AFRICAN CHILD OBSERVATORY 
| Last Updated on : August 20th, 2008 |
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Success in action on behalf of children is predicated on vigorous advocacy and effective policies and programmes, and both rely on the availability and application of knowledge and information to inform content relevance, effective targeting and ultimately assured impact.
Advocacy has a central role in changing the perception and behavioural patterns that perpetuate the difficult situations in which children find themselves. It can reveal abusive and exploitative situations, highlight and draw attention to ubiquitous problems whose adverse impact on child development and survival may not be fully recognized, mobilize public opinion against child rights violations, initiate and reinforce a movement for action and help create a society and environment that supports and sustains a culture of rights.
Much campaigning by human rights, women's and even child rights groups tend to be negative and “problem-centred”. On the contrary, we think advocacy work must be change driven. We have a moral obligation to go beyond a problem statement: our message should, as far as possible, be positive and always include actions and suggestions for change. Above all, in order to be credible and owned, effective policy and action-oriented advocacy must be based and supported by facts and evidence.
As regards public policy, experience has shown that policy making in Africa is hampered by inadequate research, information and relevant data. Information on the situation of African children and importantly knowledge on how to address the enormous, complex and sometimes contentious problems facing them is inadequate and scattered. Where it is available, it may be largely of academic interest or of limited policy relevance. In addition, more often than not, the available information may not be widely disseminated or prepared in an easily understandable form. Since information on children especially in Africa is very difficult to access, many organisations working with and for children do not even know of the availability of the very vital information which would enable them to deliver quality service. Another consequence is that many organisations looking for data/information usually commission research that has already been done before, wasting valuable resources in the process. Comparative studies linking experience-based information at grass-roots level with policy-development at national or regional level are scarce. Yet, such information including on who-is-working-on-what-and-where and the availability of such information at one place - physical or virtual - could help and facilitate effective fact-based advocacy, policy dialogue and collective action especially by policy makers, parliamentary bodies, non-governmental organisations and development partners. Hence, this proposal to establish the Observatory on African Children which would serve as a mechanism to gather and disseminate relevant information, to generate new knowledge and information when or where it is needed, and provide a forum for dialogue among policy makers, parliamentarians, child rights experts and practitioners and other stakeholders.
II. Progress so far and the AU call |
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The idea of child observatories is relatively new, and there are only a couple of such undertakings in Africa .
The African Child Policy Forum has made progress in the collection and dissemination of international and comparative information of Africa-wide interest. It has launched and is operating a virtual information-sharing and networking platform called the African Child Information Hub ( www.africanchild.info ). This platform is intended to strengthen the information base on the state and welfare of children in Africa and, by so doing, help identify existing gaps in knowledge and information, and to encourage networking among child rights organisations in the region. The African Child Information Hub has, among other things, information on over a thousand organizations focusing on African Children. It constitutes an integral part of the larger African Child Observatory which has already started to provide information on a wide range of subjects such as national laws and policies, good practices and research undertakings as well as producing major reports on progress and trends in the wellbeing of children in Africa and what is being done by governments to meet their national and international obligations. Such a centre provides international and comparative information, and it is important to complement this pan-African initiative with national ones and thus promote the establishment of national observatories as a support and a catalyst for national efforts. Additionally the country Observatories can serve as a vehicle for the gathering and dissemination of detailed country specific information on children. Indeed, action to this effect was explicitly called by the African Union in the Call for Accelerated Action on the Implementation of the Plan of Action Towards Africa Fit for Children (2008-12 ) adopted at the Second Pan-African Forum on Children (29-2 October 2007) held in Cairo which inter alia called on African states to “set up national observatories on child rights that will include children as members”.
The Observatory's tasks are the production and dissemination of knowledge, research and information on children and the provision of a forum for policy reflection and dialogue. It will give particular attention to knowledge and information directly relevant to policy analysis and development. In this respect, it may be pointed out that the most important preoccupation for policy makers in many countries is not so much the lack of policy choices as the issue of implementation. There are serious structural, economic, cultural and resource problems that constrain the effectiveness of public policy. So, one of the primary tasks of the observatory is to carry out work that would help the policy maker bridge the gap between policy and practice.
Since public and societal attitudes are as decisive as other structural factors and the policy environment, work by the observatory will give attention also to the study and monitoring of public perceptions and views using traditional and innovative methods.
Finally, the Observatory will act as facilitator for knowledge dissemination. It will support partners by managing an interactive and authoritative information hub and organising virtual and physical knowledge forums for policy researchers to facilitate exchange of experiences, especially on good practices and the things that work.
In short, the observatory will provide
- Evidence-based information on child wellbeing
- Information on progress in child rights and wellbeing
- Analysis on international experiences and best practices
- Information that could be used in parliamentary deliberations and in policy and programme formulation
In addition it will provide a platform for researchers to identify priority research areas and exchange knowledge and a forum for dialogue among key stakeholders.
The research and information agenda will be guided by appropriate institutional arrangements that will define the content and priorities of the Observatory. It will also be informed by at least two important considerations.
First while the Observatory will, for reasons of convenience, give primacy to quantitative data and methods it will also to the extent possible complement them with the provision and application of qualitative data and approaches. This would help deepen understanding of the problems confronting children and their families and the policy menu. The Observatory will use interactive and participatory research techniques involving children, policy makers, child-centred NGOs and the community.
Second, as children are potentially an important source, target and user of research and information, the work by the Observatory would, to the extent possible, be child informed. Attempt will be made to use various ways of eliciting the views, perceptions and potential of children and youth on their situation and aspirations. Ensuring that the voices of children and youth are heard or recognized will be a difficult task but one that will be given special attention in the very design and implementation of programmes.
