Professional Documents
Culture Documents
By
Josphat M. Mathe
“representing the SADC Child Budget Network”
TITLE OF PRESENTATION
CHILD
Both the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child [UNCRC] and
the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child [ACRWC] define a
child as ‘a person below the age of 18 years’. Of course, it may be argued that
at times contextual and cultural factures do have a bearing on the
conceptualization of a child.
BUDGET
OBJECTIVE
Child rights activists’ advocacy about Child Budgeting is about ‘influencing the
planning, allocation and utilization of resources with the objective “to realize
child rights”. This ideology is founded on the provisions of Article 4 of the
UNCRC that realizes that, appropriate legislative, administrative and other
support mechanisms are necessary conditions for the implementation and
realization of child rights.
ISSUES AROUND CHILD
BUDGETING
1. Only meaningful when driven
by popular will
• Child budgeting should be supported by
popular sections of the citizenry. For a
meaningful process, the citizenry –
communities, children, lobbyist groups
need to be well informed and empowered
to engage in child rights and budget
matters.
2. Prioritizing children’s articulated
concerns [embracing child
participation]
• For example, in Zimbabwe, there is a project dubbed
the Child Friendly National Budget Initiative [CFNBI]
implemented by the National Association of Non
Governmental Organizations [NANGO] in partnership
with Save the Children Norway – both organizations
being founder-members of the SADC Child Budget
Network. The Initiative has facilitated the formation of
the Zimbabwe Child and Youth Budget Network
[ZCYBN], to spearhead the participation of children in
the budget debate. This is important, as children are
encouraged to discuss amongst themselves and
articulate issues that concern them.
3. Selection of issues to focus
• Whereas child budget matters are many,
focusing on ‘a few manageable’ issues at a time
helps avoid ‘clouding and crowding’. The CFNBI
in Zimbabwe is currently focusing the Education
and Health sectors. This is in line with the SADC
Child Budget Network strategic choices, and co-
incides with the national development objectives
of prioritizing the promotion of basic education
and child health – which are also set targets for
the Millennium Development Goals [MDGs].
4. Effective Targeting in
Advocacy work
• Budget advocacy requires robust lobbying. This
demands effective and appropriate targeting.
Thus, selective targeting of who or what
institutions to lobby is vital for an effective
advocacy process. In the case of budgeting, the
paramount target institution is Parliament and its
structures, such as portfolio committees. There
are also crucial activists groups that must be
targeted, such as Women’s Caucuses, and
others relevant to the issue on discourse.
5. The Media and Publicity
• Effective publicizing of advocacy issues is
instrumental to reaping significant results,
and the role of the media is crucial in that
regard. Even when targeting, it is
important to deal with popular media
houses and personnel. It is also crucial to
sensitize the media about child rights and
friendly child budget reporting.
ACHIEVEMENTS/GAINS