Child and youth participation in East and Southern Africa: Taking stock and moving forward

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Child and youth participation in East and Southern Africa.pdf

An analytical review of the literature and five case studies on child and youth participation in East and Southern Africa.

In response to the lack of evidence on whether and how child participation can lead to the empowerment of children at an individual, family, community and policy level in the context of HIV and AIDS RIATT commissioned this review. The objectives of the review were:

• To document the methodologies involving children and youth participation focused on HIV and AIDS within the Eastern and Southern Africa region, focusing particularly on their involvement in relevant decision-making processes including at policy and programming levels, research, including monitoring and evaluation, and conferences.
• To critically analyse these methodologies in light of how they promote a rights-based and ethical approach leading to the individual's empowerment, as well as those of the family and community and children in general.
• To identify promising practices of how children and youth have been meaningfully involved by governments, and international/non- governmental/ community based organisations.

In deciding where to focus this review the decision was made to build on the number of existing reviews of child participation (see Appendices at end of Section One) by taking a more analytical rather than a descriptive approach.

This document is intended as a technical resource for organisations aiming to advance child and youth participation as part of a broader response to HIV and AIDS within southern and eastern Africa. The hope is that policy makers and programme managers will through reading this overview of the state of play, the outline of issues and some description of methods be helped to reflect on what the operational implications are for promoting child participation in their area of operation.

Section One of the publication is an analysis of the state of play of child participation in the region based on an extensive review of literature and on 18 interviews (see end of Section One) with representatives of children's organisations working in the region.

Section Two is a collection of five case studies that focus on different ways that children are participating in the region. The case studies examine the extent to which these projects benefit and empower children, their families, communities and how they have influenced policy

ENUMERATING STREET CHILDREN

Retrak Enumerating Street Children Oct2014.pdf

Understanding the size of the street children population in a city or country can help inform the policy and practice designed to assist these children.

It can also form a baseline from which to track the impact of interventions and enable learning about the quality and appropriateness of interventions. This information is greatly lacking at the moment and many studies that do exist are not able to establish the accuracy or reliability of their results. This paper presents an approach to counting children on the streets which is methodologically reliable and accurate and takes into account the challenges of such an undertaking.

This paper is a contribution to building the evidence base of good practice in determining the number and characteristics of street children. Our aim is to outline an approach to counting children on the streets that is methodologically reliable and accurate and take into account the challenges outlined above.

ENUMERATING STREET CHILDREN

Retrak Enumerating Street Children Oct2014.pdf

Understanding the size of the street children population in a city or country can help inform the policy and practice designed to assist these children.

It can also form a baseline from which to track the impact of interventions and enable learning about the quality and appropriateness of interventions. This information is greatly lacking at the moment and many studies that do exist are not able to establish the accuracy or reliability of their results. This paper presents an approach to counting children on the streets which is methodologically reliable and accurate and takes into account the challenges of such an undertaking.

This paper is a contribution to building the evidence base of good practice in determining the number and characteristics of street children. Our aim is to outline an approach to counting children on the streets that is methodologically reliable and accurate and take into account the challenges outlined above.

Mapping and assessing child protection systems in west and central Africa: A five-country analysis paper

Mapping and assessing child protection systems in west and central Africa: A five-country analysis paper

This paper was developed on behalf of the Regional OVC Reference Group for west and central Africa, which includes Plan International, Save the Children International, and UNICEF. The paper presents the findings and insights generated through the mapping and assessment of national child protection systems in five West African countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone. The goal of the country research was to provide national actors with a profile of their existing system and an initial assessment of its contextual appropriateness and relevance to the populations being served.

Comprehensive sexuality education: The challenges and opportunities of scaling-up

Comprehensive sexuality education:the challenges and opportunities of scaling-up.pdf

This report builds on a programme of work on sexuality education for young people initiated in 2008 by UNESCO. The report emphasizes the challenges for scaling-up in terms of integrating comprehensive sexuality education into the formal curricula of schools.

Despite significant investment and programmatic interventions, levels of HIV prevention knowledge among young people have changed relatively little. This is particularly the case in countries that are most affected by HIV and AIDS. Comprehensive sexuality education is a long way from being institutionalized in most low- and middle-income countries where the HIV epidemic poses a disproportionate burden. Even in countries with the highest HIV rates, there are relatively few examples of scaled-up, sustainable programmes within educational curricula. Existing generations of schoolchildren are not receiving the information they need for their healthy development. Unless things change, future cohorts of children will be similarly disadvantaged.

The report is informed by several other past and ongoing initiatives related to scaling up sexuality education, as well as drawing on case studies presented at the Bogota international consultation on sexuality education, convened by UNFPA in 2010.

It emphasizes the challenges for scaling-up in terms of integrating comprehensive sexuality education into the formal curricula of schools. It aims to:

• Provide conceptual and practical guidance on definitions and strategies of scaling-up, given the specificities of sexuality education.
• Illustrate good practice and pathways for successful scale-up in light of diverse contextual parameters.
• Provide some principles of scaling up sexuality education that are of relevance internationally.

Child and older carer participation in events: Are we really learning?

Regional Inter-agency Task Team (RIATT-ESA) on Children and AIDS working paper

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Child and older carer participation in events: Are we really learning?.pdf

This paper explores the concept of child participation in conferences and events. It reflects on the recent child participation process in the Regional East and Southern Africa Inter agency Task team on Children and AIDS (RIATT-ESA) conference that took place from 27th September to 2nd October 2008 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It will also reflect on the older carer consultation process that took place alongside the child consultation process.

Participation is considered a human rights based approach to development as expressed in development theories such as those by A. Sen and P. Freiro. Participation is a process and the results depend on what extent it is truly effective and meaningful as referred to in the Hart’s “Ladder of Participation,” see fig. 14. Adults are the duty bearers for children and therefore they have responsibilities for which they must account to children. In addition, children as rights holders also have a right to participation in for example, decision making, consultations and programme implementation.

This paper was written by Nicola Ward (UNICEF ESARO) and Vivi Stavrou (REPSSI) with contributions from Douglas Lackey (Help Age International), Lucy Hillier (Save the Children UK) and Velephi Riba (Save the Children Sweden). written on behalf of the RIATT Conference child participation task team (RIATT CPTT) which led the children’s consultation process leading up to the RIATT conference

APPROACHING OUTREACH WORK

Retrak Outreach Work Oct2014.pdf

ENUMERATING STREET CHILDREN

This paper outlines principals of outreach work with street or homeless children. 

These principals include: Following a rights based aproach; Understanding each child and his/her situation; building relationships; being flexible; building in reflection and ensurging staff care and protection. 

These principles provide the foundation to which outreach workers can return as they apply Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in their work. The aim in using this SOPs is to get to know children on the streets and begin to build trusting relationships with them, so that they can be safer on the streets and choose to access further services which could lead them to an alternative to street life.