The Livingstone Declaration – One Year On

© UNICEF Zambia/2025/Phiri

It’s exactly one year ago that the 11th International Consultation of Child Helplines, held in Livingstone, Zambia, concluded with the signing of “The Livingstone Declaration”. Building upon commitments, pledges and undertakings outlined in previous International and Regional Consultations, it was a statement by our child helpline members of their commitments towards strengthening and expanding child helpline services globally, and their calls for action by governments and policymakers, international organizations and donors, civil society and community leaders, and the technology and telecommunications sectors, to support child helplines and scale up efforts to eliminate harmful practices against children.

On this anniversary of the Livingstone Declaration, we take a look at how CHI and our members have been making progress with the commitments that were made.

Universal access to child helplines 

 

Child and youth participation 

  • Co-designing digital safety with young people. CHI partnered up with The Smile of the Child, Western Sydney University, ISPCC and University College Dublin in the Child Online Redress Sandbox — a global initiative that works directly with young people to design child-centred reporting and redress systems. In 2026, the project will conduct interviews with young people on online redress and developing communications that centre their experiences and perspectives.
  • Children’s voices at the heart of safe sport. The IOC-funded Child Safeguarding in Sport project, spanning ten countries in Southern Africa, is built on a core principle: that children’s voices must be central to the design of regional safeguarding hubs. Participation is a design requirement, not an afterthought. 

 

Prioritizing mental health and wellbeing 

  • More children receiving real support. In 2025, counselling contacts increased by 6% among comparable submitters, exceeding the 5% target. The proportion of counselling contacts out of all contacts rose from 32% in 2023 to 47% in 2024, well above the 35% target, indicating that a greater share of interactions now involves in-depth support rather than information-only contact.
  • Putting mental health on the EU agenda. In 2025, CHI disseminated advocacy briefing papers on youth mental health to 244 Members of the European Parliament with follow-up meetings confirmed. In 2026, we are deepening this engagement through updated advocacy briefs and stakeholder dialogues, sustaining the legislative momentum built last year. 

 

Combatting violence against children 

  • Influencing EU legislation on domestic violence. In 2025, CHI was the only NGO speaker at the Danish EU Presidency meeting on domestic violence and reached 50 MEPs with targeted outreach. A European thematic report on domestic violence, linked to our five-year data dashboard, provided the evidence base. In 2026, we continue this work through updated advocacy briefs and thematic materials developed specifically for donor and policy audiences. 

 

Addressing online harms 

  • From awareness campaign to legislative impact. In 2025, CHI’s No to Nudify campaign — originally planned as a Safer Internet Day initiative — evolved into a major advocacy sprint in support of EU AI Omnibus legislation, mobilizing around 400 tasks in three weeks at a critical moment in the legislative process. In 2026, we are launching a new phase of the campaign alongside advocacy on the Digital Fairness Act.
  • Training thirty-seven countries to respond to online harms. In 2025, as part of our Voice Up Africa and Voice Up Online projects, we developed two training of trainers manuals on online harms, which were delivered in a series of in-person and online trainings, cascaded across 37 countries. In 2026, this reaches a new scale through tailored Communities of Practice, peer learning sessions, and national awareness campaigns.
  • Building the evidence base for platform accountability. In 2026, we conducted a feasibility study on collaboration between child helplines, online platforms, and hotlines for safe reporting of child sexual exploitation – a milestone in understanding and underpinning systemic change in how platforms protect children.

 

Harmful traditional practices  

  • Building the infrastructure to act. Harmful traditional practices — including child marriage, female genital mutilation and child labour — remain among the most entrenched threats to children’s wellbeing globally. CHI is working closely with the African Union to establish a joint workplan. Through this partnership, we will be able to support member helplines where these practices are most prevalent, embedding child helpline responses within broader continental child protection frameworks. 

 

Human-centred care in the age of AI 

  • AI that supports counsellors, not replaces them. In 2025, case management platform ASELO – coordinated by our partners, Tech Matters – was expanded with AI tools for call summarization and data entry — freeing counsellors to focus on the child in front of them.