Since March 2025, thanks to Fondazione Prosolidar and Ulemu, the second phase of the Stop Child Abuse – Against Violence Against Children project has been underway. The initiative, which began in 2023, has seen five months of intense activity marked by workshops and awareness-raising campaigns conducted door to door, on the streets, and in schools. These activities reached everyone involved: potential victims, parents, and institutions alike.

OBJECTIVES

To nurture a responsible generation that respects, protects, and actively works for a safe community, fully aware that violence against children is a crime in all circumstances.
To promote positive parenting and gentle education, discouraging all forms of violent discipline, particularly corporal punishment.
To engage institutions and equip them with the appropriate tools to build a protection network and ensure adequate intervention for minors.
To help reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies among adolescents who are victims of rape.
To prevent further violence against child survivors by removing them from the environment in which the abuse occurred and placing them in residential schools.

RESULTS

1. Door-to-door awareness campaigns
Theme: Sexual abuse – reporting within 72 hours to access HIV post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and pregnancy testing.
Beneficiaries: 1,411 people (502 women, 249 men, 361 girls, 214 boys)

2. Community roadshows in 7 neighborhoods of Lusaka
Theme: Stop Child Abuse – No More Beatings
Beneficiaries: 2,150 people

3. School-based awareness activities
Location: Kid Joy School
Beneficiaries: 310 students (250 girls, 60 boys)

Total direct beneficiaries: 3,871 people

EVENTS

Capturing the attention of the crowds during the events was Circus Zambia, a group of street performers who performed while wearing Stop Child Abuse project T-shirts to promote Ulemu and its cause. At each show, posters and stickers with anti-violence messages, informational brochures, and flyers were distributed.

Three awareness stands were also set up, focusing on gender-based violence (GBV) and child abuse:

the first provided in-depth information on the Children’s Code Act of 2022, Zambia’s child protection legislation, which is still little known within local communities;
the second offered counseling sessions and guidance on positive parenting;
the third supported survivors by providing information on how to report abuse, in collaboration with the Zambian police.

These proved to be effective methods for raising awareness within the Kanyama community, and beyond, on the issue of violence against children.