SEVERAL YEARS AGO Telkom Foundation funded the development of a computerised data collection programme for the Childline South African network. This was done in order to facilitate the collection and collation of information relating to the calls received on the crisis line.

This programme had been very valuable in enabling Childline to account for the donor support for this core service, but also to know the nature of the calls we receive, the gender and age of the children and adults with concerns about children who call. In addition, the programme has a management function that enables the call centre managers to monitor the numbers and types of calls received by individual counselors.

Over the past 2 years this programme has been shared with a number of other helplines in countries around the world. The programme is now used in the Childlines in Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Brazil.

In November 2009, Joan van Niekerk and Warren Londt, our IT expert, were requested to install and train on the programme at Childline Zimbabwe. The counselors and Childline staff were delighted to receive the programme and training and quickly assimilated the use of the programme.

As a result, we had time to visit one of Childline Zimbabwe's outreach centres, located in an area in Harare characterised by poverty and unemployment. At the outreach centre we met a children's child protection committee, which functions to spread the word to other children about the call centre and child protection.

Thank you Childline Zimbabwe for being great hosts - and congratulations on the work that you do.

The data collection programme has also been upgraded and this will enable the Childline South Africa national office to provide those interested with a variety of reports about children's use of the call centre.

Thank you to Cybicom who donated the services of a data programmer for the year, as well as Warren Londt for all the work done on this project.