The Child Witness Institute was established initially to reform and strengthen criminal justice systems to provide more effective and child appropriate services to child victims of violence. This required conducting research, developing training programmes for all criminal justice system stakeholders, reviewing legislation, reviewing and compiling policies, and developing programmes. Over the years, this focus of the Institute’s work has broadened to include child protection and prevention of violence against children and, as such, has involved working with education sectors on safeguarding and child protection.
The aim of the project is to develop guidelines for intermediaries, prosecutors, interpreters and presiding officers on support to women and girls with mental disabilities to enable them to interact better with survivors.