Testimonial — Working with SAAM: Child Protection Toolkit

Child Protection Toolkit (CPT) aims to prevent and mitigate harm from child abuse in international charities, through free training videos, resources, and documents.  This project grew from my own experience working internationally, where I encountered numerous acts child abuse. These organizations did not know how to properly handle the situations or how to implement safeguards that fit the international and local context.

In my research, one in eight grassroots international non-profits self-reported having had issues with child abuse.  The prevalence of abuse is likely much higher. Staff have asked for help understanding child abuse, communicating with the home office and the local sites, and training on prevention.  They specifically requested training videos. However, cost is a critical inhibitor to implementing child protection and safeguarding. From this need for accessible education, Child Protection Toolkit was created in 2015.

Currently, CPT has nine videos in English. While most international charities are based and funded from English-speaking countries, English is rarely the native or even secondary language of the staff and beneficiaries of these organizations.  Charities are requesting the videos be made available in other languages in order to utilize the vital information in them.

In October 2016, Liz Wilson of SKIP Peru, a colleague, introduced me to Dr. Carlos de Pablos-Ortega and the SAAM project.  SAAM offered to translate and subtitle the training videos into Spanish and French, thus bridging a gap between international charities’ home offices and project sites by creating a space and terminology for speaking about abuse. This service is saving Child Protection Toolkit an estimated $15,000 in translation services and is pushing forward the development timeline by about two years.

SAAM is not only advancing learning by increasing accessibility of educational materials, they are facilitating communication between different cultural and linguistic groups within organizations.  Additionally, SAAM is contributing invaluably to protecting children worldwide.

I highly recommend SAAM for this award and hope that you also see the valuable contribution they are making.  Please feel free to contact me if you require any more information.

Amy Travis
Founder, Child Protection Toolkit