Lending a voice to the voiceless: Zain launches stark, high-impact campaign against child abuse
Supporting this campaign, Zain Bahrain Launched Child Anti-Spam Service
Zain Group, a leading innovator in mobile telecom in eight markets across the Middle East and Africa, announces the commencement of its multi-faceted media campaign to raise awareness about the ills of child abuse and shed light on this often taboo, yet tragic topic. Zain is looking to highlight this global phenomenon and support children from the region, especially in those areas ravaged with conflict, to grow free from abuse so that they can achieve their full potential and actively contribute to and enjoy our wonderful world.
Zain is determined to offer a voice for those who have previously been voiceless, and its hard-hitting child abuse campaign strongly showcases this. Starting on 6 April, 2015, Zain introduced a regional television and social media campaign supported by print adverts targeting verbal, physical and sexual abuse without depicting it visually.
Three different themed videos have been produced that will be shown on regional TV and YouTube (www.youtube.com/zain ). A series of stark, black and white posters will also appear in print adverts and Zain social media channels (www.facebook.com/zain; www.twitter.com/zain; www.instagram.com/zaingroup), depicting stricken young children with accompanying text giving an insight into their plight, such as "Fadi was 11 months old when he said his first word. Fadi is now 8 and not saying much at all." Another example of the hard hitting supporting text is one advert that reads, "Abuse can damage a childhood. Help them open up".
Commenting on the commencement of Zain's latest child protection campaign, Zain Group CEO, Scott Gegenheimer commented, "Zain is committed to the safety and well-being of the communities it serves. In an era where technology and telecommunications have the potential to significantly impact societies across the world; Zain recognizes the need to raise awareness so that the most vulnerable segments of society across the region are protected from abuse and exploitation."
Zain Bahrain also recently launched an "Anti-Abusive Words" SMS service that blocks abusive messages from being sent to children's mobile phones.
"We are proud to be the first operator in the kingdom to offer such service and we are currently working towards developing other services aimed at protecting the experience of children. Our mission is to offer tools and services that will help children enjoy a safe mobile experience," added Pakiza Abdulrahman.
Further, in November 2014, Zain partnered with the GSMA's agreement with Child Helpline International (CHI) to protect young people and safeguard their right to be heard. The GSMA and CHI jointly signed a Memorandum of Understanding that established a roadmap for promoting child helplines across the globe. The roadmap included measures to strengthen relationships between national mobile operators and their in-country helplines and foster collaboration on issues such as a safer Internet for children.
Similarly to Zain's outlook to offer protection to vulnerable sectors of society, last year CHI also launched the 'Free Our Voices' campaign to generate public support for child helplines internationally. Utilizing custom sound recognition technology, visitors to the campaign website can sign the petition by verbally recording their name, instead of the usual written or digital signature. Find out more at www.freeourvoices.org.
Highlighting these issues in this region is a brave move by Zain given the sensitivity of the subject matter, and the company remains undeterred in its determination to shed light on the plight of abused children, and to help in the eradication of this destructive occurrence.
