Specific Objectives
a) Increase awareness of regional and international instruments promoting children’s rights.
b) Review Southern African countries’ progress towards meeting their obligations in realising children and young people’s rights as outlined in the ACRWC & UNCRC.
c) Mobilise child rights organisations within the region to formulate strategies and mechanisms to partner with governments to ensure continued implementation of UNCRC and ACRWC and fulfillment of children’s rights in the region.
d) Raise awareness for governments in the region to draft and submit State Party reports to the African Union (AU) and United Nations (UN) on the status of children and youth at national level.
Conference Outcomes
1. A sub regional children’s network is established to promote children’s rights at both national and regional level.
2. A regional policy dialogue framework around advocacy for children’s rights is established.
Summary of Daily Programme Outcomes
DAY 1
- Participant’s increased understanding of instruments and processes promoting accountability for the realisation of children’s rights.
DAY 2
- Capacity building sessions for strengthening civil society and government’s capacity to collaborate on advocacy issues around children’s rights.
DAY 3
- Establishment of a regional child rights reference group to undertake advocacy around children’s rights.
Day 1: Monday 14th November
08:00 – 09:00 Registration and Coffee
09:00 – 09:05 Opening Remarks Tim Bainbridge, Director Save the Children Southern Africa
09:05 – 09:15 Conference Objectives Boichoko Ditlhake, Director SADC-Council of NGOs (SADC-CNGO)
09:15 – 09:20 Children to present their expectations from the conference, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) and Media Network on Child Rights and Development (MNCRD)
09:20 – 09:45 Official Opening and Welcome, South African Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities (DWCPD) TBC
Objective: Overview of instruments and processes promoting children’s rights.
| 09:45-10:15 | Key note address Promoting Accountability for the realisation of children’s in Africa, Madame Agnes Kabore-Ouattara (Chair of the ACERWC) |
| 10:15 -10:40 | Tea /Coffee Break |
| 10:40–11:30 | Children’s Rights Instruments - UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), UNICEF representative. - African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), TBC |
| 11:30 -12.30 | Children’s Rights in Southern Africa – the realities, Professor Hansungule - A regional overview of policy and legislation promoting child rights - Successes and gaps (country examples) - Opportunities for realising children’s socio-economic rights |
| 12:30–13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30- 14:15 | Children present their views.
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| Accountability for the realisation of children’s rights: monitoring and evaluation tools and processes | |
| 14:15 -15:15 | Reporting processes (15 minute presentation, 15 min Q&A per instrument). 1. Universal Periodic Review (UPR) – TBC 2. Civil society organisations – supplementary and alternative reporting to ACRWC & UNCRC, |
| 15:15-15:45 | Tea /Coffee Break |
| 15:45–16:45 | Regional tools (15 minute presentation, 15 min Q&A per instrument) 1. SADC instruments (OVCY Framework and Minimum Standards Package), 2. NEPAD - APRM opportunities for putting children’s rights on the development agenda, TBC |
| 16:45 -17:00 | Wrap up and close for the day. |
Day 2: Tuesday 15th November
Strengthening civil society and government’s capacity to collaborate on advocacy issues around children’s rights
| 09:00-09:15 | Recap of day 1. |
| 09:15–10:15 | Stakeholders collaborating to improve State Party and Civil Society reporting on the status of children - State Party reporting: Shared experiences from South Africa/Tanzania (TBC) on the constraints faced by governments Government Representative - Southern Africa Civil Society’s role in drafting and submitting alternative or shadow reports SADC-CNGO, |
| 10:15–10:30 | Tea /Coffee Break |
| 10:30 – 11:30 | Children’s rights and Customary / traditional law. - Customary law study Patricia Martin & Buyi Mbambo |
| 11:30-12:15 | Training sessions. 1st session Breakaway training session’s: each session is 1 hour long and participants can attend 2 sessions. (a) Raising Children’s Voices - Child participation in the reporting process, - Children and the media, Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) (b) Building coalitions and networks for child rights advocacy - Zambian civil society experiences at national level (child rights forum) and regional experiences (corporal punishment network) - Opportunities to engage with SADC: strength of a child rights network (c) Resource mobilisation for children’s rights advocacy - Budget tracking and monitoring process and tools Idasa - Utilising budget monitoring findings to inform advocacy Idasa (d) Reporting Mechanisms: how to use instruments to document children’s realities - African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children - African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) - Universal Periodic Review - UN convention on the Rights of the Child |
| 12:15- 13:15 | Lunch |
| 13:15: 14:00 | Training session 2nd session Breakaway training session’s: each session is 1 hour long and participants can attend 2 sessions. (a) Raising Children’s Voices (b) Building coalitions and networks for child rights advocacy (c) Resource mobilisation for children’s rights advocacy (d) Reporting Mechanisms: how to use instruments to document children’s realities |
| 14:00–15:30 | Working groups Rotating coffee table discussions (rotation every 30 minutes with 2 facilitators staying at each session). 1. How to develop a structure for regional civil society collaboration. 2. Identifying child rights advocacy priorities for the region. 3. How civil society can work together with government to improve implementation of regional and international child rights instruments & protocols |
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Tea /Coffee Break |
| 16:00-16:50 | Feedback and plenary from Working groups. |
| 16:50-17:00 | Close |
Day 3: Thursday 16th November (half day)
Establishing a regional child rights reference group
| 09:00-09:30 | Recap of day 1&2. |
| 09:30–10:30 | Discuss development of country networks and nominate interim child rights reference group representative per country. |
| 10:30 10:50 | Tea /Coffee Break |
| 10:50-11:50 | - Presentation and discussion of draft Terms of Reference for the interim child rights reference group - Plenary discussion around draft governance structure of the interim child rights reference group |
| 11:50-12:00 | - Confirmation of interim committee in plenary |
| 12:00 -12.30 | - Resolutions SADC-CNGO & Noma |
| 12:30 -13:00 | - Brief report by rapporteur Closing |
| 13:00-14:00 | Lunch |
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