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eNEWS: 12 - February - 2010
Latest news and
opportunities...
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We have official information that the President of Tanzania, Hon. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete, assented to the Law of the Child Act (2009) on 20th November 2009. This was the date when the world commemortated the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Act now awaits official gazetting by the Minister for Community Development, Gender and Children for it to be become operational. CCR’s Court Appeal against the Removal of Undesirable
Persons Act goes ahead...
On the same day that the President assented to the new Law of the
Child, CCR’s court application for the Repeal of an outdated law that
permits Municipal authorities to round-up street children was rekected by
the High Court of Tanzania. We are appealing this decision, particularly
in the light of the Government’s new stance that the best interests of
children are not always aligned with those of adults. We have been
informed that our application for leave to appeal to the court of Appeal
of Tanzania has been fixed for mention on 17th March 2010. The application
is before Justice Shayo of the High Court of Tanzania in Arusha.
CCR finalises its strategic plan for
2010-2013...
The problem situation is that 50% of Tanzanians are children. Children’s needs are sidelined in
national policies, budgeting and governance. Children are not accorded the
same entitlements and human rights as Tanzanian adults. This results in a
lack of will to protect them from violence and neglect. This compromises
their potential as the human capital of tomorrow and Tanzania’s chances of
achieving its aspirations for development.
CCR’s goal is to create popular awareness that Tanzania’s
future depends on the treatment of its children and thus that children‘s
best interests and protection of their rights must inform policies and
practices.
CCR understands that a reciprocal relationship exists
between popular attitudes, the policy environment, budgets, systems and
the experience of childhood and so CCR works to influence each level. CCR
engages with the structural forces and dynamics that affect children, and
mediates that reality with those organisations who implement change
efforts for children.
Over the next three years CCR will be working in three key
areas:
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The 50% Campaign calls on Tanzanians to
give children at least 50% of their attention and to protect them from
violence. This campaign is an unprecedented effort that reaches across
civil society, the private sector and the Government. 50% will spark
national awareness that Tanzania’s future depends on the treatment of its
children today. 50% strives to effect a transformation in how we live with
our children and protect them from violence and marginalization.
50% raises popular awareness about
Tanzania’s startling population demographic and the implications for the
way we treat children. It educates Tanzanians about the impact of
violence on children, their development and society, and popularises
the Law of the Child, raising awareness among parents, teachers, health
professionals, the police and judiciary about their duties to children
under the Act. It lobbies for an end to institutionalised violence by
calling for an amendment to the Law of the Child to prohibit corporal
punishment and the round-up of children on the streets by Municipal
Authorities.
Using a variety multi-media vehicles and
tactics 50% aims to reach people across the entire nation. 50% will be
launched on the Day of the African Child (June 16th, 2010) and will
catalyse popular and political energy to protect and invest in children.
At the conclusion of the Campaign and to celebrate the one-year
Anniversary of the passing of the Law of the Child, on 4th November 2010,
we will evaluate and publicise the impact and changes that have occurred
for Tanzania’s children since their rights were enshrined in
law.
This campaign will be the first in
Tanzania to explicitly address issues of violence against children. The
Law of the Child offers a timely legal framework that defines children’s
rights in law. 50% will publicly broach issues that have traditionally be
considered limited to the domestic domain and thus free from public
scrutiny. These include discussions about how parents care for their
children, how teachers discipline their students and how children can
obtain redress in situations of abuse. It will also address a subject that
has been taboo for too long, the extent and normalisation of violence
towards children, and the impacts on this in terms of human and national
development.
2. Modelling and Innovating The Law of the Child presents a real
opportunity and impetus to engage seriously with child protection in
Tanzania. It offers a legal framework that criminalises the abuse and
neglect of children. We want to protect children from witnessing or being
the victims of violence or neglect and from exposure to developmentally
inappropriate behaviours and environments.
CCR is will innovate in developing a
locally viable models of child protection and in demonstrating alternative
ways of working with the Government to provide critical social services.
We will do this by instigating a public private partnership (PPP) with the
Arusha Local Government Authority. Together we will develop and implement
a model of coherent, integrated and quality child protection services.
These will benefit children who have witnessed or been victims of violence
or neglect and those who have come into contact with the law.
This project will provide evidence of what
works and what not in child protection, it will innovate different ways
for Government and Civil Society to engage with each other as partners,
and will establish a set of minimum quality standards for agencies working
with children. It will also provide a model of child protection that can
be replicated and scaled up by other Local Government Authorities.
The Arusha Local Government
Authority is committed to: addressing the current fragmentation and poor
quality of services for children, instigating minimum standards for
agencies working with children, investing the LGA’s own sources of
income into recognised service providers and demonstrating that child
protection is a State obligation.
The process of modelling and developing a
child protection system in Arusha has 4 phases:
Phase 1: Sharing
evidence about child protection and creating buy-in across state and civil
society actors by: (1) Engaging in Public
Expenditure Tracking to find out how much public money currently protects
children in Arusha and building an evidence base of how child protection
is sidelined in national finances and attention. Sharing these findings
with the LGA, the Parliamentary Committee on Community Development and
staff from the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Children and
the Social Welfare Department in order to catalyse energy around funding
child protection. (2) Building a shared
understanding about the incidence, impact of abuse and violence amongst
LGA staff and councillors, potential service providers and state agencies
such as the police. This will also enable actors to distinguish between
the proposed child protection intervention and other poverty focussed
efforts that are currently underway in the city.
Phase 2: Creating modalities for
public private partnership in child protection by: Agreeing on
critical child protection services that are required and their cost
implications, Agree modalities for establishing a public private
partnership with the Arusha LGA by: agreeing on critical child protection
services that are required and cost implications, identifying the role of
the LGA vis a vis service providers, developing a process whereby
potential service providers may tender and agreeing timeframes for
tendering and piloting of services, developing protocols on how to work
within a child rights framework, minimum standards to ensure quality
assurance.
Phase 3: Modelling a child
protection system in Arusha that is run by a number of recognised service
providers who tendered to the LGA and operate within the minimum standards
described below.
Phase 4: Replicating and scaling
up child protection systems with other LGA’s.
3. Information, skill and contact exchange The CCR network offers members a
reflective space, intellectual stimulation and an ability to connect their
activity to the larger developmental picture. CCR will model a form of
network that crosses the sectoral boundaries of civil society, government
and business and which actually adds value to members’ efforts with
children. It may become an exemplar that other agencies may replicate, but
its primary objective is to enable its members to engage with children in
a more developmental way. This is at two levels:
Firstly, understanding and articulating
the fact that compromising children’s own potential for development
impacts on Tanzania’s chances of achieving its own developmental
aspirations, since children are the human capital of tomorrow, and
secondly, improving their own services to children by understanding what
children need at critical points in the life-course, the importance of
attachment on a child’s brain development and moving their services away
from reacting to children’s plight to engaging with children as actors in
their own right.
This involves providing opportunities for
members to share, learn and do things differently. CCR does this through
three mechanisms; namely information sharing, skills sharing and contact
sharing. A child rights information hub at www.ccr-tz.org will provide online access to all research and policy about
children in Tanzania. It will have a function whereby interested parties
can submit their information online and will become an accessible portal
for anyone interested in children in Tanzania. It will also provide
information about research and funding opportunities.
An annual calendar of skills development
opportunities will be organised for CCR members. These will include:
- Seminars and sharing
opportunities that enable members to scan the environment as it
affects children, align their strategies and programming to the policy
context in Tanzania and enhance the developmental perspective of their
work with children. These will also be opportunities for members to
collectively track policy intentions and assess whether they are
translating into improved outcomes for children.
- At the beginning of each year a questionnaire will be sent to members to seek out their training priorities. Specific, tailor-made training for members, will then be facilitated within the following three domains: 1. Competencies in managing our organisations, such as project development and planning, HR systems and procedures, and developing communications strategies. 2. Understanding and influencing the development environment, such as engaging with large-scale change, influencing and working within the policy context and scenario planning. 3. Quality engagement with children, such as positive parenting and child development. - Finally, the CCR will support member organisations to work in under-served areas and populations or to innovate new ways of working. In 2010 this will include supporting Action for Children to establish Tanzania’s first Child Helpline, and to work with ECOLI to raise awareness within the the local Government Authority about the needs of early years children and the need to establish services for this group. - In terms of exchanging contacts the CCR will provide an online directory of CCR members, with details of other actors in the sector, such as reputable consultants, researchers and their focal areas, and service providers for children. __________________________________________
We're still
recruiting!
JOB OPPORTUNITY: Are you
the CCR's "Communicator, Coordinator, Catalyst"?
The CCR is seeking a proactive, experienced social entrepreneur with more than 6 years experience in the field of child rights to play a dynamic and multifaceted role. In fact, there are three intersecting roles within this position: 1. Institutional development of the Caucus for Children's Rights; 2. Child Protection programme development; 3. Communicating and campaigning. Each of these roles requires equal attention, effort and inspiration. The CCR's preferred candidate is a dynamic self-starter who can work largely unsupervised, who is experienced in group facilitation, organisational development and advocacy for child rights in Tanzania. The CCR also deeply values a willing spirit that is committed to collaboration, professional development and lifelong learning... __________________________________________
The Caucus for Children’s Rights Arusha, Tanzania Tel: +255 787 603334 Blackberry: +44 7912060805 Email: info@50campaign.org Website: www.50campaign.org Half of Tanzania’s population is under the age of 18. The future depends on how we treat these youth today. __________________________________________ Questions / concerns /
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