In countries like Somalia, COVID-19 was a crisis on top of crisis, further impacting children and communities already mired by longstanding conflict and instability.  

In this episode, Abdi Waber, Manager of Child Protection and Child Rights Governance for Save the Children Somalia, speaks of the devastating impacts COVID-19 has had on children and families in Somalia. He shares how the pandemic has driven up child labour, increased sexual violence, aggravated physical and psychological violence in the home, and increased rates of child marriage as families struggled to cope, particularly with the difficult social economic shocks that accompanied lockdowns.  

Waber also speaks of how staff worked to adapt programmes to continue vital interventions that helped parents and caregivers abstain from using violence while parenting during an increasingly difficult time violence in their parenting techniques and approaches during COVID-19. To do so, the team harnessed the power of radio, television and social media to reach parents and caregivers in new ways.