CHILDREN SPEAK OUT AT THE MENTAL HEALTH & PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT FORUM
The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Forum for this year gave the children and youth of Botswana an opportunity to speak out and be heard about issues that affect their mental health and well-being, which they felt needed to be addressed.
The two regional forums held in Mahalapye Ghanzi preceding the National Forum in Kasane made it possible for each of the districts to present issues peculiar to their district through a selected representative, and the use of technology enabled children to participate virtually from anywhere in the country.
Throughout the Forum, it became clear that child sexual abuse was the biggest emerging issue as it was reported from every district and was the main cause of teenage pregnancies and school dropouts that were increasing in number across the country, particularly since COVID-19 started and the national COVID-19 protocols like lockdown and school closures were put in place.
This also caused interference with their normal education which resulted in failing to keep up academically and failure to progress normally. These issues have therefore made life difficult for children and youth and compromised their mental health, as they had to experience gender-based violence, rape, and abuse in its many forms. Other issues that came up were drug and alcohol abuse, cyber bullying, child neglect and lack of parental support. Children spoke out strongly against these issues and called out for urgent action by the national leadership.
At the National Forum, the children got to interact virtually with 12 other countries in the East and Southern Africa region, where the Regional Psychosocial Support Initiative (REPSSI) partners with governments and NGOs and development partners to provide psychosocial support services for childred and youth. They experienced sharing a presentation virtually at regional level and got to see how other countries tabled their issues on the regional platform, and even joined and chaired group discussions with other countries. The children called out for full implementation of policies that are meant to protect children, strengthening of child protection structures, parental education and an increase in child education campaigns about issues affecting them, increase in platforms for children to air their views, strengthening of existing child participation platforms, and involvement of children and youth in family and community structures to be able to contribute towards their environment.