Voice for Change Indonesia SUMMARY
Children and youth in Indonesia are vulnerable to sexual exploitation. Government, civil society, private sector and communities have increasingly become aware of the magnitude of this crime. With that a realisation has kicked in that this calls for a child protection system that addresses the specific needs of child victims and children at risk of sexual exploitation. A tragic case of sexual exploitation with international media coverage has led to a public outcry and a presidential call for reform of the child protection system. Building on this momentum, children and youth in Batam, Jakarta, Surabaya and Lombok will call on the President of Indonesia to demand measures that make the Child Protection System more child, victim and gender sensitive in its approach to prevention and response. The DtZ Alliance supports them in this endeavour and complements their demands with its own evidence-based lobby and advocacy culminating in a national level event planned for 2021. In the current Child Protection System, there is insufficient recognition for the specific vulnerabilities and needs of child victims and children at risk of CSEC. Law enforcement agencies, health and trauma healing providers, and actors in the legal system are not giving victims the specialist and professional treatment they are entitled to. This leads child victims to experience additional trauma, results in a lack of faith in the system and throws up a distinct barrier to rehabilitation and justice for victims and their
families. It also discourages reporting of cases, results in a low (31%-Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection) prosecution rate and prevents responsible actors from knowing the facts and taking responsible action to prevent and respond to this crime. By using evidence from current programming, amplifying the voices of children and posing specific advocacy asks, it will pave the way for long term changes in the Child Protection System and a sense that children and youth are an active part of the Child Protection System rather than passive subjects of care. Participating in the advocacy at national level will increase the confidence of children and youth groups in continuing the advocacy work in their respective areas of residence. 

By equipping a young generation with the confidence, knowledge and skills to voice their concerns and demands related to the prevention and response to commercial and sexual exploitation of children and by ensuring that they have the support from their families and communities to do so, a powerful segment of society is empowered to take an active role in their own protection and that of their peers. An achievement which will inspire others to do the same and which instills in society the realisation that by listening to children, we can better understand and meet their needs. In the future they will be able to influence local government and local private sector on the child rights and child protection lens in their government and corporate considerations. This project builds on the DtZ Indonesia project (2016-2020) which targets children and youth, communities and CSOs, the Indonesian government and the private sector to prevent and respond to CSEC. There are a number of factors that have led the DtZ team in Indonesia to see a clear momentum for the proposed activities leading to the expected results described below.
1. A number of cases with national and international media coverage received widespread attention and awoke people to the fact that sexual exploitation of children is a pervasive money making business and that it victimises underage boys as well as girls. The President has subsequently instructed relevant ministries and institutions to carry out massive reforms in the system that deals with cases of violence against children. Improvements in prevention measures, service provision and case prosecution were mentioned.
2. The DtZ Alliance, through Plan International Indonesia, has been closely involved in the development of SOP for minimum standard of child protection services together with the MoWECP. This SOP represents an important instrument for civil society to push for formal adoption and integration of these minimum standards into the policies and guidelines of all child protection service providers. It provides a benchmark against which services can be monitored and be subjected to constant support and improvements to ensure that they do their very best in providing child, victim and gender sensitive
services to the most vulnerable part of the population.
3. The voices of children and youth groups in advocating for improvements in the prevention and response to CSEC is now heard mostly at community level. There is a clear demand among these groups for support in strengthening their skills to formulate and deliver their messages at national level. The DtZ Alliance would like to use this momentum to bring about the necessary changes. They realised that extra capacity is needed to organise children, so that they can become an active and visible part of the change process in motion. The main target group includes children/youth survivors/at risk of CSEC, as well as children/youth groups who have been working on CSEC prevention with the DtZ Alliance. As the government is the main target of advocacy, this intervention will focus our messaging on the President of Indonesia, the Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of ICT, the Ministry of Tourism and law enforcement agencies.
This intervention will also target the CSO service providers on child-, victim-, and gender sensitive centred approaches to child protection, focuses on identifying and protecting children as well as investigating and prosecuting the crime in a way which prevents victims from being re-traumatised. The capacity development will focus to strengthen them on child rights perspectives, CSEC as well as restitution. The aim is to refocus attention on children’ rights and needs, to deliver more tailored and compassionate access to justice for children. Goal: The Voice of children and youth are amplified so that they are central to enhancing child- and gender-sensitive prevention and response to CSEC by Child Protection Systems

Outcome 1: Signs of child victims and children at risk of CSEC being empowered to speak out and play an active role in their own protection and those of their peers

Output 1.1: 150 youth trained in advocacy contextualised youth advocacy training manual. 
Output 1.2: 150 youth will join established networks of youth advocates
Output 1.3: 8 action plans / advocacy strategies will be developed by youth advocacy groups

Outcome 2: Signs of child protection system strengthening in the country through lobby and advocacy and capacity building.

Output 2.1: 8 child-centred action research will be developed. These are researches conducted by 8 groups of children and youth in which they do a child rights situational analysis within their respective communities.  Local CSOs will support these children and youth groups in carrying out the research.

Output 2.3: Of the 150 children and youth trained, 50 will participate in a national event to transform Child Protection System in Indonesia. The project is about embedding skills, a culture of listening to the voices of children and youth, strategically using evidence and adopting standards towards a uniform way of providing child and gender sensitive protection services. By equipping a young generation with the confidence, knowledge and skills to voice their concerns and demands related to the prevention and response to commercial and sexual exploitation of children and by ensuring that they have the support from their families and communities to do so, a powerful segment of society is empowered to take an active role in their own protection and that of their peers. An achievement which will inspire others to do the same and which instils in society the realisation that by listening to children, we can better understand and meet their needs. In the future they will be able to influence local government and local private sector on the child rights and child protection lens in their government and corporate considerations.
The national level event will bring together key actors from government, public and private sector and will receive national media coverage. By using evidence from current programming, amplifying the voices of children and posing specific advocacy asks, it will pave the way for long term changes in the Child Protection System and a sense that children and youth are an active part of the Child Protection System rather than passive subjects of care. Participating in the advocacy at national level will increase the confidence of children and youth groups in continuing the advocacy work in their respective areas of residence. This in turn will support CSO’s to monitor and support the enforcement of the implementation of policies at local level.