MALDIVES / PROTECTION

Five years after the tsunami, Maldives trains its first social service workers to provide protection and care to locals even in the remote parts of the country. UNICEF

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:01:49
• Production Date: 31 December 2009
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF
• Subject Topical: DISASTER PREVENTION; DISASTER PREPAREDNESS; DISASTER RELIEF; SOCIAL WELFARE; SOCIAL SERVICES
• Geographic Subject: MALDIVES
• MAMS Id: U091231a

Description

STORY: MALDIVES / PROTECTION
TRT: 1:49
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / DHIVEHI / NATS

DATELINE: 1-4 NOVEMBER 2009, MALE & RAA ATOLL, MALDIVES

Shotlist

1. Wide shot, Ahmed Hussain, Assistant Counsellor at Family & Child Service Centre
2. Various shots, Ahmed Hussain on bike around the atolls
3. SOUNDBITE (Dhivehi) Ahmed Hussain, Assistant Counsellor, Family & Child Service Centre:
“Before we would only hear about cases of neglect or abuse indirectly from others, but now we hear from the families and even the victims themselves.”
4. Various shots, Ahmed Hussain meeting with islanders
5. Wide shot, Family & Child Service Centre at Ungoofaaru Island
5. Wide shot, staff at centre conducting session to review awareness and publicity material from recent child protection campaigns
6. SOUNDBITE (Dhivehi) Ismail Azhar, Social Service Officer, Family & Child Service Centre:
“In the atolls, this is something quite new. Before the tsunami, we knew there was a service but it only existed in the capital, Male, and we had no idea how to access it.”
7. Various shots, campaign posters
8. SOUNDBITE (English), Hawwa Zahira, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF Maldives:
“People are more open about these issues now, and then they tend to report on these cases.”
9. Wide shot, streets of Ungoofaaru Island
10. Various shots, interior sanitation system
11. Wide shot, householder Hassan Zakariyya pointing to where drains now connect his house to the system
12. Wide shot, toilet of householder
13. SOUNDBITE (Dhivehi), Hassan Zakariyya:
“We used to get a lot of raw sewage on the beach, and it will also stop contamination of our drinking water.”
14. Wide shot, sanitation plant.
15. Wide shot, islanders walking from concealed plant on shoreline
16. Various shots, shoreline and beach

Storyline

Out and about in his atoll community, Ahmed Hussain is part of a social service transformation that is helping families in even the remotest parts of the Maldives.

SOUNDBITE (Dhivehi) Ahmed Hussain, Assistant Counsellor, Family & Child Service Centre:
“Before we would only hear about cases of neglect or abuse indirectly from others, but now we hear from the families and even the victims themselves.”

For the first time, social services are being delivered throughout the atolls, thanks to Family & Child Service Centre.

SOUNDBITE (Dhivehi) Ismail Azhar, Social Service Officer, Family & Child Service Centre:
“In the atolls, this is something quite new. Before the tsunami, we knew there was a service but it only existed in the capital, Male, and we had no idea how to access it.”

UNICEF support helped to train the country’s first social service workers who provide this invaluable service through these centres.

SOUNDBITE (English), Hawwa Zahira, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF Maldives:
“People are more open about these issues now, and then they tend to report on these cases.”

While UNICEF is helping to create a protective environment for the children of the Maldives, the organization is also working to create a cleaner and therefore, healthier place to live.

This new state of the art sanitation system, installed in Ungoofaaru island, is an example of this effort.

For householders like Hassan Zakariyya, it means a big improvement.

SOUNDBITE (Dhivehi), Hassan Zakariyya:
“We used to get a lot of raw sewage on the beach, and it will also stop contamination of our drinking water.”

Discreetly hidden from view but close to the shoreline that it is helping to restore to pristine beauty – the new plant, a further example of the big changes that have taken place since the tsunami.