|
SOUTH AFRICAN CENTRE FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN
(Associated with the International Centre for Missing and
Exploited Children)
Help our children find their way back home And thus invest
in Africa’s future
1. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
1.1. History
The South African Centre for Missing and Exploited Children
(SACMEC) is being established in South Africa as a joint
initiative of (a) the acclaimed National Center for Missing
& Exploited Children (NCMEC) based in Virginia, USA and its
international division, the International Center for Missing
and Exploited Children (ICMEC) and (b) the National Bureau
for Missing Persons (NBMP) of the South African Police
Service (SAPS). The establishment of SACMEC follows
extensive planning and discussions between the NCMEC/ICMEC,
corporate partners and representatives from the South
African government, police services and Social development
services. Although the work of the SACMEC will initially be
centered in southern Africa, the business plan presented
here includes the development of capabilities for responding
to humanitarian crises in other parts of the continent and
for the gradual development of agencies similar to SACMEC
across the continent of Africa.
1.2. Cause
The establishment of SACMEC comes in response to a growing
incidence of children in Africa being abducted or enticed
with various ridiculous job proposals to leave their
respective countries, and then being exploited either
sexually, as soldiers in militias or for slave labour. A
recent UN report has highlighted the plight of African
children, referring particularly to the problems of (a) the
abduction of children for use in the sex industry and for
drafting in armed militias, (b) the sexual exploitation of
children in African communities.
In South Africa alone, around 800-900 children are reported
missing to law enforcement agencies each year; however the
actual figure is probably significantly higher given that
many cases of lost children are not reported to the
authorities but are dealt with by informal structures within
communities. Similarly, the annual figure of 5,000 reported
cases of rape and sexual assault of children is undoubtedly
an underestimate; child protection services estimate that in
South Africa 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 5 boys suffers sexual
exploitation of one form or another. Over 2,000 children are
murdered each year in South Africa.
The tracing of missing children should be given priority but
the already limited police resources throughout Africa are
hard pressed in dealing with other serious crimes. In
addition missing children represent a specialized area of
investigation demanding intensive training and sophisticated
technology. Given these concerns, it has been recognized
that law enforcement agencies cannot manage the problems of
missing and exploited children on their own and that an
independent agency specializing in the management of these
issues is needed.
1.3. Mission: Help our Children find their way back home
The core mission of the SACMEC is expressed in its slogan,
“Help our Children find their way back Home, and thus invest
in Africa’s future”. SACMEC will be a strong, loud voice in
the field of children’s rights, both in terms of
interventions aimed at reducing the exploitation of children
and in the tracing and recovery of missing children. The
mission to ‘help the children find their way back home’ thus
has a literal component and a broader symbolic dimension,
referring to the fostering of a society in which children
can feel safe and at home and thus can become contributing
citizens of their respective countries in Africa.
1.4. Objectives
The key objectives of SACMEC are:
• To serve as an agency of excellence in the tracing and
recovery of missing children. A recovery rate of 95% is
aimed for and anticipated.
• To play a meaningful advocacy role in the protection of
children’s rights on the continent.
• To assist other relevant agencies and organizations to
improve capacity and service delivery in the protection of
children.
• To significantly improve children’s awareness of safety
issues and knowledge and understanding of their rights,
including procedures to be followed when such rights are
infringed.
• To raise public awareness around issues of missing and
exploited children.
• To make a quality contribution to an international network
of organizations dedicated to the protection of children.
1.5. Keys to Success
The following keys to success have been identified and form
the basis of the four-year business plan detailed below:
1.5.1.1. Expertise
Senior persons who are highly trained and experienced in the
field will staff SACMEC. Staff members will have formal
investigative backgrounds and a track record in utilizing
technology in this field. Dedicated persons who will receive
intensive in-house training will assist senior staff. SACMEC
will also enjoy significant support and expertise from the
NCMEC/ICMEC and will thus offer a professional and effective
service.
1.5.1.2. Technology
In the information age, technology has a critical role to
play in the recovery of missing children and in protecting
children who are vulnerable to exploitation. As explained
below, SACMEC will be an IT-intensive unit that is able to
apply state of the art resources in implementing its
services.
1.5.1.3. Proactive stance
While effective reactive services are essential for the
tracing and recovery of missing children, these problems
ultimately require proactive solutions. A key criterion for
the success of SACMEC is thus the development and
application of safety models intended to enhance awareness
and understanding of problems and threats to children and to
make children, families and communities more safety
orientated. Stated simply, prevention is better than cure.
SACMEC will also strive to, contrary to the current status
quo, take on the causes of exploitation of children, and not
merely handle the symptoms.
1.5.1.4. Market
There are numerous NGOs in South Africa that are involved in
work with abused or neglected children. However none of
these organizations offer expertise in the recovery of
missing children, and as said before tends to handle the
symptoms rather than the causes of these problems. Thus
SACMEC will definitely fill a significant gap in the market
and will be able to supplement and enhance existing services
rather than being in competition with other services or
organizations. Already there have been several requests from
NGOs for partnerships with SACMEC.
1.5.1.5. Local and International Support
The concept of SACMEC has received enthusiastic support from
government and non-government sectors as well as from
international organizations such as UNICEF. Formal protocols
for cooperation are presently being established with the SA
Police Services, the Department of Justice and the
Department of Social Development.
2. ORGANISATIONAL ASPECTS
2.1. Status
SACMEC is a non-profit, non-Government, organization and is
registered in terms of Section 21 of the Company’s Act of
South Africa. It is being established as a partnership with
the National Bureau for Missing Persons of the South African
Police Service, and will operate as an affiliate of the
ICMEC.
2.2 Board of Trustees
SACMEC in order to comply with Section 21 of the Company’s
Act of South African has a board of trustees that will
monitor and coordinate all the expenditure of the
organization. The board of trustees consists of an honorary
auditor from KPMG and three others from Standard Bank
Corporate, the National Bureau for Missing Persons and
Baumann and Gilfillan (a law firm). All projects and
expenditure at SACMEC will be scrutinized and approved by
this board. The board will also oversee the proper
utilization of any property, moving and unmoving of SACMEC.
This board will also oversee any fundraising and marketing
ventures.
2.3 Executive Board
An Executive Board comprising of a President, two directors
and at least two members of the General Board, will be
responsible for any decision making and operational
planning, and will therefore be responsible for the day to
day management and running of SACMEC.
The two directors will be (a) the director operations and
investigation and (b) the director administration,
distribution and development.
2.4 General Board
A general board of directors consisting of the Board of
Trustees, the Executive Board, and seven members will
quarterly meet and be responsible for the raising of funds,
acquisition of resources, marketing and the general planning
and expansion of SACMEC.
The seven members will be, as far as possible, be
representatives and volunteers from corporate sponsors of
SACMEC, in order to create a company where transparency is
one of the most important issues. These appointments will
also comply with the Equity Act of South Africa.
The Executive Committee should meet monthly and is tasked
with managing the routine aspects of the services, projects
and development of SACMEC. In instances where agreement
cannot be reached by the Executive Committee or where
decisions have an impact on the basic constitution or
principles of SACMEC such matters will be referred to the
General Board in the first instance, to the Board of
Trustees in the second instance and in the third instance to
the ICMEC for perusal and approval. Should agreement be
reached on any of these levels of referral by unanimous
decision, the service, project or development will be deemed
approved without any further referrals.
2.5 Constitution
By virtue of its being an Section 21 company, SACMEC
operates according to the constitutional parameters of the
Republic of South Africa.
2.6 Financial Management
An annual budget for SACMEC will be prepared by the
Executive Committee and submitted for approval by the Board
of Trustees. Being incorporated in terms of Section 21 of
the Company’s Act SACMEC is subject to all the duties
imposed on a public company, for example to submit annual
financial statements to the Registrar of Companies, etc. The
Board of Trustees will fulfill these duties and will prepare
financial statements that are audited both internally and
externally.
3 CORE STRATEGIC PLAN
3.2 Start up plan: January 2004 – August 2004
The eight-month start up phase encompasses the following
tasks:
• The official launch of SACMEC (April 2004).
• Establishment and setting up of physical offices as
acquired in Sunninghill Park.
• Installation and acquisition of IT and other equipment.
• Selection and appointment of investigative support
personnel and voluntary staff. (August 2004).
• Establishment of national call center (August 2004).
3.3 Development Phase 1: August 2004 – July 2005
Phase One of the development of SACMEC encompasses the
expansion of services at a national level in South Africa,
with particular emphasis on the followinhttp://www.missingkids.co.za
• Establishment of SACMEC agencies nationally.
As indicated above, SACMEC will be located in Gauteng. In
the other eight provinces partnerships will be developed
with appropriate NGOs for example Rapcan, Edumed, Child
Search, Concerned Parents of missing children, etc. who will
serve as SACMEC agencies. Investigation of child abductions
will continue to be coordinated from the central office in
Johannesburg but the agencies will serve as points of
contact for the public and law enforcement agencies. Sites
for agencies and their development will also be determined
in collaboration with the Department of Social Development.
• Child Safety project.
SACMEC will in October 2004 launch a child safety project
encompassing the education of children and communities in
aspects of child safety. This project will link with a
program currently being run by the SAPS, and will be in
total collaboration with the Department of Education.
Primary schools will be targeted initially. Use will also be
made of celebrity figures (e.g. MTN Gladiators, sports
stars) and electronic media (e.g. interactive PC games,
animation series) to convey specific ‘scripts’ about safety
to children, educators, families and the public. Combined
with this project a Proactive Children’s Database will be
established by SACMEC, which will capture all the important
data of children before they go missing in order to have
such information readily available for distribution, should
such a child have the misfortune to go missing.
• National Resource Centre.
A National Resource Centre for the collection and
distribution of pertinent information regarding child
protection and children’s rights will be started in May/June
2005.
• Training by SACMEC staff and of law enforcement agencies
will continue throughout all of the development phases (see
below).
3.4 Development Phase 2: July 2005 – July 2007
Phase Two of the development plan sees a continuation of the
services of SACMEC as listed above, but with the added
emphasis of development in other African countries. This
will be done in partnership with UNICEF (United Nations
Children’s Education Fund). UNICEF has offices in all
African countries and has indicated that those offices and
UNICEF’s extensive NGO network throughout Africa can be used
to expand SACMEC’s services in Africa. A provisional plan of
action for this development is as follows:
• Namibia & Mozambique (September 2005)
• Swaziland & Lesotho (December 2005)
• Botswana & Zambia (February 2006)
• Zimbabwe (March 2006)
• Zaire & DRC (June 2006)
• Malawi, Tanzania, Angola (January 2007)
• Ethiopia & Rwanda (June 2007)
In addition to this plan of development, contact will also
be established with NGO’s and law enforcement agencies in
other countries on the African continent in order to
establish similar organizations than SACMEC in the
respective countries.
3.5 IT Infrastructure
The NCMEC is making available to SACMEC software to assist
in the tracing and recovery of missing children and in the
management of humanitarian disasters. It is envisaged that
the development and application of IT solutions to problems
of child abduction and exploitation in Africa will be a key
focus of SACMEC and that this will in turn translate into
the development of training modules for law enforcement
agencies in Africa.
The IT hub of SACMEC will be housed at its head office,
which will be situated either in Johannesburg. SACMEC
regional offices will however have complete remote access to
the network.
3.6 Research
The MTN Crime Prevention Center situated at Rhodes
University in Grahamstown will initially be responsible for
research into diverse aspects of child exploitation. The
focus of this research will be on finding sustainable
solutions to the causes of problems pertaining to
exploitation of children in the African community structure.
Fund-raising
` SACMEC plans to have at least three major fund-raising
events each year to support its work. Various promotional
firms are presently arranging these events, and for the
period February 2005 – July 2006 the following annual events
are planned:
• A 4X4 event.
• A family picnic day.
• A corporate ladies golf day.
It is anticipated that these, and other, annual events will
raise at least 50% of the operating expenses of SACMEC.
The NCMEC/ICMEC is also actively assisting in raising funds
for SACMEC and is presently approaching donor foundations
and government agencies in the United States of America on
behalf of SACMEC.
3.7. Marketing
The capacity of SACMEC to recover missing children and
intervene in other cases where children’s rights are
violated is partly dependent on public awareness of the role
of SACMEC. An intensive marketing strategy will therefore be
implemented to promote the cause and services of SACMEC.
This will include:
• An interactive website where children and teenagers can
obtain relevant information and assistance.
• Marketing SACMEC through a corporate video that will be
shown at selected NuMetro cinemas and in shopping malls and
post offices nationwide.
• Promoting SACMEC through articles in the media, including
television.
• A program of visits by experts and professionals to
schools and communities.
• Promoting SACMEC through displays at festivals, shows,
etc.
4 THEORY IN PRACTICE: SACMEC OPERATIONAL GUIDELINES IN THE
RECOVERY OF MISSING CHILDREN
The scope of SACMEC activities is broad and diverse, but
undoubtedly its flagship projects and the standard by which
it will be judged is the tracing and recovery of missing
children and its support rendered to existing law
enforcement structures. The partnership between ICMEC and
the NBMP brings to SACMEC a wealth of experience and
expertise in the field of investigations coupled with the
application of state of the art technology. Cases will be
dealt with according to the following operational
guidelines:
• Cases of missing children will be reported to SACMEC
immediately either through the national call center, through
the Internet or through reports filed with the SAPS.
• Cases involving stranger abduction will be given the
highest priority (cases of familial abduction generally hold
fewer risks to the child’s life).
• Each case will be assigned a dedicated case manager. Case
managers will report to the Director, Operations and
Investigations.
• The case manager will liaise closely with relevant law
enforcement agencies and will facilitate sharing of
information and resources pertaining to the case. Case
managers will have law enforcement background and a proven
track record in investigation of cases of missing person’s,
they will therefore also have their own powers of
investigation.
• SACMEC support staff, who will report to the Director,
Administration, Distribution and development, will ensure
the rapid dissemination, and distribution of information on
cases of missing children to the general public through
newspapers, national television, etc. and will also assist
in the process of repatriation, rehabilitation and follow-up
counseling.
• Cases of cross-border abduction will be handled by SACMEC
in cooperation with INTERPOL agencies in the respective
countries.
• SACMEC support staff will disseminate information received
at the National call center and see to it that all leads are
followed up, either by case managers or law enforcement.
• In general SACMEC will be set up to operate on the proven
model of the NCMEC.
• SACMEC support staff will strive to establish pro-active
and rehabilitation projects concerning missing and exploited
children.
• SACMEC support staff will initiate research projects on
exploitation with the help of another partner in this
venture The MTN center for Crime Prevention studies situated
at Rhodes University.
5. BUDGET ESTIMATE
Corporate partners that are already involved with SACMEC
will supply most of the expenses of SACMEC for instance the
distribution of information on missing children, the actual
premises, and administration infrastructure etc. As the
needs of SACMEC increases other appropriate corporate
partners will be co-opted.
Although volunteers will contribute to about 50% of the
staffing of SACMEC initially, some basic capital will be
needed for salaries to accommodate full-time employees. It
is envisaged that the initial cost to accommodate these
employees will not exceed the amount of R500 000,00 (five
hundred thousand rands) per annum for the first two years.
Another basic urgent need is the supply of transportation to
case managers to attend to cases and render support to local
law enforcement. For this purpose two Opel Omega 2.2 liter
Sedan motor vehicles were received from USAID and will
suffice for the interim.
A corporate partner will be sought for sponsorship
pertaining to the running cost of these vehicles.
With talks to various corporate companies it is clear that
once successes is proven by SACMEC their involvement will
become greater and they will definitely support SACMEC in
their much needed interventions in Africa.
Local businesses such as Dell Computers; Computer
Associates, ERA, TELKOM, SAA, Gestetner, Micropal Africa,
etc. will be approached, as the need arises for the
sponsoring of equipment and setting up of infrastructure.
They will receive acknowledgment through press releases and
as sponsors in kind. (Some of these companies already
supplied equipment to SACMEC.)
6. CONCLUSION
The basic emphasis for SACMEC will be to make the resources
available to any parent who has the misfortune to report a
child as missing, in order to re-unite them as soon as
possible.
To make resources available to other countries on the
African continent in order to have the same successes in the
recovery of missing children.
To curb and prevent the exploitation of Africa’s children in
order to establish a happy and crime free continent.
In short to “Help Africa’s children find their way back
home”.
|
