AfricaWide Movement for Children

The Movement's activities include:

• facilitating and promoting the exchange of information;
• undertaking advocacy work for the rights of children in general and of those in difficult situations - specifically, those caught in conflict;
• alerting and mobilising members against dangers to child rights advocates and defenders;
• helping define and articulate common positions at the pan-African and international levels;
• lobbying for the best interests of children in national, Pan-African, and international fora; and
• seeking opportunities to collaborate on joint activities e.g., research and sharing of best practice interventions.

The Movement's website is designed to provide a discussion forum as well as a page where interested organisations and individuals can register to join.

Children, Rights

In 2006, more than 100 child-focused organisations came together to discuss ways to foster and strengthen collaboration and joint action by establishing an Africa-wide movement for children. These organisations subsequently established a steering committee composed of 8 organisations and networks operating in Africa to take the proposal forward and deliberate on the format that it should constitute. The Steering Committee, after lengthy deliberations and after looking into the various possibilities, called a second consultative meeting of child, youth, and human rights organisations in May 2008. At this meeting, the Committee proposed an Africa-wide movement, with possible objectives and structure that would serve as a tool to lobby for the improvement of the lives and living conditions of children in Africa.