The role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in mitigating child sexual abuse in Obalanga - Amuria District

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the role of child focused Non-Government Organizations’ (NGOs) in mitigating child sexual abuse (CSA) among the displaced people in Obalanga camp, Amuria district Uganda. The study was guided by the following research objectives: To identify the specific problems faced by children in relation to child sexual abuse; to examine the activities that child focused organizations working in Obalanga camp have in place to address the needs of children related to CSA; to examine the constraints child focused NGOs working in Obalanga camp are facing in addressing child sexual abuse and how they can be overcome and to assess the effect of activities of child focused NGOs on child sexual abuse so as to make recommendations to similar organizations, government and policy makers. Simple random selection and purposive random selection methods were used to select 44 respondents. The respondents were in the categories of: NGO staff, adolescent boys and girls, female and male parents, schoolteachers, local councilors (LCs), camp leaders, police, local government staff, health center staff and staff of NGOs. These were engaged in interviews and observations using a non-structured interview guide, observation guide and generated qualitative data. The data was coded and analyzed using content analysis involving assigning codes that were used for developing descriptive statistics for further analysis using excel. Results showed that there was a positive significant relationship between the activities of the NGOs mitigating child sexual abuse and the problems related to child sexual abuse. The NGOs addressing child sexual abuse have specific constraints they need to address to improve the mitigation efforts against CSA. The study therefore recommended that NGO’s addressing child sexual abuse should seriously handle the most pressing problems faced by children related to child sexual abuse in internally displaced persons camps that include: dropping out of school, infection with disease, isolation and shame, early marriages and early pregnancies. The NGO’s should strengthen partnership with government departments, other agencies, service providers and the existing camp/community structures so as to comprehensively fight against CSA through various strategies.