National Awareness
Campaign
Jordan River Children
Program
Prepared by
Jordan River Foundation
January 19, 2004
Executive Summary
The Jordan River
Foundation is requesting funding for a one-year National
Awareness Campaign that will serve as a major channel of
communication and information to lessen, and over time,
eliminate the existence of child abuse and neglect in
Jordan. The issue of child abuse and neglect is a social
disease that must be addressed in a culturally appropriate
context, keeping in mind the sensitivities associated with
such a taboo subject. Through concerted efforts on various
levels from rural communities up to high level decision
makers, this initiative requires the cooperation and
partnership of all stakeholders in the public and private
sectors to ensure the success of this campaign. The main
objective of the national campaign components is to create
awareness and educate the Jordanian population about
appropriate child rearing and healthy familial interactions
that will initiate dialogue and an understanding about child
safety and abuse issues on local, and in the future,
regional levels.
Jordan River
Children Program Overview
The Jordan River Foundation is spearheading the cause of
child safety through the Jordan River Children Program,
which provides intervention, prevention and training as core
activities geared toward addressing issues of sexual,
physical, and emotional abuse and neglect. These activities
are targeted to various segments of society based upon the
immediate and long-term needs of the children, families and
stakeholders within the Jordanian social and cultural
context.
The urgency of the various
forms of abuse are addressed through intervention services
found at Dar Al-Aman (the Child Safety Center), however
intervention is an immediate, limited, time consuming and
costly approach to deal with all the issues of abuse and
neglect. In many instances, intervention may not be
successful due to the size of the problem and the
complicated deep-rooted components, the interwoven cultural
and social issues, the particular psychological and
intra-familial make-up of each case, extent of abuse, and
lack of technical human and scientific resources to combat
the intricate problems and issues associated with abuse and
neglect.
Why prevention?
The various obstacles associated with child abuse issues
require early proactive rather than reactive measures to
combat child abuse. These proactive measures must be
provided in a deliberate and comprehensive manner in early
stages of childhood and parenting, and to professionals and
stakeholders working in child safety issues to ensure the
healthy development of future generations. In addition,
prevention is more pro-development to ensure that social
groups are strengthened and family units are healthy, strong
and dependent upon an internal family support system that
has a lasting and positive impact on the Jordanian society
rather than depending on external support systems that are
scarce and ineffective.
Objectives of prevention
The
objectives of prevention are as follows:
-
Strengthen the
functions and positive interactions of children and
families
-
Develop
mentally and physically healthy and self-motivated
children and future citizens in Jordan
-
Develop models
of healthy family systems characterized by self reliance
and resourcefulness, and that is exemplified by positive
interaction and balanced relations between parents and
children
-
Strengthen the
bond between parents and children, the transparent
communications among family members and create channels
of communication for better parenting for families under
stress
-
Establish
healthy and viable family support systems through:
o
Family resource
centers
o
Parenting
support groups
o
Parent-child
clubs
The National Awareness Campaign
With the direction, vision and guidelines of Her Majesty
Queen Rania Al Abdullah, the Jordan River Foundation has
developed a TV program and the Ajyaluna Campaign as
components of the national awareness campaign focusing on
and mobilizing specific target groups throughout the Kingdom
to:
-
Reach every
Jordanian adult and child in their homes
-
Provide healthy
models and practices (for emulation) pertaining to
parenting and child rearing that are culturally and
developmentally appropriate for healthy parent-child
relations
-
Provide
materials through the educational arena that address
healthy parent-child interactions while educating
children about abuse and how to protect themselves
-
Provide
children with awareness and training about the warning
signs of abuse and how to protect themselves
-
Develop the
elements that create the ultimate emotional and social
support systems to ensure the growth and development of
healthy families
-
Contribute to
lessening the incidence of crime and violence through
healthy prevention programs for families that are at
risk or under stress
The National Awareness
Campaign Components
The national awareness
campaign, to be implemented throughout 2004, consists of
components that address varied target groups through mass
media channels. The two components that will simultaneously
be implemented include the TV program and the Ajyaluna
Campaign.
The National TV Program
The Jordan River Foundation plans to
launch a national TV program on child safety presented by
Dr. Hala Hammad, the Child Safety Program manager, and a
specialist in early childhood development. The idea for this
program came from Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, as a
result of the Foundation’s countless efforts in combating
child abuse in a proactive rather than reactive manner. As
outcomes of the research done by the Foundation on the
causes of abuse, the lack of information and education on
proper child-upbringing practices were found to be major
inducers of child abuse and neglect.
The TV program will be developed in
three phases. Phase one is comprised of 13 episodes, each
episode highlighting one type of positive parenting
education and practices. The second and third phases will
continue within the same stream, however these episodes
shall be developed according to the feedback received from
the audience pertaining to the subject matter and format of
the program.
The episodes will be televised on Jordan
Radio and Television Corporation (JRTV) on a weekly basis,
and in agreement with JRTV, a primetime slot will be chosen
for maximum viewership. In addition to the main time slot,
the episode will be repeated another day and time during the
week. The episodes shall be advertised by promotion and
message spots taken from the material of the program. The
average duration of the episodes is 18 minutes.
The themes addressed in the episodes
are:
1.
The intimate
relationship between the child and his/her parents that
helps in creating the self-identity of the child.
2.
Love - how it is
translated inside the child’s mind to develop his/her
thinking capabilities. This/these episode(s) shall include
teaching the parents how to help their child know his body
and self outside the boundaries of abuse.
3.
The language that
we use to communicate and how it affects in developing the
brains of the child.
4.
Social relations
- Dr. Hammad talks about the proper way of helping the child
improve his/her expressions and teaching him/her to build
friendships with others, in addition to identifying the
importance of play in child development.
5.
Conscious - how
it develops with the child and the child’s relationship with
God.
6.
The relationship
between the child and his/her surrounding environment, and
the artistic and cultural stimuli around him/her.
The Ajyaluna
Campaign
The Ajyaluna Campaign is the
second component of the national awareness campaign that
tackles child safety issues through a subtle approach to
create awareness and to provoke dialogue and understanding.
The campaign includes the following elements:
