CCT Strategic Plan
At the request of the Moderator of The Church of Christ in Thailand on the 14th of October 2013, the OCP
has recommended a Child Protection Strategic Plan (submitted to the Moderator in October 2013) that
incorporates a set of guiding principles and a suggested strategy for discussion in order to work towards
enabling all communities under The Church of Christ in Thailand to adequately accept responsibility for
the pressing challenge of child protection. The OCP is hoping that this plan will assist in encouraging
discussion and determined commitment in confronting the challenges that the CCT is facing with respect
to child protection. At the time of writing, the CCT does not have an organization-wide Child Protection
policy, however, it was reported that during a meeting in early January 2014, Chiang Mai, involving all the
CCT executives and ministry directors, the CCT General Secretary and Treasurer expressed the
importance of the OCP ministry, in their view, for the CCT. And most recently, in late January, during a
similar high level meeting, the General Secretary encouraged all the CCT Directors to considers avenues
in which to support the inclusion of the OCP within the wider CCT ministry. With the ongoing support of
CWS, the OCP ministry is looking forward to further positive developments within the CCT in this area. It
is hoped that there will be clear outcome indicators of this recognition and commitment demonstrated
within the CCT through 2014. The team, however, are still awaiting a response from the Moderator in
relation to the requested Strategic Plan. A clear and supportive message from the national leadership
would provide immense momentum to persuading CCT communities to adopt a proactive attitude to the
safety and protection of children. The OCP would then have a strong mandate to approach each CCT
community knowing full well of the unwavering support from the national leadership.
Strategy Adjustment
As a result of the experience the OCP has had since its inception, we have identified that a foundation of
child protection centric attitudes, values and knowledge needs to be instilled in parents and guardians
and children first, before discernible progress can be made with regards to encouraging any organization
that works with children to becoming child safe in the way it conducts its activities. Once this foundation
has been laid, along with the support of people in key positions within the organization, further work can
be conducted to encourage the organization to develop a strong attitude of commitment and ownership in
the area child protection. Previous strategies to encourage organizations from only a “top-down”
approach has resulted in too much risk being placed on the staff of the organization, such as the principal
of the school, or minister of a church, that when this person might move on, the work invested by the
team into helping the organization to be child safe has been severely affected. In addition, unless there is
a compelling voice from parents as an agent of change, organizations have been resistant to modifying
existing attitudes, values or practices in the way it cares for children. As a result, a “bottom-up” or grassroots
approach has been adopted in addition to building relationships with those in authority, so that
systemic change within the organization may be possible.
In an effort to disseminate and propagate efficiently the information that the OCP seeks to inform and
encourage CCT communities throughout Thailand with regards to child protection, the OCP team has
focused their efforts on bringing together representatives of the communities within each CCT presbytery
when they conduct their training. Whilst there has been interest from these communities in attending,
experience has shown that these communities need further encouragement to implement the necessary
cultural changes within their respective communities to demonstrate discernable change in relation to
their verbal intention in providing safe environments for children. As a result, the OCP team has decided
to adjust their strategy by selecting and focusing on a large church community within each presbytery so
as to work towards them being a model example with the presbytery, thereby working towards the depth
of commitment and implementation that the OCP is seeking to be demonstrated by all CCT communities.