3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Progress Report:
What have we, as civil society, done?
March 11, 2010
Sophie Joy Mosko

Save the Children

3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Progress report

• This progress report is based on

information collected from the organizing
committee, the questionnaires received
and anecdotes.
• We received 22 questionnaires
• Questionnaires were received from
individuals in 11 countries
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Organization of the Forums

3 Forums have been organized

1st in April 2009- 63 people attended

2nd in November 2009- 146 people attended
3rd in March 2010- 142 people registered

In this Forum we have participants from 31 African

countries and 2 European countries.
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Feeding information to ACERWC

- Recommendations have been shared with the
ACERWC at 2 consecutive meetings. Main
recommendations were recorded in the 14th
Session report and one was acted upon
acknowledging it was recommended by the
Forum.

- Civil society has fed in comments to the Draft

Plan of Action of the ACERWC for 2010- 2014
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

CSO influencing the nomination of candidates for the ACERWC

- A fact sheet was developed and circulated to more
than 750 people on how CSOs can influence the
nomination process of ACERWC candidates

- In at least 13 African countries, we know the fact sheet

was disseminated to other NGOs and coalitions

- In Kenya, Senegal (regional workshop), The Gambia,

we know it was discussed in meetings or specific
meetings were set up to follow the process
Any more???
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

CSO influencing the nomination of candidates for the ACERWC

We know that CSOs and/or individuals have

made effort to nominate candidates in:
Senegal Malawi Ethiopia
Zambia Botswana Kenya
The Gambia South Africa Chad
Guinea-Bissau Somalia Mali
Tanzania Côte d’Ivoire
In Kenya and The Gambia a small committee has been established to
nominate candidates.
Any more????
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Update on the nominations

The AU Legal Affairs Department has finally

sent out the Note Verbale to countries about the
election.

The official deadline for the AU Department of

Legal Affairs to receive nominations is still
unclear.
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Lobbying to submit initial report

We know lobbying is being done in:
Senegal – to be submitted end of Feb. 2010
Togo- submitted
Cote d’Ivoire
The Gambia- consultant identified to do the
initial report
Somalia
Rwanda – to submit updated initial report
Sudan – due in 2010
How? Lobbying, breakfast meetings, media briefings, workshops,etc.
Anywhere else???
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Ratification of the ACRWC

Civil society have most recently been involve in

lobbying for ratification in:

Guinea-Bissau (done is 2008, but realized now)

Zambia
Swaziland

Anywhere else?
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Information sharing

Information about and from the CSO Forum has been

shared widely. Questionnaires show that information
about CSO Forum was disseminated in at least 9
countries. Some examples:

The Gambia- documents shared with 64 member

organizations, 15 media houses and all staff members of
coalition

Niger and Burkina Faso- they did a workshop for network

members on what they learned at the CSO Forum
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Information sharing
Senegal- Some of the recommendations from the CSO Forum were
integrated into their 2010 Plan of Action; they shared information to member
organizations, journalists, and government programs involved in child
protection

Zambia- Presented at two networks and the Zambian Parliamentary Caucus-

reach: 28 organizations, 55 individuals

Kenya- Held sensitization workshops on the Forum for children; at Regional

Juvenile Justice and Pro-Bono Lawyers Conference; att the Kenya National
Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Any more???
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

In contact with ACERWC members

Organizations in:
Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau and Kenya
have contacted Committee members

but MOST responded that they had NOT been in touch

with ACERWC members
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Training on the ACRWC

A lot of training has been carried out in:

Kenya (5 organizations)
Senegal (2 organizations)
The Gambia (1 organization)
Tanzania (A Kenyan organization)
Burkina Faso (2 organizations)
Guinea-Bissau (1 oranization)
Rwanda (1 organisation)
Togo (1 organisation)
Ethiopia (1 organization)
Zambia (1 organization)
Uganda (A Kenyan organization)
Somaliland (2 organizations)
Mali (1 organization)
Zanzibar (1 organisation)
Sudan (2 organisations)
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Training on the ACRWC

Numbers: hard to estimate- 8,838 people

(according to the questionnaires)

Targeting: children, child rights club leaders, area

development committee members, Ministry of Education
District Resource Center Coordinators, local authorities,
hospital staff, area advisory councils, child protection
committees, teachers, NGO staff, journalists, training of
trainers, parliamentarians, Children’s Departments in
countries, traditional elders, religious leaders, primary
school teachers, national coalitions, academic
institutions
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Awareness raising on the ACRWC

Awareness raising is done in almost all countries.

How?
Public forums, Day of the African Child, radio, public
gatherings (chief’s meetings, church congregations,
funerals), ACRWC printed and shared, talking to other
NGOs, publications, public campaigns, to
Parliamentarians, national children’s conference, child-
friendly IEC materials, community dialogue, through
media, etc.
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Commenting on the ACERWC draft Plan of Action

Most organizations said they did input into

the Plan of Action, either at other Forums
or through e-mail.
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Joint monitoring mechanisms in place in country

• Guinea-Bissau
• Niger
• Kenya (contradictory information)
• Burkina Faso

• Any more?
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Those of us involved in national-level law reform

• Zambia
• Guinea- bissau
• Niger
• Kenya

• Any more?
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Action points from the last Forum

Coordinate efforts to raise awareness on the theme of the Day of the African Child
Don’t have information about that- may need to wait until next time to collect it.

Create a liaison unit which will link CSOs with the ACERWC.
The responsibilities would include but not be limited to:
– Create a website where all information can be found or uploaded (perhaps in
collaboration with CRIN)
– To act as the link between CSOs, the ACERWC, the Committee Secretariat and
the AU (for example, concerning alternative and complementary reports)
– To organize the CSO Forums
– To share information about alternative reporting, state reporting and activities
linked to them
– To publicize the important meetings, including when and where they are going to
take place and how to get involved

The organizing committee has developed information on the liaison unit that
will be presented and decided upon at this meeting- after that we will have
to determine the next steps.
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Action points from the last Forum

Provide joint trainings on the ACRWC

This has been done somewhat, as questionnaires show.

To identify a platform in which African CSOs can express their concerns and
experiences working on child rights
The regular organizing of the Forum should enable this.

Share the contact of all the participants

Shared in the last Forum report to all participants.

To draft a letter to all donor countries, including foreign missions in Addis

Ababa on the importance of including ACERWC in their support to the AU
Not done.
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Action points from the last Forum

To liaise with ECOSOCC to put child rights on their agenda and to invite
ECOSOCC to the next CSO Forum
We have been discussing with the Social Affairs cluster of ECOSOCC, civil
society invited to ECOSOCC Peace and Security Cluster meeting and
presented child rights, ECOSOCC has asked Save the Children and Oxfam to
train cluster leads on engagement with the various AU organs and institutions.
ECOSOCC was not, however, invited to the CSO Forum.

To draft recommendations on behalf of the forum to the 14th Session of the

ACERWC
Recommendations have been presented at the 14 th session and they were
included in the official report of the session

Invite the AU Parliament to the next CSO Forum

Done
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Action points from the last Forum

Ensure that the issue of child budgeting is explored in subsequent Forums (and
nationally in relation to the Day of the African Child)
Done- it will be explored at this Forum

Ensure corporal punishment as well as other forms of violence against children

is an issue to be explored in one of the subsequent CSO Forums.
Because we want to devote sufficient time, this issue was postponed for the
next Forum- but will be on the agenda for the next one.

Ensure that harmful social and cultural norms and traditions are explored in
subsequent CSO Forums
This will be explored in the next Forum as well.

Develop formal structures to link CSOs nationally, building on the coalitions and
networks that already exist, to the CSO Forum
This will be done in the liaison unit of which the draft by-laws are being
presented.
3rd Forum on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Thank you!

Thank you