On February 12 and 13, a two-day training session “Peculiarities of communication with children based on the principles of Community Policing” took place in the premises of the State Administration of Dnipro Oblast within the framework of the “Security. Community. Future” program.
The training was conducted for child protection service workers and community police officers (CPOs). The main emphasis of the training was on teaching how to build a safe environment for children and teenagers.
We, Gender Stream, invited professional, competent and qualified representatives of their fields to implement the training. In particular, Ms. Yuliia Seheda talked about bullying and its legal consequences, Ms. Alina Elievtierova helped us understand the issue of digital security. Two lecturers-psychologists Yuliia Shlepakova and Maryna Kozunenko-Boiko additionally taught for Community Police Officers. The experts revealed the following topics – “How and why to talk to children about sex”, “Intimate safety of children and teenagers. Prevention and detection of cases of violence”, the disclosure of taboo topics will help to begin to understand the issues of creating a safe environment for the child. The attendees were surprised by a lot of new information, which gave rise to a lively discussion.
We have formulated a special emphasis on intimate safety for children. It was somewhat difficult for the participants, because today’s reality turned out to be different and the dangers for children are even greater in the age of digitalization.
Between the ages of 6 and 9, almost all children who have access to smartphones/tablets have seen pornographic videos and/or pictures either accidentally or on purpose. This does not mean that children’s access to gadgets should be prohibited in today’s world. This only confirms the theory of developing a safe environment for children. It is important for us, as adults, to learn to analyze the content that reaches children through the Internet. Of course, you can install “parental control” on all household gadgets and this will help to temporarily reduce the risk of pornographic information reaching the child, but it will not preserve its perception in the event that somewhere on the “street” neighbors/friends see this content. It is important to teach children how to identify toxic content and respond appropriately. It is important for us, as adults, to learn to identify danger ourselves, recognize fakes and become that adequate adult who will not scold the child, but become a friend whom the child can trust and turn to for help in case of danger.
The peculiarities of adolescence are divided into hundreds of small details, which are distinguished by norms, needs, gender identity and other factors…
All these differences are a platform for an individual approach, which will improve the approach to creating security in the future. Through the involvement and consideration of the needs of each and every one.
The goal of our project is to create an environment in which children can learn to love themselves, respect and be able to build their boundaries, using the principles of their rights and create a vision of areas of responsibility. For this, we ourselves must learn, be modern, responsible, and so that the words “Children are our everything” acquire a clear understanding of the principles of trust, ecological communication.
Thanks to these acquired skills, children will be able to build a safer environment for themselves and their loved ones in the future.
We are conducting the pilot project with the Aulivska UTC (United territorial community), which was the first to express the desire and need to implement the project on their territory.
The project was initiated by Gender Stream and supported by the International Renaissance Foundation in partnership with the Dnipropetrovsk Region Police and the Dnipropetrovsk Region State Administration.
