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WEST AFRICA CHILDREN AND YOUTH NETWORK FORUM WITH THE UN SRSG MARTA SANTOS PAIS
Read Updates: DAY 1 / DAY 2 / DAY 3 / Statement to SRSG / Profiles young people / SRSG Statement
DAY THREE SUMMARY
The third and final day of the Youth Forum on Violence against Children in Accra saw additional exchange of different country level initiatives and related achievements, obstacles and solutions. Various forms of media were described that were selected by youth groups to spread the word on violence against children and increase awareness amongst parents, communities, schools. These include radio discussions, drawings, cartoons, posters etc. that were shared between different actors and target audiences.
Numerous challenges encountered along the way were shared – ranging from difficulties to ensure continuous funding, to social norms and language barriers, to low literacy rates and different forms of resistance in all settings. Creative and concrete solutions were identified to address the issues, including training for parents and teachers on children’s rights and particularly around violence against children. Further to the initiatives form West Africa, a youth media project supported by Plan India was presented by the visitors form the Asia region, sharing precious lessons learned and comparative insights into the universal nature of different forms of child abuse and violence affecting children and young people all over the world.
These presentations were complemented with contributions by the chaperons, mainly child rights practitioners from the respective countries extending support to children’s involvement in the initiatives and their participation in the Forum. They recognized the connection between awareness raising activities and increased reporting and demand for services, which are often lacking or ill-functional. Training of teachers on alternative forms of discipline was identified as an important activity to be streamlined in the educational setting, and numerous research studies in school. However, commitment and ownership by the communities has been challenging to sustain, and partnerships and networks should be focusing more on specific results and achievements.
Direct support to community based organizations was identified as one of the solutions to challenges in ensuring sustainability of the ongoing initiatives. Consistent advocacy and networking and ongoing capacity building were proposed as additional solutions to improve prospect of sustainable efforts.
During the concluding part of the Forum, various social media forms and channels were presented and explored in sustaining networking and ensuring ongoing communications between participants from different countries. The IT related opportunities were identified, along with the risks that are imminent to latest forms of cyber abuse and exploitation. The Forum participants were invited to explore further opportunities for networking and continuous exchange of experiences and lessons learned.
pdf: http://www.crin.org/violence/search/closeup.asp?infoid=23117