Problem:

Majority of the sexual abuse crimes against children go unreported in India. Partly because children are either unable to recognize or express themselves, if subjected to such crimes.

Challenge:

In a child’s mind, it’s hard to differentiate between acts of love and acts of abuse. And teaching them about safe and unsafe touch is a tough task as their attention is always fleeting.

Insight:

Children understand complex topics better when learnt through play and not lectures.

Execution:

We created interactive topiaries of a small boy and girl from a combination of real and plastic Touch-Me-Not plants, which visually demonstrated to children, the safe and unsafe touches.

This tool became part of the sexual abuse awareness workshops, conducted in government schools.

Results:

With Touch Me Not, we created a greater impact of showing children, the forms of physical contact that should not be allowed.

This unconventional method opened up conversations about integrating such lessons within the early stages of child development.