POLICY SUMMARY:
The vision of the Graça Machel Trust (the Trust) is to nurture caring societies that value social justice, promote, and protect the rights of women and children. This vision as well as the Trust’s commitment to upholding human dignity and human rights anchors the organisation’s work.
The Trust is committed to inculcating a nurturing culture that promotes safety and human dignity. It has a zero-tolerance approach to exploitative and abusive behaviours and relationships.
The Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Policy sets out the Trust’s commitment to the prevention and management of sexual exploitation and abuse and reporting mechanisms within the Trust. It emphasises the importance of reporting actual or suspected inappropriate behaviour related to sexual exploitation, abuse and acts of misconduct.
This is to ensure decisive action – including investigation of allegations and appropriate disciplinary and/or criminal prosecution- is taken.
The Trust affirms the Six Core Principles adopted by the United Nation’s Inter-Agency Standing Committee Task Force on Prevention and Response to Sexual exploitation and Abuse which has informed the development of this Policy.
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.