Newsletter

Volume 2 Issue 4 April 1, 2003

Global Movement for Children http://:www.gmfc.org
Convention on the Rights of the Child www.crc.org
Global Youth Action Network www.youthlink.org
Global Development Network http://www.gdnet.org/

"Does the protection of children boil down to setting in place a preventive or repressive judicial arsenal to penalize all forms of abuse?" Obviously not! Especially if there is a question of countries facing an invading poverty which in itself constitutes a factor of alienation of children’s rights. Ms. Seynabou Tall Wade, Director of a Non Governmental Organization, provides examples of the correlation between the two equations and reiterates that without an effective struggle against poverty, all attempts at childhood protection are compromised".

Poverty, an everyday reality in Senegal, aggravated itself with the structural adjustment programs imposed by Bretton Wood’s institution in the 1980’s. This has led to the perpetual degradation within the population’s living conditions. "Poverty and childhood protection" have become the newest relevant concepts and topics of development over the past few years.

The diptych, "poverty and childhood protection in Senegal," raises the questions regarding the different strategies and attempts to end poverty since independence, the problem of child and youth mutilation, due to their parent’s unemployment, and finally the solutions that seem to be recommended for change.

Faced with the situation of poverty, the government of Senegal is looking for and tried diverse strategies to fight against this calamity, in order to end the crisis. That is why since the years of independence; the government has encouraged and promoted the creation of women’s groups helped and supportive by some administrative services against the rural expansion. The Government is supported by its partners such as PNUD, the World Bank, and UNICEF and also through bilateral cooperation. But despite all this, poverty remains on the front lines and does not diminish.

This is why Senegal which is classified among the 20 poorest countries in the world has recently set in place the Document of Poverty Reduction Strategies (DPRS), which states that 63.3 % of the Senegalese population lives under the poverty level, 58 % of households are poor, and 58% of the population are youth under 20 years of age. In this percentage of poverty, the two categories, which are considered to be the most afflicted and vulnerable; are women and children.

All contradictions and societal difficulties are concentrated on the level of poverty for women and children. Thus, unemployment, which has grown tremendously these last three years, leaves a large number of men at the roadside searching for jobs. This growth in unemployment has reinforced the role of women within their family network, often as head of the household. Confronting this situation, parents often see their authority diminishing, as they are searching constantly for daily wages or through sheer abdication of their responsibilities simply give up.

Children are often left to tend for themselves and without decent occupations. They have to face many difficulties. Among them, one has to realize that the level of drop outs in schools is due to the lack of means and control of parents. Facing these difficulties as well as parental disengagement brought kids in the streets, in a survival state, ending up in workshops that train them (apprentices) where children are put into very bad conditions and are used for other services such as courier and crossing persons. Still very often, it’s in the domestic work that mostly girls, wrongly considered by their parents as supports of the family, are led to look for high risk salaries (which consequently led to pregnancy, prostitution and low-wages etc.). For girls household work is also considered a necessary tool providing family support.

In order to create the basis of lasting childhood protection, the United Nations has put into place the Convention for the Rights of the Child (CRC). UNICEF is the specialised institution of the United Nations, whose focus is the welfare of children, and is credited with the topic’s popularisation. UNICEF is constantly fighting for children’s rights, mainly focusing on the right to education and the idea of universal schooling.

For the last few years, the International Jobs Bureau (BIT) has been equally engaged in the protection of children, and since its 1982 convention, focused on the worst forms of child-labour. The government of Senegal has signed and ratified their support. In this struggle to attain childhood protection, the International Jobs Bureau has gained support from employers throughout Senegal as well as certain charity organizations such as the Rotary International Club. Other actors are included in the development of non-government organizations in order to contribute to their struggle to allow for a more intensified form of child protection. They are sustained by beneficiaries, bilateral cooperation or simply through sponsorship. These organizations have set up programs or initiate activities focused on the general population. These programs are usually the most economic and socio-educative and bring slightly more benefit to the beneficiaries.

In order to make this form of involvement for child protection more efficient, it has to be envisaged since infancy by establishing strategies based on prevention. This is why the project, "la case des tout petits", (The Little Ones Section) must be perpetuated through universal education whose aim should be to enrol all children who reach school age in school as well as the obligation to insist to keep them at school. Indeed, school is a tool for protecting children.

A child, who attends school and is very well monitored, taken care of, and has little time to spend on streets. Unfortunately, many organizations work on the rehabilitation and neglect the aspect of prevention, which is both essential and crucial.

The complete eradication of poverty is an unrealistic hope. The best-off societies have poor of their own. However, the drive to reduce it and make it less pervasive must be our priority. Without a substantial decline in poverty, inevitablly every attempt towards child protection will face obstacles, which will not be easily conquered.

Seynabou Tall WADE

Director of the NGO AFEE Sénégal E mail : afee@sentoo.sn

NEWS

To Love Children will be in India and Sri Lanka working with three organizations; Shantidhara Social Service Society, Empower the Children and AGWIN. We will be working on site to build and offer expertise in establishing educational resource centers. On this occasion we will be building four libraries, four in India and one in Sri Lanka. We invite volunteers and financial support. Our goal is to create sustainable educational development to meet the long term educational needs of girls and children that are the most neglected and suffer from the worst poverty. There are many ways to volunteer and provide the support we need in order to make a difference in the lives of over a thousand children in these countries.

To Love Children’s International Calendar

Get involved in action week on girls' education
www.campaignforeducation.org/_html/actionweek/welcome/frameset.shtml

Of the nearly one billion adults who cannot read or write and the 115 million children who are out of school, two-thirds are women and girls. Though, world leaders have promised to close the gender gap in education by 2005, it is time to remind the leaders to keep their promise. So, join in.

Come join us in opening libraries for girls in rural India, visit with children, teachers, village elders and speak with leaders of NGO’s to help implement programs to help children in poverty

Contact davidkwaldman@msn.com

Educational Development News

"To take action that supports the education of the girl child in the developing world."

Our website supports the work of children and teachers researching summits, conventions, forums, declarations, issues, non-governmental organizations, and children advocates that is based on the principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

To support schools as well as community groups and civic leaders that need to not only research issues concerning girl children and education, but also to provide the critical thinking tools necessary in order to understand the complexity of this issue.

To freely share resources, information, expertise and experience on issues relating to girl child education including the issues of boy children, health, environment and security. This  will enable children and educators to start a grassroots campaign by teaching children how to follow through with their research to create practical solutions to the real world.

During this time of great stress and war To Love Children Educational Foundation International will continue to promote and implement programs that underlines the value of education. So many millions of children are deprived of having at least a basic education. We do this by committing ourselves to taking the time to do our programs with care and excellence keeping the best interests of the child in mind. Education is the key to understanding perspectives, different value systems and local community views when it comes to the raising of children. We all always strive to teach tolerance along with basic skills for the value of education is to expand ones knowledge and ability to give love and peace for all societies.