The Challenge

Children and young people account for almost 70% of the population of Solomon Islands.

The Solomon Islands Government established a National Advisory Council on Children in 1993, ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1995 and submitted a comprehensive Initial Report to the Committee in Geneva in 2003; all symbols of the willingness on the part of the Government to seriously address the issues that are faced by children in this country.

However, new issues in relation to children and young people are emerging every day and commitments to the development of legislation and protection mechanisms for children have been slow to materialise. The SIG has welcomed intervention by NGOs and civil society to collaborate to identify and tackle issues as they emerge.

The Program

Child Advocacy Project (CAP) seeks to make a substantial contribution towards creating an aware and proactive environment that is conducive to supporting children's rights and development.

Key activities for this project include:

• Supporting government to develop laws to protect children and provide ongoing training for government representatives in child rights, child participation, child rights programming and the promotion of community awareness on child rights.
• Development of comprehensive training manuals, including a multi-purpose resource pack, to support the promotion of child rights.  
• Co-ordinating advocacy campaigns to identify and prioritise child-rights issues.
• Training media professionals on child rights issues and building partnerships with them to promote child rights and child participation.
• Through a partnership with radio and print media, children are trained in effective use of the media for advocacy on issues affecting them.
• Ongoing training for Save the Children and partner staff to work with vulnerable children.
• Forming and strengthening inclusive Child Clubs that are trained and supported to minimise child rights violations - especially those related to protection, participation and education

Outcomes for Children and Communities

The CAP has succeeded in promoting awareness of child rights at both a regional and national level.

Key Achievements to date include:

• Working with NACC, MWYCA and the Law Reform Commission to reform laws concerning child rights and develop child protection legislation

• Child Clubs formed and strengthened for promoting children's rights in relation to child protection, participation and education

• Forums and spaces provided for children to speak out and advocate for child rights with key stakeholders, media and adults

• Supporting the SIG in celebrating International Children's Day and ensuring this day encompasses not only children, but also prominent members of society, government and local chiefs, in awareness raising activities
• Support Child Clubs to carry out their own activities
• Billboards placed in tourist areas and IEC material distributed in communities to highlight the rights of children in Solomon Islands and that they must be respected at all times
• Child rights information has reached over 70 communities in the Solomon Islands through more than 500 young people volunteering with Save the Children
• A strong partnership with the media has helped CAP gain sustained coverage of child rights issues and individual campaigns. Journalists have also been trained on the Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CRC)

What Next?

The second phase of the project started in July 2009. The aim is to build upon the strengths of the previous phase and to continue raising awareness of child rights in the community, particularly child protection. Further activities will be developed in consultation with children, the community, MWYCA, the media and other key agencies.

Human stories

Albert

Before the Save the Children Programme, Albert, now aged 13, observed a lot of child rights violations both in his family and in his community. However, Albert did not know that these were child rights violations, and neither that children have the right to protection from all forms of abuses."Before I joined Save the Children Child Club in Tuvaruhu community, I had no idea that children also have rights. I also didn't know where and with whom responsibilities lied, and who else is responsible in making my life meaningful if my parents cannot."

Albert came to know about the existence of a Child Club in his community after some community sensitization conducted by Save the Children staff in the area. "I joined the Tuvaruhu community Child Club, which was set up with support from Save the Children, in 2009. We learned about children's rights and conducted child rights and child abuse awareness in our community. For the first time, I felt empowered and brave enough to talk directly to my father about child rights and how I thought he and other adults in the community were, perhaps unknowingly, abusing them."  I also influenced my young brother (aged 11) to join the club and my mother to lead the Children's Development Committee that set was up by the Save the Children project in our community."

Albert and his community are some of the beneficiaries of the Save the Children Child Advocacy Program (CAP). The CAP empowered Albert with knowledge of child rights, what constitutes child abuse and how/to whom to report any forms of abuses. He was able to use this information to influence his own family to stop practices, attitudes and behaviors that would harm him and his siblings, or compromise the family's ability to provide for the children. In particular, the children and their mother used the knowledge from the Child Clubs and the Children's Development Committee to influence the father to cut down on drinking and to spend more time with the children.