7. Enhancing Monitoring of Child Rights Implementation through Facilitating Formation of Child Rights Clubs & Eliciting Community Participation
With a financial support from Save the Children Sweden OSJE has designed and implemented a project entitled "Enhancing Monitoring of Child Rights Implementation through Facilitating Formation of Child Rights Clubs & Eliciting Community Participation". The overall objective of the project was by providing technical and professional assistance to school children to establish Child Rights Clubs, to empower child students to become change agents in their community, and enable community members to be actively involved in monitoring child rights violations with the aim of strengthening respect and promotion of the CRC, NPA and Recommendations of the UN Child Rights Committee.
The activities carried out were a brief child rights awareness survey which included children, community members, school staff and administration as respondents and a consultative meeting with various stakeholders with the intention of galvanizing support for the successful completion of the project. The consultative meeting was attended by more than ten governmental bodies and seven non-governmental organs. After identifying the level of awareness, knowledge and specific areas where common misunderstanding about child rights prevails, subsequent trainings on the topics, Human Rights, Children’s Rights and Peace Education; Peer-to-Peer Communication Skills and Management of Clubs; Project Design, Implementation, Fundraising and Report Writing were designed and delivered to different target groups including children, teachers and the community in Gambella.
Child Rights Clubs (CRC) with a total of 388 members were also established in six schools found in the region. Finally a regional workshop with the objective of exploring alternatives that would ensure the sustainability of activities so far carried out by OSJE once the project duration has ended was conducted. Different governmental and non-governmental organizations that potentially have impact on children’s life in the region participated and at the completion of the workshop in order to ensure the sustainability of the Child Rights Clubs a task force comprising of different governmental and none-governmental organizations as well as the regional coordinator for the CRCs was formed.
The project was successful in terms of meeting its objectives and has contributed a lot in enhancing wider observance and acceptance of rights granted by the Child Rights Convention amongst children. Moreover, the project built a consensus amongst children, schools community and other members of the society on the significance and values of respect for child rights and created an opportunity where they can start to cooperate with each other towards implementing the child rights convention, NPA, and recommendations of the UNCRC committee for Ethiopian children. The project also created a cadre of student child rights advocates who are familiar with basic child rights principles enshrined in the CRC, and who are empowered to teach, disseminate and raise awareness of the same of their peers, parents and the community.
Donors to the project: Save the Children Sweden
8. Awareness Creation on Universal Declaration of Human Rights
With the aim to raise awareness on the Declaration and its relevance to people around the world, as an international UN-system wide advocacy campaign, a year long commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was launched starting December 10, 2007. As part of the Ethiopia advocacy campaign, a national committee chaired by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission and includes civil society organizations, namely, Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia, Action Professionals Association for the People (APAP), The African Child Policy Forum, Ethiopian Human Rights Council and, Ethiopian Women Lawyers’ Association was established to coordinate activities towards the year long commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the UDHR.
Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia (OSJE) along with its partners has designed and implemented a project entitled "Awareness Creation on Universal Declaration of Human Rights" as part of this campaign. OSJE implemented this project with a fund it obtained from Initiative Africa/Sida. The project was aimed at generating interest and awareness around human rights during the UDHR anniversary and contain activities, production and broadcasting of a series of radio programs which focus on the human rights provisions of various vulnerable groups including, women, children, the disabled and People living with HIV/AIDS and, designing and distribution of a poster in commemoration of the UDHR 60th anniversary. Accordingly, OSJE produced and broadcasted fifteen programs on Sheger FM 102.1 radio station. The programs were composed of an eight part drama series which focuses on Socio-Economic rights of women specially those who are in the informal sector, the disabled, children and people living with HIV/AIDS, a three parts discussion program which involved as discussants professionals and experts from non-governmental organizations which have experience working on the raised issues and the government body that has the mandate and responsibility on human rights protection in the country with the intention of clarifying and reinforcing the massages transmitted through the drama and in the last four consecutive weeks episodes which raised different socio-economic right issues of the people.
Donors to the project: Initiative Africa
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