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Summary: African children are mostly happy and positive about their present and future but three out of ten prefer to live outside their country. Those happiest and least likely to leave are in countries which are stable, peaceful, child-friendly and known for good governance. These are the findings of a survey carried out by the African Child Policy Forum and UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office amongst children and youth in eight African countries.
A first of its kind opinion poll was conducted across eight African countries to ask children what they think and feel. The African Child Policy Forum and UNICEF-ESARO have surveyed over 4,000 African children in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Rwanda, Somalia and Tanzania. These countries are estimated to have some 90 million children. These unique polls have revealed some surprising truths while confirming old ones about African children. Despite the fact these countries are known to be among the poorest and with the lowest Human Development Indicators in the world, the survey shows that children in these countries are in general happy, positive and very optimistic about their countries’ development, the most notable exceptions being Ethiopia and Burundi. Whilst 78 per cent of the children in the other countries say they are happy, only 45 per cent of the children living in Ethiopia and Burundi claim to be so. The majority of children and youth feel that life in their countries is better now than it was ten years ago (64 per cent), and that it will be better still in the future (68 per cent). Without fail, they expect to do better themselves than their parents (79 per cent). Children in Angola, Botswana, Rwanda and Tanzania are the happiest and the most optimistic about the future. This may well be explained by the fact that some are just coming out of a traumatic war and conflict (Angola and Rwanda) whilst the others have seen the exercise and blossoming of democratic governance (Botswana and Tanzania). Children were also asked who they look up to and who serves as a role model for them. By and large, artists and athletes seem to score high while teachers and politicians are the least regarded. The exception is Tanzania where more than a third said they trusted or had a high opinion of politicians, with the next best being Malawi and Rwanda at 16 per cent. Yet another major finding of the survey is that a significant proportion of children - three out of every ten children – would prefer to live outside their country given the choice. Malawi at 45 per cent and Botswana at 38 per cent had the highest number of children that would want to migrate. On the other hand children in Tanzania and Rwanda - at 16 per cent and 20 per cent respectively - were the least likely to want to leave their countries. Given the enormous impact the HIV/AIDS pandemic has on the life of so many children in Africa, it is disheartening to note how little children really know about the causes of HIV/AIDS and on how to prevent it. Only 57 per cnet of the children in the survey claimed to know something about the existence of HIV/AIDS, with Burundi and Somalia showing especially low awareness rates at 31 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. In these two countries, a worrying number of children who had claimed to know something about HIV/AIDS, were unable to give any of the possible causes of infection (31 per cent and 40 per cent respectively). Not surprisingly, these were also the children who knew least about how to prevent being infected. An important measure of the degree to which countries or regions are aware of and affirm the rights of children is the extent to which the children themselves have been taught and are aware of their rights. The eight countries covered by the survey scored poorly on this measure. When children were asked if they were aware of children’s rights and the two major international instruments (the UNCRC and the ACRWC), less than half (48 per cent) claimed to know ‘a lot or something’, whilst a larger proportion (some 52 per cent) knew very little or nothing about them. The gap among countries is wide: awareness was much higher in Tanzania (75 per cent) and Rwanda (65 per cent) and least in Burundi (22 per cent). Worse still is the quarter of the children who know absolutely nothing about their rights and they comprise a higher proportions of children from Burundi (44 per cent), Angola (31 per cent) and Somalia (30 per cent). Despite their largely positive relationships with parents, almost 40 per cent of the children (37 per cent) believe their opinions and views are not taken into consideration adequately when decisions that directly concern them are made in the home. Furthermore, almost a fifth of the students found it difficult or very difficult to discuss school problems with their teachers – particularly in Ethiopia (31 per cent) and Botswana (28 per cent).The reason most frequently given was that “teachers don’t listen” (37 per cent). Children felt least consulted on matters that affect their community. On average, only 17 per cent felt that they were being consulted on community issues, with the lowest rate reported being from Ethiopia (4 per cent) and the highest from Rwanda (30 per cent). The survey suggests a stronger link between the state of mind of children and youth on the one hand and political stability, peace and good governance on the other than, for example, economic indicators. Children in Tanzania were happier, more positive, better informed and least likely to want to leave their country than those elsewhere, a reflection perhaps of the political stability, social harmony and good governance it is known for.