Across Eastern and Southern Africa, child helplines are strengthening national responses to Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (OCSEA) through community-driven awareness campaigns and coordinated stakeholder engagement.
The new Voice Up Africa! Best Practices Report documents practical insights, impact and lessons learned from seven national child helplines working to prevent and respond to OCSEA.
The report highlights how combining awareness-raising with systems strengthening leads to increased reporting, improved coordination, and stronger child protection frameworks.
Through peer learning and regional exchange, the project documented best practices across two interconnected areas: awareness raising among children, families and communities and stakeholder engagement to strengthen national child protection systems.
Key Impact Highlights
Across the seven countries, initiatives led to measurable progress:
Over 2.8 million people reached through a single digital awareness campaign (Tanzania)
Significant increase in OCSEA reporting (e.g. Kenya: 14 cases in 2022 → 449 cases in 2024)
400+ frontline service providers trained
OCSEA integrated into national policies, frameworks and strategic plans
Strengthened Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and improved coordination
These initiatives reinforced the critical role of child helplines within national child protection systems and emphasized that preventing OCSEA is a shared responsibility across government, civil society, industry and communities.
The report also outlines practical recommendations to sustain impact, including strengthening cross-sector coordination, embedding OCSEA into national systems, investing in data and monitoring, and promoting inclusive, child-centred approaches.
O relatório completo e o resumo executivo também estão disponíveis em português.
About the Voice Up Africa! Project
Voice Up Africa! brings together child helplines from seven African countries in a collaborative regional effort to combat OCSEA:
Adama Child Helpline – Enhancing Child Focused Activities (ECFA) – Ethiopia
Childline Kenya – Kenya
Linha Fala Criança – Mozambique
LifeLine/ChildLine Namibia – Namibia
Childline South Africa – South Africa
Tanzania National Child Helpline (C-Sema) – Tanzania
SAUTI 116 – Uganda
Child Helpline International and its member Child Helplines gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided for the Voice Up Africa! project by Safe Online.
