callers were male, 9,454 callers were female, 38 callers were LGBTQI and 32,249 callers were unknown gender clients. This indicates that female and LGBTQI are accessing the services.The data clearly shows that girls and women are exposed to more violence than boys and men. Females using the helpline report greater general violence (60% more than males), offline abuse (almost four times more than males), unsafe migration and cyberbullying (twice more than boys). In terms of human trafficking and child marriage, females have maximum calls. The gender gap is extremely serious in terms of vulnerability and violence.The data indicates that girls are calling the helpline for very serious violence related issues. This indicates a strong need for such service. 50% more boys than girls have called for help for addiction. Support to boys regarding addiction is extremely important as well. In response to the gender gap in terms of vulnerability and violence, CHC plans to set up the Interactive Voice Response system attached to the existing free helpline structure and Mobile Application with inclusion of a national Violence Against Women directory and informations surrounding gender violence, exploitation, sexual harrassment, migration and trafficking. The plan is implemented from 1 September 2019 and will be completed by 30 August 2020. CHC trusts that there will be an increase of reporting from girls and women on the issues of gender violence, violence against women and girls, exploitation, sexual harrassment, migration and trafficking over 24% after the interactive voice response system and mobile application is set up and operational 24/7 along with the existing free helpline platform.

Project Communication Strategy:[Back to table of contents]

CHC has tried to promote its work to key relevant stakeholders such as Plan International, UNICEF Cambodia, Terre des Hommes Netherlands, Care Cambodia, World Vision International - Cambodia, UN Women, Girls Not Bride, Imago Dei Fund, Cambodia National Council for Children, Save the Children, in different platforms such as Child Marriage Platform, Child Protection Platform, and Stakeholder Meetings with the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation. CHC's overall purposes are to communicate and engage key stakeholders especially the funding partners, philanthropies and private foundation to support the operation of the existing free helpline services, online question and answer platform, and community based reporting and response mechanism to address gender based violence, violence against women and girls, violence against children, online abuse, exploitation, cyberbullying, child marriage, and teenage pregnancy.

Stakeholders / Audience	Purposes
UNICEF Cambodia Protect (online safety for children and young people)	To support the operation of the existing free helpline service and online question and answer platform. To support household counselling, educational information delivery and community intervention to address online abuse, exploitation, child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and child protection.
Imago Dei Fund (gender inequality and violence against women)	To support the operation of the existing free helpline service and online question and answer platform. To support key interventions in communities such as household counselling service delivery, gender equality awareness session, and community based and gender sensitive reporting and response mechanism. To empower CHC staff especially frontline counsellors to strengthen their capacities via capacity building activities and soul care development program.
UN Women	To support the operation of the existing free helpline service and online question and answer platform. To support the establishment of Interactive Voice Response system and Mobile Application with National VAW directory for female migrant workers, and victims of VAW. To roll out 16 days activism campaigns against sexual harassment, gender violence, violence against women and female migrant workers.

 

PURPOSES:  To communicate and engage key stakeholders especially the funding partners, philanthropies and private foundation to support the operation of the existing free helpline services, online question and answer platform, and community based reporting and response mechanism to address gender based violence, violence against women and girls, violence against children, online abuse, exploitation, cyberbullying, child marriage, and teenage pregnancy.
Target Audience	Rationale	Information Needed	Level of Engagement	Media / Method / Approach	Time	Expected Outcomes
UNICEF	To support the operation of the existing free helpline service and online question and answer platform. To support household counselling, educational information delivery and community intervention to address online abuse, exploitation, child marriage, teenage pregnancy, and child protection.	What CHC is doing (credibility of data) Number of cases of cyber bullying Database management	Engage closely	Conduct official missions to promote CHC project Involving UNICEF Cambodia in stakeholder meeting on Cambodia PROTECT Stakeholder workshops to present interim or final results Infographics PowerPoint Presentation	6-12 months	Relations built with UNICEF Cambodia   Donors positively respond to CHC programs   Donors agency invite CHC to discuss
Imago Dei Fund	To support the operation of the existing free helpline service and online question and answer platform. To support key interventions in communities such as household counselling service delivery, gender equality awareness session, and community based and gender sensitive reporting and response mechanism. To empower CHC staff especially frontline counsellors to strengthen their capacities via capacity building activities and soul care development program.	What CHC is doing (credibility of data) Number of cases of cyber bullying Database management How CHC addresses gender and LGBTQI	Engage closely	Communicate by email with sharing of case stories and good practice.	6-12 months	Imago Dei Fund supports the CHC program. Imago Dei Fund invites CHC to submit grant proposal.
UN Women	To support the operation of the existing free helpline service and online question and answer platform. To support the establishment of Interactive Voice Response system and Mobile Application with National VAW directory for female migrant workers, and victims of VAW. To roll out 16 days activism campaigns against sexual harassment, gender violence, violence against women and female migrant workers.	What CHC is doing (credibility of data) Number of cases of cyber bullying Database management How CHC addresses gender and LGBTQI	Engage closely	Communicate by emails and hold face to face meetings.	6 months	UN Women invites CHC to submit grant proposal.   UN Women approves CHC’s grant proposal for 1 September 2019 – 30 May 2022.

 

Recommendations and Use of Findings:[Back to table of contents]

Observation from staff working directly with project beneficiaries shows that internet and social media use among children and young people have noticeably increased due to the widespread of cheap smartphones in Cambodia. Children and young people have little or no knowledge about online abuse and underestimate the negative impact of online abuse as they think it’s not a problem if the abusers are not in their offline communities. The satisfaction of the helpline services among the project beneficiaries was very high as it’s a unique gender and child friendly free helpline with gender sensitive frontline phone counsellors to deliver services for all genders i.e. boys, girls, men, women and LGBTQI across Cambodia. The number of calls into the free helpline is still around 12,000 calls per month from children and young people across Cambodia based on the call record comparison between 1 August 2017 – 31 July 2018 and 1 August 2018 – 30 September 2019. The real case stories of the project beneficiaries indicate that offline and online abuse and violence are inter-related, but further in-depth study is needed to explore its nature, root cause, option for solution and come up with key strategies and actions to tackle online and offline abuse and violence in the Cambodian context. Gender and violence are closely inter-related and helpline data indicates that females are highly vulnerable, reporting more violence than males. CHC with its appreciated gender and child friendly service tailored specifically for children and young people across Cambodia has steered its financial hardship to deliver the free helpline services 24/7 to serve the best interest of children and young people. In the findings during the project implementation, there is a gap of an in-depth study on the link between offline and online abuse, exploitation and violence. It’s recommended that an in-depth study on the inter-link of offline and online abuse, exploitation and violence be organized so that abuse, exploitation and violence both online and offline could be defined and tackled with better outcomes. Online abuse, exploitation and violence is volatile requiring professional phone counsellors and frontline staff dealing with the challenging issues to have strengthened and updated their capacities all the times. It’s worth to invest in building and strengthening the capacity of phone counsellors and frontline staff of Child Helpline in term of dealing with online and offline abuse, exploitation and violence in all settings.

Bibliography:[Back to table of contents]

National Institute of Statistic of Ministry of Planning and Directorate General of Health of Ministry of Health, "Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey 2014" Retrieved from https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR312/FR312.pdf Jarrett Davis, Sexually Harmful Behaviours: Understanding the Needs of Children and Families. FSC, Cambodia, 2016 Ministry of Women's Affairs, "Findings from Cambodia’s Violence Against Children Survey 2013", Retreieved from http://www.togetherforgirls.org/wp-content/uploads/1-VAC-Cambodia_Full-Report-English-Final-web.pdf