Four Sisters of Charity recently attended a workshop on the important issue of the protection of children and vulnerable adults, held in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Srs. Patricia, Gloria, Leaticia and Freda attended the workshop. The theme was ‘Best Practice in Ministry’. This was an initiative of Irish based Religious Congregations who receive Misean Cara funding.
The workshop took place at the Daughters of Charity convent, Eleme, from the 25th to the 29th of October, 2010. A Daughter of Charity and a Holy Faith sister, staff from the Irish Bishops Conference, Child Protection Office carried out the training. The aim of the workshop was to raise awareness of the context for training on child protection from the perspective of the church and state and to train trainers. The objective is to have an understanding of the church’s context and the statutory provisions, guiding principles key directives.
The guiding principles were:
- The dignity of the child
- Nurture the child
- Protect the child
The six core modules looked at were:
- Safeguarding children
- Working with children
- Safeguarding standards
- Recognizing child abuse
- To assist organizer of activities to explore all aspect of the safety and general welfare of children and young people.
- How to put together the different forms, assessing and managing risks.
- Child policies and procedures.
One of the recommendations was to set up a safeguarding committee in the Region to be trained by the participants of the workshop.
