Earlier this month, we conducted a week-long situational analysis and evaluation of Tunisia’s Child Helpline 1809, which provides orientation and psychological assistance. Known as Ligne Vert, the child helpline was initiated by the Tunisian Government in response to the Covid 19 Pandemic.
The Child Helpline International team (our consultants Hassan Mahtat and Sabra Staali), together with UNICEF Tunisia and the Tunisian Ministry of Women, Family, Children and Seniors (MFFES), led several workshops to assess the child helpline’s effectiveness since its short time in operation, and look at some of the recommendations and advice that had been received from various stakeholders that would help to improve awareness of the child helpline with other actors within the child protection system.
Our team also met with a group of children aged between 6 and 14 years old, to gauge their knowledge and awareness of the child helpline and the services it is offering, to explore new channels of contact such as through social media or by SMS, and to listen to their questions, any concerns they might have and how they want their national child helpline to work.
Hassan and Sabra also met with Tunisian governmental representatives from nine different ministries, both national, independent, observatory bodies for child rights and human rights, and the Higher National Authority for Communication Finally, they met with a team of national and international NGOs to listen to different expertise and experiences and answer questions about Child Helpline International’s methodologies and Core Quality Standards for child helplines, and with TRICOM, who developed the call centre and provided the data collection platform used by the child helpline since 2020.
The consultants also conducted several retrospective interviews with counsellors and psychologists from the child helpline, as well as staff from the Ministry of Women, Family, Children and Seniors to learn from their experiences, and align the child helpline’s objectives with national priorities and related child protection initiatives.
During the coming months, we’ll be following up, making further recommendations and drawing up an integral plan to scale-up the Ligne Vert, through development of Standard Operating Procedures, and training for counsellors, we hope to build a lasting partnership with the Ministry of Women, Family, Children and Seniors and UNICEF Tunisia that will help us to sustain and continuously improve the child helpline’s services.
We would like to thank the Tunisian Ministry of Women, Family, Children and Seniors, UNICEF Tunisia and TRICOM for the hospitality and cooperation.
The Tunisian Child Helpline, Ligne Vert, is not yet a member of Child Helpline International, but our network is growing all the time.
You can find a full list of child helpline members here, and information on how to join the network (including membership criteria) here.