Voice for Change Program SUMMARY
The Voice for Change programme, implemented by Terre des Hommes, Plan International, Defence for Children-ECPAT, Free a Girl and ICCO from March 2020 through June 2021, strengthens the capacity of children and youth to raise their voice against sexual exploitation. They will be trained in youth advocacy and supported in networking with peers enabling them to demand improvements in the child protection system. They will be supported in their efforts at local and national level to demand a child, victim and gender sensitive approach in the prevention measures and response to sexual exploitation of children in Colombia, Dominican Republic, India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Nepal. Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) affects an estimated 2 million children worldwide. CSEC is a grave violation of children’s rights and one of the worst forms of child labour, affecting the physical and psychological well-being of the child, often with life-long impacts. The available evidence shows that children are increasingly vulnerable, and no region, country or child in the world is immune. There is no typical victim, offender or offence, but enabling factors like rapidly expanding access to the Internet, mo¬bile technology, migration, travel and tourism are leading to more opportunities to offend – and to impact negatively on more victims. Aggravating risk factors include discrimination, poverty, disability and gender, with both girls and boys affected disproportionately by certain forms of violence and exploitation. The influence of social norms, ideas around masculinity and the normalisation of objectifying children seem to normalise CSEC in society. Cultural taboos and stigma remain barriers to report incidences of sexual exploitation of children. 
Governments have the primary responsibility for putting in place the appropriate legislation, and child protection system (including services), to prevent and protect children from CSEC. However, in the coun¬tries Down to Zero operates in, child protection systems in general and especially dealing with CSEC, suffer from policy-flaws, poor implementation and enforcement of laws, little investment in protective services and lengthy court proceedings. Thus children are left vulnerable to secondary victimization and further re-exploitation while going through the judicial system. Child Protection Systems in the 5 target countries are not sufficiently child-youth- and gender-sensitive. As such, prevention and response by the systems – to the extent available – does not match the needs of victims of CSEC and those at risk. This is the case at all levels (both local and national). Low political commitment and insufficient capacity to implement the child protection legislative framework compound the problem. Hence efforts need to be stepped up with local, regional and national authorities, as well as with children and youth, within child protection structures to build their capacity and promote best practices. In the Voice for Change Programme the overall goal is to: ‘Amplify the Voices of children and youth so that they are central to enhancing child- and gender-sensitive prevention and response by Child Protection Systems.’ Per stakeholder, specific long-term goals are formulated  as follows: 
a) Child victims and children at risk are empowered and act as agents of change and are able to protect themselves from (re)victimisation of CSEC (Children) 
b) Local government applies policies, plans of actions, budgets and protocols to effectively combat CSEC (Government)/The judiciary system applies policies, plans of actions, budgets and protocols to effectively combat CSEC (Law enforcement agencies). The project directly contributes to Objective 4 of the Foreign Ministry’s Theory of Change on SRHR: “[…] sexual and reproductive rights must be observed and strengthened and it must be ensured that these rights are respected”. It directly responds to the prioritisation of eliminating commercial sexual exploitation of children (Amendment Voordewind/Kuik). Furthermore, the project contributes to Sustain¬able Development Goals 16.2 8.7 and 5.24. 
Amplifying voices is a scale-up of Down to Zero 2016-2020 (DtZ 1.0). Activities in this proposal are distinct from DtZ 1.0, yet contribute to its outcomes: (1) Child victims and children at risk of CSEC are empowered, act as agents of change and are able to protect themselves from (re)victimisation of CSEC; and (3) Govern¬ments and the judiciary system apply policies, plans of action, budgets, and protocols to effectively com¬bat CSEC. Children and youth, both victims and at risk of CSEC, are the main actors in this intervention. We define children as girls and boys up to 18 years old and youth as adolescent girls and boys aged 18 to 24 years old. We will mostly work with them through children and youth groups. We will also work with government officials at local and national level, representing various Ministries responsible for the effective implementation of the national child protection system. We will also work with law enforcement agency officers and civil society organisations. Civil society organisations will include those providing services to CSEC victims and those at risk, organisations supporting CSEC prevention work and those working with youth as advocates. Intervention choices and countries have been informed by: 
•	Demands which have emerged which cannot be addressed within DtZ 1.0 but which merit immediate action (such as the need for Nepal-based engagement to curb cross-border trafficking for CSEC; and the urgency to protect gains made in Latin America despite the increasing number of Venezuelan mi¬grants. 
•	Momentum which has been created under DtZ 1.0 which is to be harnessed for greater impact (such as the Presidential decree in Indonesia demanding reforms in to address violence against children open¬ing a window to positively shape the Child Protection System); 
•	Likelihood of results by 30 June 2021 (including training and piloting roll-out of the Barnahus Child Advocacy Model, which will also strengthen delivery of DtZ 1.0 and 2.0); and 
•	The ability of the Alliance and project stakeholders to deliver. 
•	This proposal is the product of analysis by the Alliance and partners of their practical and technical capacity to achieve results by 30 June 2021. Financial needs are captured in the project budget. Duty Bearers may change. But policies and the ability of children to demand quality implementation there¬of will remain. There is even a likely multiplier effect as child agents of change inspire peers to take action. The increased networking of child agents of change will further facilitate this. 
Lessons learned which may contribute to more sustainable results are shared across the Alliance for rep¬lication. They are also available for the Dutch MFA and its partners. One such example
is the research into more effective reintegration of child-victims of CSEC foreseen in Thailand.