The Government launched Primero, an innovative online and offline case and information management system used to protect vulnerable children and women survivors of violence.
Child protection officers and volunteers and other informal service providers offering case management services will use Primero as a tool to manage cases of violence, abuse, neglect of women and children. With the system they will be able to collect, store, analyse and share protection-related data that can be used for planning, budgeting and advocacy.
Primero resulted from a collaboration that started in 2018 between UNICEF, the Department of Community Development and the Office of the Child and Family Services (OCFS) and other UN agencies to reinforce the social welfare workforce and strengthen the implementation of the Lukautim Pikinini Act (LPA), the Child Protection Policy (CPP) and the National Gender Based Violence (GBV) strategy.
The rollout of Primero is being supported by the European Union through the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, a partnership between European Union and United Nations to eliminate all forms of violence against Women and Girls.
“Our vision is to protect children, women and families by creating a comprehensive protection system such as primero that addresses the protection needs and vulnerabilities of women and girls. This is in line with the provisions of the LPA, the CPP and the national GBV Strategy that the ministry administers,” Minister for Community Development, Wake Goi said.
Simon Yanis, Director of OCFS said Primero is a milestone and will help them to better understand the extent to which violence affects children and families in ONG, an area where data is scarce.
“The administrative data collected through this new system will cover the gap. Primero will make children and women visible and will provide the missing evidence for planning and for increased and actual budget allocation to prevention and response services for survivors of violence,” he added.
UN Resident Coordinator, Gianluca Rampolla said, PNG is one of 32 countries deploying Primero in the world, and this shows that PNG is not alone and will allow the sharing of information and experiences between countries.
“Because of its flexibility to adapt to specific contexts and realities and combine different modules, like GBV and Child Protection.
“Primero is a great example of how violence against women and children can be and should be addressed, using the same tools and approaches. It is important that in PNG we start to address this violence using a system perspective, avoiding fragmentation,” said Rampolla.