Central Africa

Members

Action International Ministries

Cutting Edge Theatre Productions

Hope for Children

International HIV/AIDS Alliance

Save the Children UK

SOS Children's Villages

StreetInvest

Students Supporting Street Kids (SSSK)

World Jewish Relief

Publications

“Child witches”, Child Soldiers, Child Poverty and Violence: Street children in Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo
This report outlines the findings and reccomendations from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Street Children's mission to Kinshasa in September 2006. This mission engaged street children directly and established an informed basis upon which the group will provide support to the efforts of the UK Government and international community in responding to this acute crisis.

A Civil Society Forum for Francophone Africa on Promoting and Protecting the Rights of Street Children
This report documents The Civil Society Forum for Francophone Africa that was held in Mbour, Senegal, at the beginning of June 2004, was the fourth and last forum for Africa organised by the Consortium for Street Children. It was, arguably, the most ambitious as it attempted to unite Francophone Africa to debate and discuss issues and situations concerning street children.

Abuses Against Street Children
This report documents abuse suffered by street children in the DRC at the hands of the police and military.

Access to Health Care by Street Children in the Urban Context of N'djamena, Chad
This paper describes, at the example of N'Djaména (Chad), the health problems faced by street children as well as efforts to provide better health care through an action research approach.

Born to High Risk: Violence against Girls in Africa
The African Child Policy Forum believes that ending violence against girls in Africa is one of the most pressing challenges facing Africa today. Hence, this report which has been prepared to inform the discussions at the Second International Policy Conference on the African Child: Violence Against Girls in Africa (May 11 and 12, 2006). The report pulls together information from three sources: existing literature in violence against girls; thematic studies on five settings in which African girls experience violence; and retrospective surveys of young girls' experiences of violence. This rich and revealing information has been analysed to give an overview of the magnitude of the problem, its causes and consequences, as well as the elements of a possible strategy for the way forward.

Building Resilience A Rights-based Approach to Children and HIV/AIDS in Africa
As the vulnerability of children living in communities affected by HIV/AIDS becomes a clear challenge, governments, international agencies, civil society, neighbourhoods, and families have mobilised to try to tackle the issues these children face. This report provides a brief overview of the responses of the international community and governments in rising to these challenges, the roles of the private and civil society sectors, as well as the responses of families and communities dealing directly with the children.The report argues that a Rights-based approach can rectify many of the distortions that have arisen from a crisis-driven response to children affected by HIV/AIDS, poverty, and conflict, and can provide a beacon for moving forward. The underlying principles of universality, indivisibility, responsibility, and participation provide a firm foundation for framing priorities and responses to vulnerable children and families.

Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 Burundi
This article examines the trend and situation of child soldiers in Burundi.

Difficult Circumstances: Some Reflections on “Street Children” in Africa
This article cautions against the dangers of adult-centered approaches in child research, calling for more child-centred research methodologies.

DRC: Children abused in electoral campaign
This report documents abuse suffered by street children in the DRC at the hands of the police and military.

Forum de la Société Civile pour l’Afrique Francophone sur la Promotion et la Protection des Droits des Enfants de la Rue
This report documents The Civil Society Forum for Francophone Africa that was held in Mbour, Senegal, at the beginning of June 2004, was the fourth and last forum for Africa organised by the Consortium for Street Children. It was, arguably, the most ambitious as it attempted to unite Francophone Africa to debate and discuss issues and situations concerning street children.

Gender-based Violence and Property Grabbing in Africa: A Denial of Women's Liberty and Security
Property grabbing is a new form of gendered violence against women, threatening the security of women across Southern and East Africa. Forced evictions are often accompanied by further acts of violence, including physical and mental harassment, and abuse. Widows are particularly vulnerable, partly as a result of weakened customary practice and social safety nets that used to provide support to widowed women and their children, a situation made worse by the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Defending their property has cost some women their lives, while other women have lost their shelter and source of livelihoods, and have become destitute. The harassment and humiliation that often accompany property grabbing further strip women of their selfesteem, affecting their ability to defend their rights.

Going Home: Demobilising and reintegrating child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo
This report evaluates our programme to demobilise nearly 1,200 child soldiers in North and South Kivu provinces.Going Home is an evaluation report documenting Save the Children's programme to demobilise nearly 1,200 child soldiers in the North and South Kivu provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Children tell their own stories about how they were recruited, and the problems they face being reintegrated with their families and communities. The lessons learned are valuable to anyone working with demobilised child soldiers, particularly in situations of ongoing conflict.  

HIV/AIDS and Child Labour. A state-of-the-art review with recommendations for action.
A study on the pressure of HIV/AIDS and its exacerbating effects on child poverty, pushing many of them onto the labour market.

Life without Basic Service ''Street Children Say''
This study builds on the learning of Street Diary (Save the Children UK, 2001), giving theopportunity for a group of children to represent their own analysis of their situation. Itexamines the human and emotional dimension of life on the street. This is not astatistical or quantitative research but is representative of the feelings of children livingon the street about their lives and organisations working with them.

List of Countries which have Signed, Ratified/Acceded to the African Union Convention on the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child

Networking for Policy Change: An Advocacy Training Manual

Organisation for the Fight Against Child Abuse (OFACA):
Paper on Cameroon's compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Organizational Diagnosis for Advocacy
When groups are considering advocacy, it is helpful for them to assess what advocacy actually can offer their organization, what some of the benefits and risks might be and what organizational barriers might influence their success.

Policy Paralysis: A Call for Action on HIV/AIDS-Related Human Rights Abuses Against Women and Girls in Africa
Human Rights Watch has documented many gender-based human rights abuses in Africa that fuel the epidemic and make unbearable the lives of women and girls already living with HIV/AIDS. Their research is based largely on the moving and often horrifying stories told to us by African women and girls who have suffered abuse; many such stories are featured in this report. It is our hope that some understanding of the human reality of these abuses will lead to greater protection of the rights of the girls and women like those who have courageously told us of their experiences at the center of a deadly epidemic.

Poverty, isolation and ill-treatment: Juvenile justice in Burundi
In March 2002, Amnesty International delegates visited six of Burundi's 11 prisons, as part of its research into the plight of child detainees in the country. This report includes the findings of that visit. The cases included in this report are illustrative of many others and of the generic problems faced by children following their arrest and detention.

Scolarisation des Enfants de la Rue au Burundi

Social Protection of Africa's Orphans and other Vulnerable Children
This paper reviews initiatives for orphans and vulnerable children by governments, NGOs, and the World Bank, with a view toward delineating good practices. Designing and implementing appropriate interventions to protect orphans in Africa is a daunting task. This paper examines some of the issues in program design, especially those bearing on targeting. It also assesses the advantages, disadvantages, and costeffectiveness of various program interventions, including education and health subsidies, fostering, orphanages, and children's villages.

Street children and Gangs in African Cities: Guidelines for Local Authorities
The objective of this report to provide guidelines for local authorities in Africa on how to deal with street children in their cities. This is done by: 1) Providing an overview of the issue of street children in general 2)Providing an overview of the issue of different roles local authorities can play when addressing the issue of street children.

Struggling to Survive: Children in Armed Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
This report by Watchlist documents continued, pervasive and egregious violations against children in DRC in each of the major categories identified by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005) on children and armed conflict. These violations include killing and maiming, rape and other forms of sexual violence, abduction, denial of humanitarian assistance, attacks on schools and recruitment and use of children.

The response to HIV/AIDS in Conflict situations a research study into Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern-DRC
Save the Children UK was commissioned by UNICEF and UNAIDS to do research in Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern DRC, to describe humanitarian organisations' response to HIV/AIDS in emergency settings. Several months were spent in 2002 interviewing representatives of key organisations, visiting projects and collecting studies, proposals and reports. An internet search was done for each organisation's policies, strategies, best practices, guidelines, manuals and toolkits. This summary report focuses on key findings from the main report and next steps.

Trafficking in Human Beings, Especially Women and Children, in Africa
The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of key issues related to the trafficking of human beings, particularly women and children, in Africa. The report presents a preliminary mapping of trafficking patterns and provides an indication of emerging good practices on the continent.

Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict - Burundi
This report presents basic indicators on the situation of Burundian children, including adolescents.

What Future? Street Children in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Based on interviews with more than fifty street children, this paper analyses the situation of and issues facing street children in the DRC.

Wounded Childhood: The Use of Children in Armed Conflict in Central Africa
The study "Wounded Childhood," funded by the United States Labor Department is an important first step in developing new strategies to address the child soldier crisis sweeping through Central Africa. The study-which is comprised of hundreds of interviews-provides an unprecedented look into the recruitment of Central Africa's child soldiers and the aftermath of their service and abduction. Even though results varied by country, the survey data collected clearly demonstrates that so called Central African child soldier "volunteers" made the decision while they were under numerous pressures and were ignorant of the consequences of their decision. Further, the most frequently cited reason why demobilized child soldiers rejoined an armed group was a clear lack of any means of survival-like food or money.

Youth on the Streets: The Importance of Social Interactions on Psychological Well-being in an African Context
This study reflects four months of research including a two-week field assignment to Ethiopia, with the overall goal of gaining greater understanding of the impact of street youth programming on psychosocial well-being. The research was conducted through a partnership between the Displaced Children and Orphans Fund (DCOF) and the George Washington University (GWU). It contains three deliverables, including a new framework for child well-being, the identification of five key program components of street children interventions that are most likely to successfully contribute to psychosocial well-being, and the development of indicators to measure outcomes and impacts within these five domains.

Resources