The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD) has partnered with the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network (UCRNN) with the support of UNICEF to set-up and operate a national child helpline service to address existing gaps in reporting and responding to cases of violence against children.

The national child helpline service is:

(a) Providing children and the community with an avenue for reporting incidents of violence, abuse and exploitation occurring to wither themselves or their peers;

(b) Providing professionals working with children and the general public with an avenue for reporting and handling/addressing incidents of violence, abuse and exploitation on behalf of children;

(c) Ensuring access to protection and remedial services for child survivors of violence, abuse and exploitation through direct case management and an institutionalized system of case referral with government and non-government service institutions; and

(d) Supporting child protection data collection to inform system reform and programming.

The Child Helpline was operationalized on the 18th January 2014 (when the line (116 – toll free line) was declared open to the public).

Thereafter, the public started using the toll free line 116 reporting issues of Child violence, abuse and neglect. There is an average of 100 calls a day. Of those cases reported, approximately 60 cases were escalated to case workers from 18th January 2014 up to date and most of them were Child defilement, Child neglect, Child abandonment and Physical abuse. Most of the cases are coming in from the East and Central regions. And this could be due to the lack of information of the other regions.

Partnerships and Referrals

The Case management team works closely with District Probation and Social Welfare Officers, Child and Family Protection Unit and the community to respond to Child defilement, Child neglect, child abandonment and Physical abuse. There is  need to create a tighter relationship with the Police to have faster responses since all the cases are usually criminal in nature.