Praneeta Prakash 
Minister for Women, Children and Social Protection Sashi Kiran. [Photo: FILE]
A men’s helpline will be established, a juvenile centre will be rehabilitated, and a rehabilitation facility for street children will be developed under the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Protection’s $211.4 million budget.
Minister Sashi Kiran says the initiatives are aimed at strengthening support services for vulnerable groups, including children, young people and men facing social challenges.
Kiran says the ministry will be scoping the establishment of a men’s helpline to provide support for men.
“In some of the new programs that we are working with will be the rehabilitation of the juvenile center and together with the boys helpline or the boys adolescent boys program we’ll also be scoping for men’s helpline to see that how do we support men, more men are committing finishing committing suicide and there are challenges with a boy child and how does it translate to the men.”
Kiran adds that they will also focus a lot more on children.
“For the children, there is a huge need for a lot of work around children, so we are working on other issues besides the child and protection allowance. We are establishing a drug rehab facility for children in Lautoka and also a rehabilitation for street children in Suva. Together with that, we are formulating our national action plan on the prevention of violence against children and operationalising the two acts, the Child Protection Act and the Child Justice Act. So we have budgets to make sure that we are able to fully operationalise that.”
She says the government remains committed to ensuring vulnerable groups receive the support and services they need.
