Regional Call-For-Action From the Children of Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe

All children have the right to a quality education, to grow up in a safe and secure environment and to be protected from harm. Children’s rights are human rights, enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Yet too many children cannot realize these rights and face exclusion, discrimination, violence, and exploitation. Children have the right to grow up in a world where every child is valued, included, empowered and protected.

As children of Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa Zambia and Zimbabwe, we recognize all the work done our respective Governments to promote the rights of children. But there is still much work to do to ensure that the rights of all children to a quality education are protected, promoted and fulfilled – without discrimination.

Our unified Call-for-Action on World Children’s Day, aligned with the specific theme of the 2024 Regional World Children’s Day commemorations “Educate and Skill the African Child for Posterity” is to drive progress in the following areas. Our Call-for-Action is informed by broad national consultations involving more than 5000 children across our seven countries, organized among our peers with the support of our Governments and civil society partners.

We, the children from Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, call on our leaders to listen to our voices, include us in decisions which affect us, adopt and implement our solutions and invest in our present and future.

We call on our Governments to take concerted action on the following issues:

To ensure access to Education:

• Ensure all children – including children from disadvantaged backgrounds – have access to quality education, providing financial support for those in need and addressing the specific needs of girls and boys to access education.
• Strengthen and enrich curricula to ensure inclusion of practical life skills that enhance daily living and learning to earning. Curriculum content should be designed to ensure relevance and meet the current demands of children.
• Quality education needs to be innovative, allowing critical thinking and creativity, ensuring appropriate learning materials and a supportive learning environment, and facilitating engagement and practical skills development. Governments should provide this in consultation with children.
• Educators should be equipped to deliver quality education, making learning fresh, and impactful, and delivered in pleasant environments and infrastructure, conducive to learning, including well-equipped labs and libraries.

For an inclusive and quality education system:

• Provide children with equal opportunities for education, including children with disabilities and those in hard-to-reach areas.
• Ensure integrated learning environments, allowing students to interact and collaborate with peers with special education needs from a young age instead of being separated.
• Employ well-trained and qualified teachers for better learning outcomes; increase teacher salaries and benefits to improve retention.
• Construct child- and disability-friendly infrastructure and provide sufficient teaching resources, including solar power for uninterrupted learning, build schools closer to communities or provide transportation for students.
• Involve parents, guardians and community leaders in creating an inclusive education system – including adolescent girls at risk of drop out of school, children involved in child labour, minority groups and children with disabilities – to ensure no child is left behind.

To ensure relevant education, including emerging issues:  

• Ensure an education that is impactful and useful to us in the current modern and developing world; an education with a positive impact in our lives, be it present or in future as we transition to the world of work; the curriculum should equip us with relevant skills to navigate life from a very young age.
• We want a curriculum that is aligned with the rest of the world and puts emphasis on digital literacy. This will be achieved by improving ICT infrastructure in all schools.
• Expand and enhance climate change education programmes and teach us about climate change, the environment, responsible and sustainable consumption and production as core subjects in class and/or school clubs focusing on climate.
• Ensure we have access to education in a safe learning environment, also during emergencies.

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Children’s Pledge of Commitment

As children from Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, we stand united in our belief that our voices and actions matter. We are committed to being responsible citizens, ready to support and work alongside our Governments, leaders, parents and organisations to create a better future for all children in our region.

We the children the children from Botswana, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe commit to:

• Actively participate in child parliaments, school councils, junior councils as well as other student forums, and take full advantage of opportunities to voice our ideas about curriculum and school programmes. By sharing our perspectives, we will help create an education system that meets our needs.
• Advocate for the development of public libraries and recreational facilities, using these spaces for personal growth and encouraging others to engage in learning, sports, and creative activities that benefit our well-being.
• Make our schools and communities more inclusive by embracing diversity, offering support, and advocating for accessibility in all areas. Together, we can create an environment where everyone can thrive, belong and feel safe.
• Use technology responsibly and enhance our digital skills. We will engage in ICT programmes, share our knowledge with peers, and encourage others to join us in developing the skills needed to succeed in a digital world.
• Learn and educate ourselves and others on climate change and commit to sustainable practices in our daily lives. Through small acts like reducing waste and participating in community clean-up efforts, we can help protect our planet for generations to come.
• Make our classrooms more collaborative, helping our teachers, and supporting our peers, in a quest to foster a culture of mutual respect and encouragement, to overcome challenges together.

Africa Fact: On Kongolese metallurgy of the Middle Ages, one modern scholar wrote that: “There is no doubting . . . the existence of an expert metallurgical art in the ancient Kongo . . . The Bakongo were aware of the toxicity of lead vapours. They devised preventative and curative methods, both pharmacological (massive doses of pawpaw and palm oil) and mechanical (exerting of pressure to free the digestive tract), for combating lead poisoning.”