The Graça Machel Trust is officially a newly-elected member of African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC); and is readily committed to work with the Committee to translate children’s rights into a reality. This appointment comes with an Observer Status by the ACERWC. The Child Rights team was given an apportioning to speak during the ACERWC’s 37th virtual session on March 16, 2021.
Accepting the Observer Status, Mr Richard Montsho, GMT Child Rights Manager delivered a statement in which he commended the Committee for its commitment in ensuring that the business of promoting and protecting all rights for all children continue despite the effect of COVID-19. He further appealed to the Committee to be conscious on the following harsh realities:
- The COVID – 19 pandemic has exposed the existing inequality within the education system in our continent, learning moved to online and through home-schooling leaving millions of children behind; the digital learning divide is highly evident than before;
- Every day, millions of children around the continent go to school on an empty stomach due to limited access to nutritious meals; this surely affects their concentration and ability to learn:
- Violations of children’s rights remain unfortunately common across our continent. Children face ongoing violations of their rights daily, including poverty, harmful traditional practices, violence and discrimination against them.
A request was also made to the Committee to humbly request Member States to commit and invest sufficient resources on Information Communication Technology infrastructures (ICT) within schools, particularly the public schools in rural communities, and to consider this as a matter of urgency. In closing, Mr Montsho acknowledged the World Food Programme’s efforts and other key stakeholders supporting the school-feeding programmes on the continent.
“We urge the committee to encourage and request member states to increase public investment in the school feeding programme and take ownership of this noble initiative that guarantees every school-going child a nutritious meal. We wish to pledge our commitments to support the Committee in making Africa fit for all her children by translating their rights into a reality. Through our Expanding Equality campaign, we will continue to amplify actions and innocent voices of African children to advance equality for present and future generations of our beautiful continent,” he said.
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.