The Importance of Community Empowerment in Supporting Child Protection in Aceh Qanun Number 11 of 2008 concerning Child Protection: Case Study of the MEUSEURAYA Programme in Aceh

Children are assets that have an influence on the progress of a country or community in the future. However, children are often targets of violence which makes them very vulnerable to various acts of violence including abuse and exploitation. Increasing children's understanding of child protection laws through capacity building programmes is considered capable of increasing children's participation in the community and encouraging them to voice their aspirations as an effort to prevent violence. This research aims to explore how the capacity building programme "MEUSEURAYA" is able to empower children to anticipate violence in Aceh. Aceh is a special place because child protection laws apply not only from the state but also from the region (Qanun law). The PAR method was used to collect data by involving programme participants. The results of the activities show an increase in participants' understanding of child protection law and aspects related to it. This shows that the capacity building programme has an effect on increasing children's understanding of applicable laws.


INTRODUCTION
MEUSEURAYA is an abbreviation for Encouraging Children's Participation to Speak and Create.In the culture Acehnese community, Meuseuraya is a term used to refer to an activity which is a manifestation of a general characteristic of people living in Indonesia namely mutual cooperation (gotong royong).It is a form or product of the culture that is concrete because it is visible in its form, where all activities embodied within this cultural value indicate the sense of humanity including helping each other and working together for the common good.The empowerment values contained in Meuseuraya itself cannot be separated from the role of Acehnese customary law which according to Hidayat, et al (2020) has strengthened the social life of the community, which is long standing and acts as an asset for community development.Therefore, Hidayat et al (2020) emphasise the importance of the normative elements of customs being strengthened and developed so that customary law brings wider benefits to society, especially for achieving sustainable development.
The MEUSEURAYA programme offers a range of empowerment activities including education related to protection, capacity building and advocacy on the issue of antiviolence education against children at the community level.The main objective of this programme is to increase the understanding of children in the community level regarding sex education and anti-violence against children, where after participating in this activity, they are targeted to be able to disseminate the knowledge gained from the community in their respective schools while contributing to the prevention of violence in the school environment and their community.Overall, the MEUSEURAYA programme is expected to be a contextual intervention in fulfilling children's rights at the community level, especially the rights to protection and participation.For this reason, efforts to promote the fulfilment of rights and protection of children must reach an ecology of protection down to the community level as one of the smallest systems to produce quality, competitive and self-reliant Indonesian human resources.Children's participation in the national development process is considered crucial.This is in line with the commitment to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Governments throughout the world are obliged to respond to the specific needs of children because children are assets for the future of all nations but often become targets of violence because of their vulnerability.
Children are assets and the next generation of young people for the sustainability and development of a nation in the future (Fitriani, 2016).As we know, children are assets and successors of the nation's ideals which are an integral part of the nation's future progress, where the fulfilment of rights and protection for children needs to be an important concern and theme in sustainable development.The results of the 2020-2023 Interim Population Projection show that the number of children (aged 0-17 years) in Indonesia in 2021 will be 79,486,424 people or 29.15 percent of the total population.The number of girls reached 38,701,446 (48.69%) and boys 40,784,978 (51.31%).East Nusa Tenggara Province is the province with the highest percentage of children, namely 34.87 percent.Meanwhile, the smallest population of children is in the Yogyakarta Special Region Province, namely 24.49 percent. 1ccording to a report from the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia, from 2021 to 2023 there were 1,247 reported cases of violence against children in various forms, experienced by both girls and boys.In the middle of this year, there were 545 cases of violence that occurred in Aceh Province between January and July 2023, which were divided into 11 different types of violence, where sexual violence, rape, psychological violence and physical violence occupied the top four forms of violence experienced by victims, both girls and boys.Of the 545 cases, 328 cases were experienced by children, indicating that 60% of the violence cases were children. 2hese statistics are not just numbers, but rather should trigger a collective responsibility from the community to take part in preventing violence against children.The data above is only based on the accumulation of reports, while in reverse.It believed that there are still many cases that are not reported by victims due to various reasons.However, what is certain is that the preventive measures taken by the government cannot work alone, even though the programmes that have been implemented should be appreciated.For this reason, MEUSEURAYA is implemented by involving children as the main actors at the community and school level in the Lhokseumawe City area and North Aceh Regency.
The aim of the MEUSEURAYA programme itself is to educate children about issues and as an effort to fulfill their rights; increasing children's ability to express opinions in public; improving children's life skills and self-resilience in preventing violence in schools and communities: building a prevention system and system for handling violence against children in schools and communities; building effective models and mechanisms for school and community-based child protection; building partnerships with schools and communities so that there is a close cooperation in overcoming violence against children in schools and communities.This programme was started from November 2022 to April 2023, carried out by the Solidarity Action Care Foundation (YSAP Foundation) team, an institution oriented towards issues of child protection and community empowerment.The first batch for this programme was carried out in the Rumoh Baca Hasan-Savvas Community in Jambo Timue village, Lhokseumawe City and the Rangkang Pustaka Community in Nisam village, North Aceh Regency.This educational programme to prevent violence against children is divided into several meeting sessions (meeting series) where each session is given certain topics which have been arranged in a simple syllabus and delivered by experts in the field.These topics can be seen in the table below: Learning about female and male anatomy; Practising personal hygiene; understanding how to (DP3AP2KB), the Social Service, the Social Worker's Department of the Ministry of Social Affairs, Protection Activists Children from various NGOs, psychologists and academics.These topics are the main topics as a first step in the attempt of preventing violence against children.The education activities were conducted by YSAP Foundation Facilitators who had previously been involved in several programmes on child protection issues in the community.Apart from that, the facilitators also received extensive training for three days before being directly involved in the programme.
The approach applied in anti-violence education is fun learning method, where this approach is considered the best choice for creating a warm and enjoyable atmosphere in learning.This method also allows children to be more active and interested in being involved in the learning process because it uses a holistic approach.As stated by Mokhtar et al (2023), fun learning is effective since it allows students to think critically and to involve practically in fun learning activities which contributes to achieving thoroughgoing understanding and practice of the concept.Mokhtar et al also contend that fun learning can be adjusted to student's specific needs and their preferences which leads to student's enjoying studying and resulting in students acquiring a lifetime impact of learning.
The syllabus that has been prepared in table 1 is the result of discussions and initial assessment conducted by the YSAP Foundation Team involving children protection actors from Lhokseumawe and North Aceh, represented by the Women's Empowerment Service, Child Protection, Population Control and Family Planning The total number of children participating in this programme reached 90 people from various school age groups.Apart from being aimed at preventing educational efforts, children are also expected to be able to protect themselves and support the implementation of protection based on applicable law.This programme focuses on secondary prevention efforts.Secondary prevention efforts are early interventions aimed at children who are at risk and vulnerable to violence.Apart from that, this programme also has the main aim of being a form of intervention in community empowerment.maintain personal space/privacy at home and at school

Know Your Body & Rights
Learning about what kind of physical touch that is allowed and not allowed; Knowing the forms of harassment and our rights; Assertive way of communicating; How to report and protect yourself from sexual violence or harassment.

Power to Protect
Rights and legal consequences related to harassment cases.

Me and My Puberty
Puberty education and its urgency; Puberty and its characteristics; Traits or habits that children begin to experience during puberty.

Manageme nt and Trauma Healing
Children will be given knowledge about how to control emotions and apply trauma healing at any time they encounter a friend who is experiencing violence.

Child Protection Policy in Indonesia
Every country guarantees protection for its citizens, including children as assets for the nation's future development despite the existance of a legal framework that applies internationally.State governments as dutybearers, including in Indonesia, have the responsibility to provide guaranteed protection for their citizens, including children, as stated in the first pillar of Responsibility to Protect (R2P); the responsibility of every country to protect its population (Šimonović, 2016).This means that Indonesia must provide legal-based protection to ensure the fulfilment of children's rights so that they feel safe and protected in enjoying their lives and carrying out their activities.As a legal state, Indonesia guarantees constitutional rights through the 1945 Constitution, and is also regulated through derivative legal products which guarantee legal certainty for the protection of children in Indonesia.This can be seen from national legal products and regional laws which serve as references in the implementation of legal policies in the field of child protection, including: • 1945 Constitution Article 28b paragraphs 2 and 28c; Policies regarding child protection have been issued in accordance with the needs of the situation and conditions of society in Indonesia.The role of the international community in monitoring the fulfilment of children's rights based on the Convention of the Right of a Child also has a positive effect on the development of child protection in Indonesia (Said 2018).On August 25 th 1990 Indonesia ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child through Presidential Decree Number 39 of 1990 which later became valid law and is implemented to date.The Convention on the Rights of the Child consists of 54 articles which list 41 children's rights which are then grouped into four main parts, namely: • Right to live; • The right to growth and development; • The right to obtain protection, and; • Right to participate.
In relation to the MEUSEURAYA programme, there are two children's rights that are the main focuses of the YSAP Foundation, namely the Right to Protection and the Right to Participate.This is in line with a study conducted by Said 2018, which explains that child protection can be interpreted as an effort to prevent, rehabilitate and empower children, so that children are free from abuses, exploitation and neglect.The definition of the Right to Protection is that every child must be protected from violence, torture, cruel treatment, exploitation, abandonment, abandonment, life imprisonment, and protected from emergency situations or situations or other wrongful treatment.This means that every child must not experience violence whether intentional or not, which causes physical and mental injury, let alone loss of life.Meanwhile, the Right to Participation can be understood to mean that every child has the right to participate, express opinions and initiatives, and be involved in the decision-making process regarding himself.(Muslim, 2018).
Apart from the state's responsibility, this law also provides mandates, responsibilities and obligations to the community in terms of protecting children so that the community can also contribute, including participating in child protection activities by involving community organizations, academics and child observers.They can involve directly in the field to carry out prevention by providing education, so that cases of crimes against children (especially sexual crimes) which have recently been soaring can be minimised.
We believe that all children can voice their opinions anywhere if it concerns them, and MEUSEURAYA is a platform that can support the provision of child participation in child protection, especially at the community level.

Qanun Number 11 of 2008 concerning Child Protection
Islam has a clear legal basis regarding child protection in many verses of the Koran and hadith.This includes issues regarding education and childcare.This has been conveyed many times both in the form of God's Word in the Koran or the Hadith of the Prophet.This shows that Islam really pays attention to children's issues.In a hadith the Prophet said:

‫ن‬ ‫ي‬ Meaning: No one is born unless he is born according to his nature (Islam). It was his parents who made him Jewish, Christian or Magian. (HR. al-Bukhâri and Muslim).
Zainuddin (2018) states that there are several children's rights in Islamic law which are explained through verses of the Koran and hadith, including the following: 1.The right to live and grow Islam teaches that maintaining the survival and growth and development of children is a must, while underestimating or relaxing the implementation of these basic principles is considered a major sin.According to the following verses from Al-Qur'an: However, in the context of responsibility for prevention, both the Law and Qanun agree that all sectors are responsible for full involvement in relation to child protection, starting from the family environment, school environment, friendship environment, wider community environment, to the government environment in preparing appropriate policies side with the child.

Community Empowerment as a Prevention Effort
Community empowerment for children has an important role in supporting children's involvement in society and as a prevention effort for children.Community empowerment functions to reopen the function of the community which is the aim of community development itself, namely to re-establish the community as a place where significant human activity occurs and human needs are fulfilled (Ife & Tesoriero, 2006, p. 209).Coy et al. (2021) also explain that community empowerment is nothing more than a form of increasing the capacity and strength of individuals or groups to achieve goals in the form of actions that bring about the impact of change.
Community empowerment is expected to be an effort to prevent violence against children.One of the approaches is to provide the community with an understanding of applicable child protection laws, including laws based on local wisdom.Previous research was conducted by Simbolon, Nasution & Lubis (2019) which focused on identifying normative values contained in local wisdom in the Toba Batak community in preventing child violence.The research results show that the values contained in the local wisdom of the community can become basic principles and solutions for preventing violence against children.Furthermore, Ife & Teserio 2006 explain that community development can be achieved effectively starting from the community level by respecting local wisdom, abilities, resources and community participation, not by imposing external values from the top level that conflict with the values and characteristics of that community.This means that empowerment programme that involve children as beneficiaries and main stakeholders in an empowerment programme must refer to local wisdom upheld by the community and facilitate them to be self-reliant in shaping their knowledge and abilities to prevent violence.
Community empowerment will change the situation and condition of a community, not only based on the issues worked on but also as the basis of the strength of the community itself.Community empowerment also improves the ability of a community collectively to make better decisions in using resources for common purposes, such as human resources and infrastructure.In community empowerment, there are also indicators of community participation.Community Participation is a concept in community development that is used in common and extensively (Ife 2008) which concept is inseparable from the sense of human rights.
The spirit of community empowerment in the context of the Child Protection Qanun in Aceh Province is oriented towards efforts to increase children's participation in the community as well as the involvement of parents, community participation, traditional institutions, social institutions, religious institutions, NGOs working in the field of child protection and care.as an effort to anticipate that violence, trafficking and exploitation of children will not occur, this is in line with the spirit of the Aceh government when it issued Qanun Number 11 of 2008 concerning Child Protection in the context of efforts to prevent violence against children.

METHODOLOGY
The method used in this research is a descriptive qualitative research method.According to Lambert & Lambert (2012) qualitative descriptive research tends to draw from naturalistic investigations, which aims to study something as far as possible and in depth in its context.The literature suggests that qualitative methods are useful for research that aims to understand how important a group views a programme (e.g.community centers) because they produce a comprehensive view of what is important from the perspective of key participants in the aid delivery process (Berg, 2004)

RESULT
The results sections are divided into two categories of findings: the findings obtained from observation, and interviews; the data were obtained from pre and post-tests.Based on the data gained from FGD and interviews involving.
The results of the research show a significant increase in understanding between age categories which have been divided based on school age.A detailed explanation can be seen as follows: •  It can be seen from the chart (see figure 2) that in the pre-test, the overall groups show insufficient knowledge on the rights they are entitled to, their private parts and privacies and how to protect them, as well as the other aspects related to puberty.The empowerment programme contributes to the increased knowledge more than 20% to the understanding of aspects related to child protection as mentioned before.Based on the results and detailed description above, it shows that overall groups experienced an increased understanding on anti-violence education (see table 1), with a significant increase in the latter group (16-18 years old).
It can be inferred that the third group shows a considerable result in the post test due to their more mature thinking skills and other capacities associated with their developed cognitive and experiences.It is due to the fact as Siegler (1986) & Bjorklund (1989) as cited in Eccles 1999, argue that children at this age possess an increase in their information possessing and learning abilities, their proficiency in comprehending different issues, their skills to apply the knowledge they have acquired to different settings, and their realisations on their personal assets and drawbacks; These high-level cognitive capacities support adolescents in organising their learning and conducts more effectively to achieve more sophisticated and intricate tasks (Esccles, 1999).(2) Community participation as intended in paragraph (1) is carried out through the participation of community social workers, traditional and social institutions, and religious institutions and non-governmental organisations engaged in the field of child protection and care.

Figure 1 :
Figure 1: Numbers of Violence in Aceh as of July 2023 from the Report of the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection of the Republic of Indonesia how to grow their confidence in speaking in public.Apart from that, they are provided with practical knowledge related to techniques for facilitating training for other teenagers their age.

•
Ages 7-12 years consisted of 20 children, where at the start of the activity the average score they showed was 48 and experienced a fairly good increase to 70 after following a series of training provided by the YSAP Foundation in the MEUSEURAYA programme.Ages 13-15 years consisted of 50 children, the average score they obtained at the beginning of the pretest was 48.8 and increased to 75.The percentage increase in understanding aged 13-15 reached 54%.• Ages 16-18 years consisted of 20 children, the initial average score for the pre-test was 51 and after being given the post-test it became 80.The percentage increase in understanding aged 15018 years reached 60%.

Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Result of MEUSEURAYA Programmeme The results also indicate the learning outputs and experiences they gained from the programme helped them to better understand the aspects related to child protection as embedded in qanun This shows that the activities of the MEUSEURAYA programme are able to support the realisation of the provisions of Qanun Number 11 of 2008, Chapter VI concerning vulnerable children, article 27 paragraphs 1 and 2 which stipulate:(1) The obligations and responsibilities as intended in Article 26 are implemented through