Introducing an interactive digital platform that will allow African children to learn about their rights

It is estimated that over 400 million children are currently living on the African continent. But, how many children are aware of the existing child rights systems and mechanisms designed to protect their rights? According to Child Rights International Network, children are affected by all of the Sustainable Development Goals, and not only poverty, hunger, good health, access to quality education, gender inequality, climate change and violence. To address the need to explicitly recognise children’s rights, the Graça Machel Trust (GMT) revealed that African children still have limited or no awareness of their rights or of the complaint mechanisms available to seek redress when those rights are violated.

Children participants of the HAKI4All Children training

The Graça Machel Trust, in partnership with Save the Children Regional Programming Unit (RPU) for East and Southern Africa, contracted Mtoto News and the digital innovator Qhala to develop the HAKI 4 ALL Children platform which was officially launched virtually on Wednesday, 10th November 2021. During the launch, Mr Richard Montsho, Child Rights Programme Manager for GMT, highlighted how GMT advocates for the Promotion and Protection of Children’s Rights and Dignity through this innovation. “We invested in HAKI 4 ALL Children primarily to increase children’s knowledge, understanding and capacity to protect and promote their own rights and that of their peers,” he said. Adding that, the platform will teach children about their rights and responsibilities.

“It is our conviction that children have what it takes to be Human Rights Defenders”

Child Rights Officer for the Graça Machel Trust, Ms Caroline Makumbe, shared the vision that contributed to creating this innovative learning tool to help thousands of children know about their rights. She said, “Our vision in creating the HAKI 4 ALL Children Learning Toolkit was to ensure that as the Graça Machel Trust, we embrace and adopt new technologies and ways to advance Child Rights on the continent. We also deliberately ensured that children were central in developing a fresh, fun, and innovative way of learning about their rights and the existence of the complaints procedures both at a local and regional level.”

The partnership with Save the Children Regional Regional Programme Unit (RPU) has helped promote children’s rights across the continent through the facilitation and supporting child rights education workshops and training. Mitchel Chiviru is the Regional Child Rights Governance and Partnership Coordinator for Save the Children (RPU) and has been an influential partner during the process. He said, “Save the Children’s Regional Programming Unit (RPU) for East and Southern Africa is pleased to have collaborated with the Graça Machel Trust in developing a simplified version of the Complaints Mechanism Toolkit. We are confident that this Toolkit will be instrumental in equipping African children with a better understanding of the available local and regional procedures and processes that should be taken to report violations of their rights to the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of children.”

Developing this portal began in 2017 when the Regional Complaints Mechanisms for child rights violations in Africa was still being finalised and was informed by research conducted by GMT. A study conducted in 2018 revealed limited child-appropriate materials available to teach and learn about complaints mechanisms and the availability of remedies in their countries. Also, the Covid-19 pandemic hampered efforts to reach children on the continent to sensitise them about their rights, hastening the development of the HAKI 4 ALL Children digital platform and, later, the Self-Study Workbook for children with limited or no internet access.

Qhala is a tech innovator based in Nairobi specialising in transforming businesses through digital solutions and has supported the development and launch of this exciting and innovating digital platform. “We are delighted to be able to expose as many children as possible to the joys of digital learning. We are honoured for the opportunity to apply a digital tool to the work of upholding the rights of children on the continent,” Shikoh Gitau, CEO Qhala.

Reaching millions of children, one child at a time

The platform’s HAKI 4 ALL Children Prototype was piloted in 15 countries across Africa, including Namibia, the Central African Republic, and Chad. So far, over 2,500 children have been trained, with the final platform currently being piloted in five countries through the following partners this year;

Mtoto News (Kenya)
Rays of Hope (South Africa)
Burundi Child Rights Coalition (Burundi and DRCongo)
Uganda Rights NGO Network (Uganda)

By working with different partners across the continent, the GMT estimates that HAKI 4 ALL Children will, directly and indirectly, impact over 10,000 children in these five target countries alone. The support from Mtoto News, an integrated information and media Kenyan-based company, helped provide a platform dedicated to reporting children’s issues and giving children a space to voice their concerns, helping us reach thousands of children!

Training workshops for children facilitators and CSOs in Burundi and DRC

The GMT plans to build the HAKI 4 ALL Children training material into school curricula in the pilot countries and plans to turn HAKI into a five-part drama series for African educational TV channels and hopes this will encourage more children to become HAKI Child Rights Ambassadors and to teach their peers and families about child rights and the complaints mechanisms available in their respective countries. Some of the children that have used the platform shared their experiences.

Children trained about HAKI 4ALL

Stacy Paula Nakimuli, 17 years old from Uganda said “I personally believe that HAKI 4 ALL Children is the most beautiful thing that’s ever happened to a child out there. It has those interesting stories that get you reading because they are short. And I loved the fact that we were allowed as children from Uganda to give our opinions on how the book should look like.”

Brian King, 14 years old from Kenya said “The HAKI 4 ALL Children Workbook is the best booklet to guide kids on their rights. I love the fact that it uses the simplest characters like Taji & Temi, and animations that are very friendly to kids.”

The HAKI Experience from our partners

Dikeledi Phiri, Social Auxiliary Worker, Rays of Hope – “Rays of Hope is excited to partner with GMT to train over 150 children from Alexandra township as the first HAKI Child Rights Ambassadors in South Africa. We believe the HAKI Toolkit is an innovative means to empower children to learn about their rights to lead a normal, healthy, and happy life.”

Damon Wamara, Executive Director, Uganda Child Rights NGO Network – Having the HAKI Toolkit allows us to empower and enable children to understand and share more about their rights and avenues they can use to report and ensure that their rights are realised. UCRNN is happy to be given the opportunity by the GMT to be part of this cause. We look forward to strong HAKI Clubs in Uganda.”

Dr Franck Bujeje, President, Burundi Child Rights Coalition – “I consider HAKI 4 ALL Children Toolkit to be an adaptive solution to teaching children about their rights and [available] complaints mechanisms. As the Burundi Child Rights Forum, we aim to continue using this Toolkit in the HAKI Clubs we have set up in both the DRCongo and Burundi to ensure as many children learn about their rights and the steps to take when those rights have been violated.”