See it, Hear it, Say it launched in Macedonia

Macedonia is the first Childhood without Abuse Project country to inaugurate See it, Hear it, Say it campaign. With a press conference held on 7th November as a starting point, the campaign will soon be visible with leaflets and posters distributed on the whole territory of Macedonia.

The conference, organised by the First Children's Embassy in the World - Megjashi, gathered representatives from a number of TV operators and daily newspapers. Vojislav Stojanovik, general manager of AVA DDB ad agency, Dragi Zmijanac, executive director of Megjashi, and Tatjana Janevska, coordinator of the Childhood without Abuse project in Macedonia, introduced the campaign, and subsequently journalists were presented with several cases of physical abuse of children encountered in the work of Megjashi's SOS phone line for children and youth and Free Legal Service.

The information gathered from SOS phone line for children and youth (0800 1 2222) shows a rapid growth of child abuse and violence. In 2008, from a total of 251 calls, 32,5% concerned child abuse and violence, compared to 13,4% in 2007.

By implementing See it, Hear it, Say it campaign, Megjashi aims to encourage children, parents, relatives and neighbours not to be quiet about any form of violence but to report it. Not less important intention is to influence the development of parenting skills and to raise awareness of the children's need to help and support. The phone number 0800 1 2222 and email address sos@childrensembassy.org.mk has been offered to those concerned with a case of violence against a child.

The See it, Hear it, Say it campaign has been originally developed by the Nobody's Children Foundation and conducted in Poland in 2007. The campaigning materials have been created on non-profit terms by the advertising agency DDB Warsaw and adopted to Macedonian by AVA DDB.