Collaboration between Children Center "Handayani" and BNPT: Improve Competence in Handling Children and Families Exposed to Terrorism

JAKARTA (3 April 2021) - Since 2016, the Ministry of Social Affairs through the "Handayani" Social Rehabilitation Center for Children in Need of Special Protection (BRSAMPK) in Jakarta has handled children and families exposed to radicalism. Every handling of children's problems has its own uniqueness. It requires a lot of knowledge and special techniques as a step to strengthen their intervention.

Previously in January 2020, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) facilitated Social Workers and Psychologists at all Children's Centers at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Police, and Community Organization (CSO) to participate in capacity building training for handling children and families exposed to radicalism from Hedayah.

The purpose of this capacity building training is to strengthen multi-institutional strategies and collaboration in the prevention, social rehabilitation and reintegration of children and families exposed to radicalism.

Hedayah is an International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremist based in Abu Dhabi. Hedayah has a lot of knowledge and techniques for handling children and families exposed to radicalism that have been learned from various countries. The lecturers presented are practitioners who directly deal with children and families exposed to radicalism around the world.

Hedayah through the BNPT on April 1, 2021 held a meeting on planning the implementation of the second session of advanced capacity building training for practitioners who had acquired knowledge and skills in handling children and families exposed to radicalism in January 2020. The whole series of Hedayah activities are supported by the Japanese Government.

The Director of Social Rehabilitation for Children of the Ministry of Social Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia, Kanya Eka Santi, Head of the "Handayani" Children's Center in Jakarta, Hasrifah Musa, attended a discussion with the Japanese Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, HE Akihiko Nakajima, Deputy for International Cooperation of BNPT Andhika Chisnayudhanto, Director Executive Hedayah, Ivo Veenkamp, ​​and representatives of Indonesian Ministries / Institutions and CSOs who were present in person at one of the hotels in Jakarta.

"The Indonesian government warmly welcomes the implementation of advanced capacity building training for officers handling children and families exposed to radicalism in Indonesia," said Andhika.

Here we will discuss on the evaluation of capacity building training in the first session, the importance of the role of the family for prevention and family resilience, as well as what materials are of urgency in Indonesia today.

In line with Andhika, Kanya expressed her gratitude and welcome for this training.

"As we all know, the issue of terrorism cannot be underestimated, especially when it comes to children's rights. Social Workers, Psychologists, and other officers at the Children's Centers, of course, need to be supported to provide maximum service, because it is difficult to return children to the family and eliminating the stigma in society, "explained Kanya.

The implementation of capacity-building training is planned to be held in June or July 2021. Of course, before that, a meeting will be held again to discuss in detail the necessary further materials.

Hasrifah also explained that the capacity building training that had been carried out had increased the basic knowledge, skills, and techniques of officers in mentoring children and families exposed to radicalism.

"We hope that the next training for officers can be given materials that are focused on the process of social rehabilitation interventions, referrals, return strategies, and social reintegration," added Hasrifah.