The National Child Desk under the Ministry of Justice and Community Services has signed a contract agreement with Tobo Consultancy this week.

The agreement will see Tobo Consultancy a local and registered company design a database system for Child Protection Officers to use in case management.

The National Child Desk Coordinator, Tristelle Karae stressed that at the moment for Case Management, the officers have to fill out a child file for each case in the islands. 

The child file includes the Initial assessment form, comprehensive assessment form, care and protection plan, meeting minutes, and follow-up notes.

Ms. Karae mentioned that every month, the officers complete their individual reports with different tables (available in Excel) and submit their reports to the national coordinator.

She emphasized that the existing system has been in place since 2021 and presents several limitations:

No Children database system, no possibility to export specific information about a case;

No possibility of share easily the child files with other Child Protection Officers or partners;

Time-consuming to produce a compiled report.

She said the Database System is very important to support our mandate to be productive and efficient when providing our services to the people of Vanuatu 

We want to ensure that Child Protection online software is available, and friendly and ensures the safety and protection of all data; this is one step forward to improving our services to people said Tristelle Karae.

Under the agreement signed, the Tobo Consultancy has one year to develop the new system and another year for trial and training of officers.

Data is very important to influence decision-making and address issues.

The project is funded by Vanuatu Australia Policing and Justice Program (VAPJP) previously known as Stretem Rod Blong Jastis.