In 2004 activities began for improving compliance with and implementation of the National Policy for the Full Development of Children and Adolescents (PNDINA). ISNA’s institutional priority is basically to implement the PNDINA in a context of local development and joint social responsibility. In line with this priority, the Department of Policy Promotion and Adjustment was set up and was allocated human and financial resources to work in the following four areas:
Political and institutional: A training programme was promoted for human resources in public and private bodies on the policy and focus of child and adolescent rights;
Local management: The policy was promoted at local level in the municipalities using participative community methods for diagnosing the situation of child rights at local level;
Public participation: Situational diagnoses were made on child rights, work plans and the training of committees to monitor the plans;
Mass media: Promotion and awareness campaigns for safeguarding child and adolescent rights were carried out.
In 2005 work continued in the same areas of action scenarios, coverage and objectives were extended in municipalities, and a new strategy of training volunteer promotion agents was implemented for promoting child rights. In 2006 there was a need to bring the services closer to the community to improve the results in terms of the strengthening of local networks in the field of child rights and national policy for full development of children.
In particular, the achievements include the agreements signed between ISNA and local governments for the promotion and protection of child rights. In 2005 agreements were signed with 21 municipalities, or 15.78% of all local authorities in the central and paracentral areas of the country. In 2006, with the change of strategy and the setting-up of nine ISNA community offices, the targets increased to 76 local governments, equivalent to 57.14% of all 133 municipalities. Implementation of the plan began in 2004 with six diagnoses of the situation of child rights, with their respective working plans and the training of local committees. In 2006 there was a total of 25 local situation diagnoses.
In 2004 ISNA provided 52 training courses under the programme for training human resources on child rights and policy. At least 831 staff of ISNA and its other cooperating institutions were informed and made aware of child rights and freedoms. Over the period 2005 2006, 1284 more members and strategic allies were trained, bringing the total to 2115 persons over the three-year reporting period. In addition, 22 local networks were incorporated and upgraded. In 2005 these totalled six networks in the east of the country and five in the west. At the end of the period, 33 ISNA local networks for promoting and protecting child rights were operational.
ISNA has drafted the children’s version of the PNDINA, with the aim of informing the child population about child rights, 4000 copies of which have been circulated to children and adolescents throughout the country.
One of the obstacles to extending the coverage of the plan was that to be participative it was subject to adolescents’ time availability, reconciling the agendas of the participants and a lack of political will on the part of some local authorities. It therefore changed its strategy. The alliances were continued, and efforts focused on the working processes and immersion in the municipalities by strengthening local networks and extending coverage of services through a process of decentralizing ISNA’s institutional services.
With the promulgation of the National Policy for the Full Development of Children and Adolescents, ISNA has put in place comprehensive protection mechanisms in 43% of the country’s 111 municipalities, with prevention programmes to promote rights and prevent violence, impacting on diagnoses and local development plans relating to children. Prevention plans were also fostered with local authorities, such as the Life Skills Preparation Plan, for adolescents aged 12 to 17 in the east of the country; management for the adoption by town halls of operational units for children and adolescents; approval of municipal orders protecting against the worst forms of child labour; and promoting mental health committees.
D. State of the National Action Plan (2001-2010)
ISNA has taken various measures in compliance with the objectives of the National Action Plan for Children 2001-2010, notably:
Regarding the aim of extending and improving access to comprehensive early-childhood education, ISNA administers the Child Welfare Centres (CBI), Comprehensive Development Centres (CDI), and Initial Care Homes (HAI), which exist in 48.5% of the country’s 127 municipalities. One of the main areas of progress is the comprehensive approach to the concept of child care, with the participation of the family and local players in order to promote and reinforce good parenting practice in families. The activities aim to change bad practices perpetuated by cultural patterns that adversely influence child development. The strategy is based on family schools or family development workshops, which have been developed using various integration methods, such as child development and life skills materials. This enables children to receive better care both at initial care centres and within their families;
Another significant step forward is the implementation of the integrated curriculum guides, that have been prepared on the themes of health, education and protection, which include technical contributions from the Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare (MSPAS), the Ministry of Education (MINED) and NGOs working for child rights. These guides, approved by the Ministry of Education, are used by personnel outside the formal teaching profession (educators, health personnel and parents) to gain a qualification in child care;
Regarding the objective to reduce gender inequality in education, ISNA has achieved fair and egalitarian participation in initial education programmes, with 50.7% boys and 49.3% girls;
Regarding the objective of developing protection for children against ill treatment, exploitation and violence, ISNA statistics report 351 complaints of ill-treatment in 2004; 423 in 2005 and 463 in 2006. In relation to all children whose rights were violated, this percentage distribution accounted for 10.5% of all cases in 2004, 8.6% in 2005 and 9% in 2006. Similarly, complaints of economic exploitation fell from 1.5% in 2004 to 1.1% in 2005 and 1% in 2006, with 51 cases in 2004, 64 cases in 2005 and 74 cases in 2006;
Regarding the reduction in the rates of involvement of children and adolescents in the worst forms of child labour, up to September 2007, 46,657 children and adolescents had been removed from or prevented from taking part in such activities.
