Combating Violence against Children in Africa: A Framework for Civil Society Advocacy

“From the street child brutally beaten by police to the girl child sexually harassed by her teacher or kin, violence is a multifaceted problem of huge significance in the lives of children in Africa and elsewhere.”

This advocacy framework provides practical guidance for civil society organisations (CSOs) and other stakeholders to advocate for the protection of children’s rights in Africa. It is designed to help in identifying key messages, strategies, and actions on which to base advocacy efforts at pan-African, global, national, and local/community levels, and to influence policymakers to put children at the centre of national agendas.

The data and priorities for action are based on the African Report on Violence Against Children for which this advocacy framework is a companion publication. This report, published by the African Child Policy Forum, offers an in-depth exposition of the magnitude as well as the causes and consequences of violence against children and analyses the various vulnerability factors that underlie or aggravate violence, such as gender, social practices, homelessness, and disability. The report also identifies a number of priorities for action in combating violence against children in Africa. One of these is building the capacity of CSOs to engage more effectively with governments, including by: contributing in a concrete manner to regional and national policymaking processes; exerting positive influence on the child rights programming landscape; and being able to promote government accountability to children. Click here to access The African Report on Violence Against Children [2014] (the 2016 edition was expected to be launched in December 2016).

As explained in the document, “The Framework draws from the rich experiences of various actors in child rights advocacy and provides a shared framework of principles based on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It provides an excellent mix of both theoretical discussions and hands-on practical examples of effective advocacy, while at the same time refraining from being prescriptive.”

The framework is comprised of the following five main sections:

• Nature of the Problem of Violence in Africa - presents a summary of the nature and magnitude of violence against children in Africa that sets the background, rationale, and context for the framework.
• Definition, Conceptual Framework and Strategic Approach for Advocacy - describes the aims and objectives of the framework, including its conceptual framework and design.
• Addressing Violence Against Children: Priorities, and Advocacy Objectives, Results and Strategy - is more specific, and considers advocacy priorities, presented as objectives and results. These priorities are drawn directly from the African Report on Violence Against Children.
• Engaging and Reaching Multiple Audiences: Collective Advocacy - elaborates on approach and methodology, with particular emphasis on the multiple audiences that need to be reached and the importance of partnerships for collective advocacy.
• Conclusions - concluding remarks with respect to moving forward on advocacy.

In addition, the three Annexes provide practical instruments to support concrete planning and implementation of advocacy, including ways in which to measure success.