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Read an update on the project (November 2012)
CRED-PRO (Child Rights Education for Professionals) is intended to foster a critical mass of respect for children, their needs, their rights and their best interests among and through professionals who, by virtue of their expertise, leadership and acknowledged value, influence the lives of children, their families, and communities.
Download the Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating Children's Participation.
Scroll down to read articles on the implementation of the project.
CRED-PRO, is a programme of the International Institute of Child Rights and Development, based in the University of Victoria in Canada. CRED-PRO began work approximately 7 few years ago, as an international initiative, to bring attention to and address the great need for child rights education for professionals who work with and for children.
This need has been recognized repeatedly by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in its communications with State Parties. CRED-PRO recognized that the professions, and the children and communities they served, would benefit substantially from a systematic analysis of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its associated implications for their individual practice, their institutions and their advocacy across the wide public policy sphere on behalf of and with children. This need for education exists not only within and across most professions – whether in the fields of education, medicine, psychology, social work, law, criminal justice, early years, or child development – but also in most countries throughout the world. Comprehensive child rights education for professionals has generally been the exception rather than the rule – a condition CRED-PRO intends to change.
In the period CRED-PRO has been operating, a considerable body of experience has been gained both in respect of the barriers to effective child rights education, and towards greater understanding of the potential strategies for ensuring its delivery. The thinking and the practice that has evolved is testimony to wonderful partners who have committed significant energy and achieved extraordinary results with very limited funds.
This series of short articles was commissioned to provide an insight into some of the thinking, the curricula, the partnerships, the methodology and the outcomes that are associated with that work. It already spans programmes in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Canada, US, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, Ireland, and is about to be extend into Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya.
The focus, to date, has been primarily in the fields of health and early years professionals, but is now being expanded to school psychology and social work, and being planned for education and faith community professions.
CREDPRO’s partners include the Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF, UNESCO, numerous paediatric associations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the International Society of Social Paediatrics, The International School Psychology Association, Education International, International Social Services, FLASCO, Plan International, and many universities.
Despite much progress, this is only a beginning -- there is still a mountain to climb toward assuring that a child rights approach will be central to the work of all professions working for and with children. It is hoped that these articles will stimulate interest and new partners to engage in the work. Anyone interested in cooperating in this work can contact us as follows:
Gerison Lansdown, Co-Director, [email protected]
Stuart Hart, Co-Director, [email protected]
Gary Robinson, Programme Director, [email protected]
Nancy Taylor, Operations Manager, [email protected]
Read more on the work of CRED-PRO:
1 The imperative for child rights education for professionals;
2 Establishing and sustaining a child rights and health equity movement;
3 Child rights and health services curriculum in Latin America;
4 Promoting child rights in the health system - an on-going experience in Argentina;
5 Child rights and child law for health professionals in South Africa;
6 Reflections on lessons learned;
7 Toolkit for Creating a Step Change in Monitoring and Evaluating Children’s Participation.