This session explores the critical role of child helplines in strengthening child protection systems across Africa, with a focus on Uganda, Tanzania, and Somalia.
It highlights how accessible, well-resourced, and integrated Child Helpline services serve as a frontline mechanism for preventing, reporting, and responding to violence, abuse, and neglect of children. Despite their importance, child helplines remain underfunded and weakly integrated within national child protection systems.
Through multi-country perspectives, the session will examine practical approaches to strengthening coordination between child helplines and government sectors including social welfare, justice, health, education, and law enforcement. Participants will explore scalable solutions for financing, data integration, and system strengthening. The discussion will emphasize actionable strategies to ensure that every call from a child results in timely and effective protection, reinforcing the role of child helplines as a cornerstone of national child protection frameworks.
