Applying for Membership – Child Helpline International

How can I become a Child Helpline International Member?

To be a member of Child Helpline International means you are an organisation offering counselling and listening services to children (18 years and under) and/or young people (25 years and under) for the majority of your operations.

There are currently two types of membership:

Full Membership — for existing, established child helplines who meet our membership criteria and requirements.
Provisional Membership — for organisations in the process of starting up a child helpline, or aiming to do so in the near future.

For more detailed information, please see Membership Criteria.

What are the benefits of being a Child Helpline International member?

Access to policy and decision-making platforms

We work closely with, and advocate on behalf of, our members before influential bodies, including:

National governments — advocating for the importance of channelling resources to child helplines and their role in national child protection systems.
United Nations bodies such as the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugess (UNHCR).
Influential child protection networks — partnering with other organisations to advocate for child helplines as a key player in child protection, such as the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), ECPAT International, Plan International and many others.

Sense of community

As a member of Child Helpline International, you can gain knowledge without having to reinvent the wheel. Child helplines can look to each other for ideas and content. Being a member of the network provides a sense of community on a regional and global level. Through International and Regional Consultations, our members can interact, exchange ideas and, more importantly, work towards a common goal: improving the lives of children and young people.

Knowledge sharing and capacity building

Our network brings child helplines from all around the world closer together, enabling them to share knowledge and best practice on the different ways they operate child helplines. We organise International and Regional Consultations where members come to meet, discuss emerging trends in child protection, and share experience on specific topics such as approaches to counselling, data collection, monitoring and evaluating services, assessing impact, and so on, and we convene Communities of Practice on specific, thematic aspects concerning child helplines’ work.

In addition, we assess our members’ needs and support them regularly with publications, toolkits, manuals and guidelines, webinars and eLearnings on topics that can support their work and help them to build their capacity.

Added value for Members

Invitations to International and Regional Consultations.
Voting rights at the General Assembly of Child Helplines that takes place every three years.
Eligibility for positions on our Supervisory Board, or in our Advisory Councils or Taskforces.
Access to our network of child helpline members all around the world.
Access to the data provided by our child helpline members.
Opportunity for exchanges with other child helplines within the network, capacity-building training for staff members, and joint advocacy with our partners.
Support in advocacy activities and influence in policy making.
Networking opportunities and contact with high-level officials in the child protection sector.
Use of the Child Helpline International brand, signifying quality of services.

Applications

Fill in this Application Form and sent it to the Membership Manager, Steve Erwood, at steve@childhelplineinternational.org, together with the applicable supporting documents.