National Children's Advocacy Center.

Namusoke Asia Mbajja is a nurse by profession, a public health specialist, a social worker, founder People In Need Agency - www.pina-ug.org and  www.lilyofthevalleyug.com. Asia is a woman dedicated to make this world a better place for others. Asia is the Distinguished Hubert  Humphrey alumni 2020 granted by the Fulbright Scholarship Board, The African Humanitarian of the year 2019 by the Voice Achievers magazine among others.

In 2012, Asia left her comfortable job at Joint Clinical Research Center as an adolescent counselor to spend more time with orphans born and living with HIV and child survivors of sexual abuse. Her mission was to support them to dream dreams of a better tomorrow by offering them love, care and an environment to enable them achieve excellence. Asia has mentored over 10,000 children/youths through the Girl Up Project and Roof and Equip Winnie campaign www.sunrise.ug/.../how-asia-mbajja-inspired-hiv-children-who-had-given-up -for-death.html. 

According to Uganda Police crime annual report (2018), over 15,000 children are defiled or trafficked annually. These reported cases are just a tip of the iceberg as majority of cases of child defilement/sex trafficking are not reported due to fear or shame. Less than 400 of these cases are successfully prosecuted, leading to despair among victims and their families. This also reduces their willingness to report such crimes. Majority of child defilement cases are perpetuated by a close family member, which further complicates reporting and children’s ability to get the assistance. This project seeks to establish a model children's advocacy center to identify, respond, prosecute cases of child abuse and develop a local network of experts on prevention of child sexual abuse and trafficking. The center will provide comprehensive array of trauma support services including medical treatment, preventive and psycho social support, legal, emergency housing and long term rehabilitation services.

Globally, 25% of all adult report having been sexually abused as a child and 95% of child abusers were abused as children. In Uganda, 2016 Children’ Act, which addresses child related crimes such as sexual abuse and exploitation, child trafficking provides for preventive and response services for victims as well as mandatory reporting of child abuse by medical practitioners, teachers and social workers. However, Uganda lacks a functional multidisciplinary model team to identify, prosecute, build capacity, advocate  and rehabilitate victims of child sexual abuse, and there is a disconnect between policies and practice in relation to child sexual abuse and trafficking.

It is against this background that I seek to spearhead the establishment of a model national children’s advocacy center in Uganda. The mission of this center is to identify, report, respond passionately to all cases of child sexual abuse through establishment of a national children's justice task force. The center will also provide psycho social support, rehabilitation, legal and medical services to victims as well as policy and prevention advocacy. The center management and service delivery team will comprise government line ministries,parliament, law enforcement, child maltreatment medical experts, courts and child advocacy institutions at various levels.

Comprehensive services to support child survivors of sexual violence are generally lacking in Uganda. Children victimized by sexual violence have several needs that require medical and psychological services. They require urgent medical services to manage traumatic injuries and to prevent HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. Victims of sexual violence often experience a dense sense of powerlessness, anger, stress and anxiety, which further lead to psychological problems such as clinical depression, post traumatic stress disorders, and suicide attempts. Therefore, they need psychological services to support their recovery. The center will identify, report and respond passionately to all cases of child sexual abuse. The center will also provide rehabilitation, legal ,policy and prevention advocacy.

The center also  seeks to establish a national children's justice task force to advocate for child friendly policies and programs and establish child advocacy teams to investigate child abuse, capacitate children, communities and stakeholders with the knowledge and skills to prevent child abuse, develop information, education and communication material to support sensitization, education and mobilization of communities for prevention of child sexual violence as well as establish community system for reporting and linkage of services of survivors and children at risk of child sexual violence.

Beneficiaries are survivors of child sexual abuse, sex trafficking and those at risk of abuse. The decision to build this “One stop” center is motivated by our experience working with survivors of sexual violence. The project will train survivors as child rights advocates to facilitate sensitization of schools, communities and stakeholders on child sexual abuse. They will also be trained in Communication skills; dialogue with communities and mobilizing communities for action. Many survivors have expressed interest to be trained as child rights advocates during our focus group discussions. They want to use their stories to change the world.

Expansion of medical child protection teams and training of medical expertise, police officers,judges, prosecutors and forensic interviewers will improve detection and diagnosis of abuse and increase quality of evidence, thus accurate decisions that will ensure better protection of children. The involvement of child advocacy organizations will ensure more children and their families report abuse and receive advocacy and support. Increased participation of child rights organizations will mean more children will talk about alleged maltreatment and abuse with trained forensic interviewers. They will be trained to record digital evidence to provide more accurate evidence and accountability in the investigative process. 

The Elevate Prize is looking for global leaders who are already making a difference in their communities. Asia is already at the front line of her global advocacy crusade to end child abuse- https://www.watchdoguganda.com...berry-glasers-victims-part-1-woman- who-exposed-the-germans-predatory-tendencies-and-sexual-molestation-of... 

CNN recently published two articles about Asia’s work to end child sexual abuse https://www.dailyhindnews.com/... -his-accusers-are-now-being-blamed/  and https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/13/africa/uganda-bery-glaser.../index.html

 Asia is a committed global leader focusing on a difficult global issue. Child sexual abuse is real, but most societies protect perpetrators as opposed to supporting victims. Asia is not ready to continue seeing girls being robbed of their right to be girls!

In 2004, I was employed at joint clinical research center as an adolescent counselor. My role was to counsel children living with HIV/AIDS to adhere to their life saving HIV drugs. Through my work, I also interacted with children that had acquired HIV/AIDS as a result of sexual abuse. These children were struggling to cope with HIV/AIDS and trauma associated with being defiled at such a very tender age. Their life stressing situation inspired me to resign my job to start, www.pina-ug.org. I wanted to spend more time with them and understand their challenges.

My turning point in life was when I was called to rescue a 10 year old girl from Kitobo landing site who was being sexually abused by her own father.When I reached Kitobe , I was told the girl had been sold to another trafficker who was also capable of saling her to other traffickers. The news hit me like a punch in the stomach! I couldn’t afford to continue saying “it’s horrible ". I really needed to do something and that’s how my project “Roof and Equip Winnie” was born, this project was aimed at establishing a rehabilitation center for survivors on Kalangala Islands. 

Being an advocate for a girl child offered me an opportunity to work with survivors of child sexual abuse for over 10 years.Working at Joint clinical research center, I often interacted with girls who had been abused by close family members or fit persons and infected with HIV/AIDS. These young girls struggled to cope with HIV/AIDS and the trauma and stigma associated with defilement. Every time I listened to their stories, I felt a burning desire to rescue these innocent little beings. Although I was providing them with counseling services, something kept on gnawing and this was the desire to do something that would impact their lives. I was just not satisfied with the services I was offering them, well knowing of the suffering these children were going through.

The turning point, was watching survivors of child sexual abuse during the first stakeholder meeting on child sexual abuse (2018) describing  their terror and anguish at running into their abusers who had barely spent two days in police custody for their crimes and often went on to abuse and torment them. This ignited once again my desire, thus setting up a model national children’s advocacy center to advocate for vulnerable girls. 

As a nurse, public health specialist and a trained counselor, I have worked with over 2000 child survivors of sexual violence. I have also been engaged in numerous advocacy campaigns to sensitize communities and promote policies and programs related to prevention of child sexual violence. Through these experiences, I have developed an-in depth understanding of the outstanding needs of survivors. I also had an opportunity to volunteer at Chicago Children’s Advocacy center where I interacted with various experts on child sexual violence and gained more insights on the importance of multidisciplinary teams, public and private partnerships, and ideal organizational models for service delivery.

As the founder of PINA-Uganda and Lily of the valley- a shelter for survivors of child abuse and sex trafficking to heal- I have the technical skills required to realize the stated project goals. I have handled several high-profile child abuse cases, and despite these numerous personal physical and emotional threats, I have not wavered in my commitment to protecting children from these injustices. This commitment to social justice is evident in many awards that I have received including The Distinguished Humphrey Alumni 2020, The African Humanitarian of the year 2019, The  Diamond Honoree 2019 and the Gender Equality Award 2019

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I have developed extensive partnerships with Uganda police, Director Public prosecutions, Witness protection department and civil society organizations to prosecute sexually violent predators, human traffickers and child molesters. These experiences exemplify my  leadership and advocacy skills in fighting against child sexual violence. 

 Bery Glaser requested to partner with me, the German National who died in May 2020 in a Ugandan prison alleged to have sexually abused minors in his care. Many of the children who lived at Bery’s place were defiled or sex trafficked in their communities and Bery’s place was supposed to offer them psycho social support. Bery’s Place did not provide any psycho social support services. Bery was the sole male authority figure and the only adult living in a shelter that was taking care of over 50 girls. To expose Bery, I organized a stakeholder meeting on child sexual abuse on Kalangala Island. I wanted Bery’s survivors to speak directly to Kalangala district leadership. When I realized that the district leadership was not willing to help the girls, I reported to police In Kampala- https://thescribenews.com/.../the-late-berry-glasers-victims-the-germans- predatory-tendencies-and-sexual-molestation-of-kalangala-girls-in-his-care- ...

Bery was arrested but the weight was not off my shoulders. I needed to find a safe place for the 32 survivors to stay (Food, medical, tuition) and that is how www.lilyofthevalleyug.com was born. 2019 and 2020 have proved tiresome and painful but giving up is not an option. I want to save more girls through the National children’s advocacy center.

From the Kalangala stakeholder meeting on child sexual abuse, I realized Berry’s place was a re-victimization center and reported to the commissioner child protection. The commissioner also informed me that Bery was first In 2013 over charges defilement/trafficking but the case failed because government failed to protect 35 victims. Witnesses were treated poorly in police custody and not given regular meals. The investigation officers didn’t attempt to establish a trusting relationship with the girls and resorted to intimidation. Faced with these difficult challenges, the survivors sided with Bery and refused to give statements to police and the court dismissed the case.

After meeting the commissioner, I realized that I needed to find a safe  shelter for the girls before re-arresting Bery. I engaged several civil society organizations-Willow International. No White Saviors and The Trafficking institute, Director Public Prosecutions, Uganda Police, local and international media, set up a Go Fundme and Lily of the Valley. Although Bery denied before taking plea, there are several lessons and gaps identified in the Uganda’s justice, policy and child protection systems and this proposal is aimed at bridging these gaps through the establishment of a national child advocacy center. 

Its a non governmental organisation but during implementation, we will work with government line ministries, courts, Uganda police, civil society and Director public prosecution's office.

The proposed model advocacy center for child survivors of sexual violence and trafficking builds on our joint experience working with vulnerable children, including AIDS orphans, child victims of sexual violence, and children living with HIV. The center, envisioned as a national center of excellence for prevention and management of child sexual violence and trafficking, will be established on Kalangala Island. This location was chosen because of its high levels of child sexual violence and HIV/AIDS. According to Kalangala police report (2017), two girls are defiled weekly and several others are trafficked into sex work, often by close family members. Kalangala Island remains a hotpot for HIV/AIDS: national findings show that HIV prevalence rate in Ssese Islands is 27%, higher than the national prevalence rate of 7.3%. The high rates of HIV heighten young children’s vulnerability through orphan hood and increased risk for HIV infections through sexual violence, sex trafficking and transactional sex. Young girls living on the islands also face numerous other challenges including child marriage, teenage pregnancy, maternal mortality and morbidity.

The proposed project also involves establishing a team to offer expertise from different disciplines to do policy advocacy, solve problems and make decisions and recommendations, thus best available forensic evidence and sharing of pertinent information, professionals will make more accurate decisions that could enable them to better protect children after abuse has occurred or rule out abuse when appropriate and avoid the trauma of false accusations and unnecessarily placing children with fit persons.

A holistic and collaborative response between child protection services, law enforcement, child maltreatment medical experts, courts and children advocacy centers will protect children from further harm. Apparently there is no formalized system to ensure that all the necessary experts handling child sexual abuse cases are well trained and accountable for their actions resulting in decisions being made without access to accurate information thus increased risk of trauma to the child and family. In particular there is a crisis of lack of professional experts to handle child abuse cases in Uganda. 

We envision establishing national and regional based multidisciplinary teams to investigate severe child abuse cases.The team will consist of trained and dedicated investigators from law enforcement, child protection services, pediatric child abuse centers, children advocacy centers and state attorneys. This Is a shared vision , in which the responsibility of protecting children does not fall of child protection officials alone. The teams will be trained to function as collaborative units that are focused on tailoring investigations to the needs of each child and family rather than on meeting the bureaucratic requirements of each organization. 

Effective unit based communication and accountability will be promoted through formalized institution agreements and procedures and through developing stronger and formalized collaborative relationships among professionals who work together every day to protect children and support families. 

The potential benefits for a multidisciplinary investigation on child sexual abuse:

•With the best available forensic evidence and sharing of pertinent information, professionals can make  more accurate decisions that could enable them to better protect children after abuse or rule out abuse when appropriate and avoid trauma or false accusations.

• Establishing a national children’s advocacy center will ensure more children and non offending care givers will receive advocacy support during the highly stressful investigative process.

•Expansion of medical protection teams and expertise will improve detection and diagnosis of abuse by trained experts.

•Establishment of regional multidisciplinary teams will mean more children will be able to speak about abuse with a trained forensic reviewer. 

• Accurate investigative findings will ensure increased quality of evidence and accuracy of decisions. 

My organisation has served over 10,000 families of youths and children living with HIV/AIDS/survivors of child sexual abuse and children at risk of abuse including street children.

In one year, we will reach out to 20,000 school going children.This project seeks to educate young girls and boys about sexual violence, the differences between safe and unsafe touches and how to get away from unsafe situations and how to seek help from a trusted adult through sharing personal stories in schools and communities, writing articles on sexual violence share on several social media platforms and newspapers, document stories of survivors of sexual abuse. We also train 200 police officers, 200 community advocates and 30 survivors of child abuse.

In five years, we will reach out 150,000 children with information on how to report child sexual abuse.

Train 1500 police officers

250 judges

200 survivors of child sexual abuse as community advocates

1200 Forensic interviewers

7000 cases of child sexual abuse identified, prosecuted and closed successfully.

1. Work with other stakeholders, government and parliament to amend the Uganda's 2016 children's act to establish children friendly courts. The current system favors offenders/perpetrators because children testify against their accusers in the same court.

2. I know Uganda can do better. I want to lead the establishment of a multidisciplinary team model, well supported as a best practice model with mandate to investigate cases of child sexual abuse through training of medical pediatric maltreatment experts. The current system lacks standardized training and expertise as well as universal access to medical expertise and children's advocacy centers, resulting in decisions being made without access to accurate information, thus increased risk of trauma to the child and family. 

3.Raise my global advocacy crusade on child sexual abuse through national and international conferences, print and online media and lecture on child sexual abuse in several universities in Uganda.

4. Spearhead the establishment of a national children's justice task force for policy advocacy and identification, prosecution  and follow up of child abuse cases and strengthen partnerships with national and international partners like the Chicago Children's Advocacy Center and the Institute of Trafficking among others. The center will carryout research,respond to cases of child abuse, a 3 year countrywide needs assessment and make recommendations to government and parliament.

5. Spearhead the development of policies/implementation of policies that aim at reducing child sexual abuse and trafficking.

1)Community willingness to enforcement protections for girl children remains weak. Child sexual abuse in Uganda is real but communities protect perpetrators as opposed to supporting victims to cope with abuse.

2) Changing people's mindsets. The issue of defilement is rampant and real. And because women are fewer in fishing communities, men defile their own children. Some fishermen believe that when you sleep with a young girl before fishing you are likely to get more fish!!! Others say that they have been bewitched to defile young girls. It will not be easy to educate such communities to change their behaviors.

3) Lack of a safe shelter to rehabilitate survivors of child sexual abuse. Most of the girls are defiled by close relatives or fit persons. This will definitely affect reporting and many times girls ask themselves " Before I report my father or uncle, where can i go".Establishing a rehabilitation center is critical to efforts to prevent child sexual abuse, re-abuse and address the needs of survivors.

4)Financial support to implement the project as planned and mentor-ship and training  to leverage on available resources to achieve project goals and objectives.

1) Community education campaigns, training community child rights advocates, training survivors to advocate for their own rights, educating parents and civil society on their role in regard to protecting children as well as engaging government line ministries, advocates, judges and human rights organisations in advocacy and educating communities to take an active role.

2) Changing people's mindsets.We have  a partnership with Buganda Kingdom and the kingdom has donated 10 acres of land to enable PINA Uganda to construct a rehabilitation center which will provide sustainable opportunities for PINA-Uganda. Buganda Kingdom is a reputable institution that engenders loyalty and support from its subjects. We believe that this partnership will provide PINA-Uganda with the credibility to mobilize communities towards protecting and nurturing children and youth, and to prevent the social ills that impinge on their well-being and development. In return, PINA-Uganda will advance the goals of the Buganda Kingdom related to health, education and economic development of its subjects.

3) We are already working with various stakeholders to raise funds to construct a rehabilitation center/children's advocacy center. These include Chicago Children's Advocacy Center, The University of Michigan, Buganda Kingdom, Rotary club of Ann Arber, Michigan and Rotary Club of Kampala Ssese.

4)We are already partnering with several individuals and organisations including ministry of gender and social development, Buganda Kingdom among others. I am also excited to work with The Elevate Prize but i also know that the Elevate prize will offer me wonderful connections dedicated to ending child sexual globally.

1) Buganda Kingdom

Ten (10 acres) of land to construct a comprehensive child trauma center (4 acres), a maternity waiting home (1 acre), and a mixed farm (animal and crop husbandry) to sustain the services and community outreach programs of the trauma center.

Patronage of the Nnabagereka - The Queen of Buganda, to assist in raising awareness about child sexual violence and other issues affecting children and youth. The  patronage include the following:

 Nnabagereka to become a member of the PINA board, in order to provide guidance on how to address the needs of vulnerable children.

To create a short video of the Nnabageraka discussing these challenges that will be used in our community education and mobilization campaigns.

For the Nnabagereka to conduct a "kisakate" an education workshop for 200 girls each year to nurture young girls into ‘holistic’ persons, social managers and leaders who appreciate and harmonize both traditional and modern values.

Mass media resources such as radio and television media to assist in mobilizing financial support to construct the trauma center and provide services, and also conduct community sensitization on issues affecting the health and well-being of children and youth including child sexual violence, early marriage, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and alcohol abuse.

2) Chicago Children's Advocacy Center - Training medical,forensic interviewers, advocates, law enforcement, judges, community child advocates and survivors.

3) Director Public prosecution - Engage parliament to enact the 2016 Uganda children's act.

4) The Institute of Trafficking - Training of stakeholders, communities and human rights organisations.

I don't have a business model yet and I must be very honest. This an area where i need technical guidance and support from The Elevate Prize. This project requires a lot funds and technical guidance and support from various individuals and organisations dedicated to ending child sexual abuse.

I will lobby government and parliament to continue supporting the National children's advocacy center including the National children's advocacy justice task force because it will be established under the Ugandan law. We will also depend on civil society organisations, individuals, grants and donations.

Buganda kingdom has donated Ten (10 acres) of land to PINA Uganda to construct a comprehensive child trauma center (4 acres), a playing area (1 acre), and a mixed farm (5 acres - animal and crop husbandry) to sustain the services and community outreach programs of the trauma center. The center will  also provide life skills training services such as group therapy, computer training, cultural arts (e.g. bearding, weaving), soap and candle making, culinary classes, tailoring, carpentry at a small cost and the funds generated through training will sustain the center activities. The National Children Advocacy Center will be attached to a mixed farm for animal and crop husbandry to support activities such as gardening, poultry and goat rearing. We envision that this farm will also provide income-generating activities to sustainable the services of the center.

I have not raised any funds so far but I am so determined to accomplish my mission to establish a National model children's advocacy center in Uganda. In the long run,this will lead to establishment of regional children advocacy centers  and district advocacy centers and all will be supported by Uganda government through the ministry of gender and labor development. The model center will lobby governments, Embassies and civil society  to support the establishment of regional centers and task forces.

I am seeking for $430,000 to establish a national model children's advocacy center. The funds will be used to establish a national children's advocacy center in Kampala, advocate for policy changes including establishment of children's courts; train medical experts, survivors, police, community advocates, judges and  establish a community SMS reporting system with support from Ministry of gender and labor development.

I am already engaging various stakeholders including the US Embassy in Kampala. I have already established a partnership with Chicago Children's Advocacy Center and the center has pledged to come to Uganda and train various experts to ensure that the Ugandan child protection system is able to identify, respond and prosecute successfully all cases of child sexual abuse.

I will need $119,500 in 2020 for the following - from October to December 2020.

1) Staff Salaries for 3 expert staffs each $2000 per month for 3 months $18,000

2) Office Rent $3000 per month for 3 months $9000

3) Office equipment - Computers, setting up a training room -$25,000

4) Training - $60,000

5) Utilities - $3000

6) Coordination airtime, fuel and stationery $4500

I am applying for The Elevate Prize because I have a mission to accomplish:Supporting my country to establish the first model children's advocacy center for survivors of child abuse and sex trafficking. Access to media and marketing campaign professionals to support me amplify my advocacy against child sexual abuse has been my chief ambition. I don’t want to see more girls being robbed of their right to be girls! I don’t want to live in a society where girls are sexually abused by their own close relatives. I feel there is no better time to come together and make change happen. If I am selected for the Elevate Prize,that means young girls won’t be trafficked for cheap labor and sexual exploitation. That means, young girls  will have an opportunity to go school. But most importantly, if I am selected for the Elevate Prize Award, that means preventing sexual re-abuse, restoring hope and dignity among survivors.

I feel the Elevate Prize is an ideal opportunity for me to achieve my goal because it provides me an opportunity to access skills that I have always longed for - for example  Professional management and development skills including  mentorship and coaching,capacity building as well as connecting  with great men and women of purpose who are already making a difference globally in the lives of less fortunate communities. Their experiences will inspire me to inspire others.

To successfully achieve my goal,  I need a multidisciplinary team to investigate cases of child sexual abuse. We need several experts involved in fundraising, research, policy and prevention advocacy, experts in trauma informed care, training - community advocates,civil society, judges, forensic interviewers, investigators among others. A multidisciplinary team model as a best practice model is what is lacking in Uganda. Uganda has many collaborative partners in place from which we can build a comprehensive and effective system to correct the problems that currently exist. I have no doubt the Elevate Prize will offer me the necessary expertise to mobilize organisations working to protect children in Uganda to form a national children advocacy center/ justice task force as well as establishing regional/district children's advocacy centers and  justice task forces. The the advocacy centers established will identify and follow up cases of child sexual abuse across the country.

Chicago Children's Advocacy Center - Training experts.

Oak Foundation- I really admire working with Oak Foundation, their work is just amazing in the area of child sexual abuse. The foundation can help me to fund-raise for my project beyond the Elevate Prize period.

Oprah Winfrey- Oprah will help to raise the profile of my global advocacy crusade on child sexual abuse, child exploitation  and sex trafficking.

Obama Foundation - At Obama Foundation, i would really want work with Michelle Obama through her initiative of empowering girls to stay in school. Michelle will inspire many girls/survivors  to remain connected to their education.

Buganda Kingdom- I am particularly interested working with the Queen of Buganda. The Queen is an advocate for a girl child and already implementing several projects in support of a girl child. She will inspire girls to believe in themselves as well as discouraging social cultural norms that promote child sexual abuse.

Director Public Prosecutions - This office is the government arm in charge prosecuting victims of child sexual abuse. They will help us to prosecute and close out cases successfully.

The Human Trafficking institute - Take part in training and advocacy.

Uganda police- Criminal investigation department and witness protection - Provide security to the victims and to investigate cases.

Government of Uganda/Ugandan parliament - Provide funds, technical support, policy development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

among others .