Maldives helpline “a great achievement”: Child Helpline International

CHI is an international network of telephone helplines and outreach services for children and young people across 150 countries.  The network has been involved in setting up the Maldives helpline since its inception in 2007. Singh visited the helpline at the Department of Family and Gender last week.

“The quality of the intervention is high, and the follow-up [of cases] is very high,” she noted. “There’s a good average number of calls and a steady stream of cases, and lot of calls seeking information. There’s also been a lot of prank calls, but in the Helpline world that’s a natural way for children to try out the helpline. One of the goals is to convert silent calls to an intervention call.”

Government support and the involvement of a telecom partner (Dhiraagu) from the outset were key factors behind the success of the Maldives’ Child Helpline in its formative year, Singh said. Child Helplines in many other countries are the initiative of civil society NGOs, and often have to fight for government backing.