| |
Child rights
activists worldwide agree that children’s participation is crucial in the
pursuit of children’s rights. With the review of the Child Care Act of
1983 currently underway, the Children’s Institute has embarked for the
first time on a project to explore the facilitation of children’s
participation in legislative processes.
Once legislated as an Act, the new Children’s Bill stands to be perhaps
the single most important piece of child-related legislation in South
Africa. The Children’s Bill Child Participation project is thus a process
to involve children in the debates and decision-making processes that will
inform the final provisions in this bill, with a particular emphasis on
children made vulnerable in the context of HIV/AIDS.
Twelve children between the ages of 12 and 17 years were selected from
partner organisations in Limpopo, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and North
West Provinces to participate in the project.
To equip child participants to engage with the bill, and to articulate
their opinions about it, a capacity-building programme was designed. This
entailed participatory workshops focusing on developing legislative
literacy and supporting the children to become advocates.
To assist in developing their legislative literacy, a resource pack
containing a child-friendly version of the Children’s Bill was developed.
The pack also contained activities to enable children to learn about the
current content of the Children’s Bill, and to develop opinions about what
was lacking in the bill, and what they were satisfied with.
In supporting the children to become advocates, they designed an advocacy
campaign strategy, identifying themselves as heroes of the AIDS pandemic.
The strategy includes talking to other children about the bill; engaging
with decision-makers about their concerns; performing radio dramas, rap
songs, poems, and designing posters and t-shirts. The group chose to call
themselves Dikwankwetla – Children in Action, and their slogan is “Children
are the future, give them their rights”.
Some of the main challenges in facilitating this process have been:
- Balancing popular education methodologies
with the fact that the children had to be “taught” about the content of
the current draft bill,
- Linking the relevance of the provisions in
the bill to the children’s lives, and
- Structuring the children’s participation
in such a way that they do not feel overburdened with the responsibility
of changing legislation, in addition to having to deal with their own
very difficult socio-economic conditions.
The facilitation of this process has again
highlighted the importance of close collaborations across disciplines.
Also, it was crucial to use effective participatory methods and tools in
the workshops. Lastly, child-friendly policy or legal documents is
invaluable in facilitating child participation in legislative processes.
|
|
