Dulux Child Protection Trust Fund
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Rag Doll
The DCPTF funded 6 programmes on “Child Abuse Awareness Raising Programme” conducted by the Young Women’s Christian Association in 2006. The YWCA together with the National Child Protection Trust Fund visited schools around the island and educated students, teachers and parents on the different types of child abuse and how they could be prevented.
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Stop Child Abuse
DCPTF funded and supported the Leo Club of Colombo (Host) as it conducted a series of “Stop Child Abuse” training programmes. These training programs used “Creative Art Therapy” and were conducted by a child psychologist from the UK, Ms. Linda Rose, together with support from the National Child Protection Authority of Sri Lanka. These programmes were conducted using art, drama and as well as playful props like puppets to help the trainers communicate with children. Initially the trust fund was to support 10 sessions but due to the positive feedback given by both children and caregivers, and the overall success of the program, the trust offered to fund another 10 sessions. These programmes were conducted between 2006 and 2008 and helped create greater awareness and knowledge on the issue of child abuse.
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Train the trainer
In 2007, the DCPTF sponsored the Rotary Club of Battaramulla’s “Train the Trainer” programme. The programme trained 25 caregivers in 3 orphanages in the city of Kandy. The caregivers, responsible for 130 children, were trained by Ms. Linda Rose and were taught how to understand the mind of an abused child and how to act and re-act appropriately to different situations.
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Sponsorship
In 2008, the DCPTF came across a home, the Sanhinda Boy’s Home, in a rural area near Colombo, which required urgent financial assistance. The home, with 28 boys between the ages of 6 and 15, is for children who have either been abandoned due to poverty, who have been abused, whose parents are addicted to narcotics or have been picked up off the streets by the police for various reasons. After a visit to the home, the DCPTF volunteered to sponsor the schooling and educational needs of all the children in the home for a period of one year. This includes all schooling expenses including school payments, purchasing of uniforms and other schooling requirements. The DCPTF also offered to assist these children with the tuition or coaching expenses related to their studies.
- Donation of paint to "International Children's Care" home – Kandy. – September 2006
- Supply of paint to "The International Association of Lions" for a kid care home & resident school for street kids - Ragama. – December 2006
- Sponsorship of events such for;
- The Yolande School of Speech & Drama
- YWCA
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Shramadana
Cascading from the above, to mark the launch of Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, all the employees of the company got together and a “Shramadana” campaign was conducted for the home. This included painting the home, painting the play area equipment, providing and installing curtains and bed linen, and landscaping the garden area. DCPTF and Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka improved the environment in and around the house and made it more comfortable for the children. As an additional benefit, the Akzo Nobel Paints IT division developed a programme to help track the progress of each child with regards to education, health and other information.
Unfortunately, child abuse is a problem that keeps getting bigger and bigger. It exists for a variety of reasons but is mainly due to poverty. Every country in the world is affected by child abuse.
Child abuse comes in many forms but is mainly sexual, physical, corporal and emotional. Child abuse also includes the using of children for labour or combat and not giving children access to basic education. Today, the economic realities in Sri Lanka force both parents to work. In rural areas, mothers are compelled to seek employment overseas and children are left in the care of the extended family including in-laws, uncles, aunts and grand parents. Often, these trusted caregivers take advantage of these children due to ignorance and blind trust.
In Sri Lanka today, child abuse is a hidden problem because of the stigma associated with it. Very often the abused become the abuser and with the issue not being properly addressed, child abuse is passed from one generation to the next.
Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka (Pvt) Ltd as an organization felt very strongly about the issue of child abuse and felt it needed to play a part in eradicating this menace from society. In 2001, Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka (Pvt) Ltd initiated the Dulux Child Protection Trust Fund (DCPTF) which, in 2003, was officially launched as a non-profit trust to aid the prevention of child abuse and to educate children and their care givers on the issue. All funds raised for the DCPTF are directed towards activities engaged in achieving the objectives of the trust:
- Provide financial and non-financial assistance to institutions engaged in caring for the health and well being of abused children.
- To create public awareness on the rights of children and engage in activities to prevent and eradicate child abuse in Sri Lanka
- To create awareness amongst parents of the dangers children face on a daily basis.
Through the years, the trust fund has partnered with the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA), Eradication Sexual Child Abuse, Prostitution and Exploitation (ESCAPE), The Leo Club (Host), the YWCA, PEACE and many other organizations that have a similar interest in this cause.
