Reacción de transcripción/traducción in vitro

Background

Save the Children had long known about the problems faced by children who had been sexually abused in Norway. Some even suffered further abuse when they sought help from the authorities. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), children have the right to protection against all kinds of sexual abuse, and the right to appropriate help and treatment. In 2002 it seemed that children were neither getting the right kind of help nor was it easily accessible to them.We decided to improve this situation.

Change objective

Our objective was to set up a Children’s House and encourage more child-friendly approaches by the legal and social authorities dealing with children who had been sexually abused.

Strategy

• Gather evidence of the problem.We followed court cases to improve our understanding of how child abuse cases are handled by the legal system.

• Find a possible solution.We identified the Children’s House in Iceland as a good model for what we wanted to establish in Norway. So in 2003 we visited the Children’s House in Iceland to learn how it was established, the resource implications and its results, with a view to setting up a similar initiative in Norway. Later on, during the advocacy process, we took key partners and decision-makers to Iceland to learn about the Children’s House. • Identify partners for advocacy.We told our existing allies, including other NGOs,

professionals and researchers, of our plans. From 2004 to 2006 we used all possible opportunities to raise the issue of the Children’s House and make it known.We extended our network in the process.

• Identify advocacy targets and influentials.We took part in a variety of meetings with politicians and decision-makers.

• Raise public awareness through the media in all possible situations, and within Save the Children Norway.We worked with the media, writing articles for newspapers and professional journals, and being interviewed on television and in newspapers.We developed materials for our members so they could carry out advocacy locally. • Record all activities in the process in a lobby log.

What we achieved

In May 2004 a group of Members of Parliament (MPs) suggested in parliament that new guidelines were urgently needed for questioning and protecting children who had been sexually abused.What they suggested was almost identical to the Children’s House.The Ministry of Justice set up a task group, and an external reference group that we were invited to participate in.The task group presented its report in the spring of 2006, recommending that a Children’s House be set up in Norway from June 2007. Funds have been allocated for this purpose in the national budget.

What we learned

• We had a clear change objective. • Our plan was long-term but also flexible. • Strategic partnerships were crucial. • Writing a lobby log was very useful.

• It was necessary to allocate financial and staff resources.

3.1

Participant’s manual

module

ual • session plan

module

3

3.1

What is still left to do?

When will y

ou do it?

Who is r

esponsib

le?

ocacy (the adv

ocacy cycle)

es wer

Advocacy begins with an issue or problem that the organisation agrees to support in order to promote a policy change. The issue should meet agreed-upon criteria and support the overall mission. As mentioned in the previous section the advocacy should be based on evidence from, and integrated into your programme work.

A situation analysis forms the foundation for any programme or advocacy plan. It provides the analysis of the problem that you are trying to address, and looks at the ways in which it can be solved. There are different ways of carrying out a situation analysis, but many Save the Children organisations use child rights as a framework.

Child Rights Situation Analysis

The child rights situation analysis (CRSA) helps to prioritise areas you need to address in your programmes and advocacy by going through the following steps:

• Identifying what rights are not realised for which children (researching, mapping, making visible).

• Identifying why they are not realised – immediate and root causes.

• Identifying who/which institution bears responsibility. What are they and other actors currently doing? Identify specific officials and the office they hold.

• Identifying the constraints and obstacles to meeting responsibilities (capacity, legislative, resources, attitude?). What might help or hinder the further realisation of children’s rights?

• Identifying how best to change – what strengths can be reinforced, what more needs to be done, or done differently, and with whom?

3.2 Selecting an advocacy issue

3.2

Participant’s manual

module

The diagram below shows the child at the centre of circles of responsibilities.The closest circle consists of family, then community, and so on. Each of these circles has obligations and responsibilities towards children and their well-being. In child rights terminology, these groups are all duty-bearers and their obligation is to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights.This analysis will help you identify key decision-makers at different levels who can be held accountable. It will also help you clarify the levels of

advocacy that will be needed to make a real impact on children’s lives.

module

3

An overall country programme plan can be developed based on your CRSA, including direct interventions and service delivery, strengthening systems and mechanisms to deliver better services, and advocacy to change policy and practice.

42

Participant’s manual

module

3

3.2

3. Adapted from Save the Children Denmark,Child Rights

Advocacy, Operational guidelines, Save the Children, 2006

Sometimes your situation analysis will identify several issues you could address through advocacy. Or you may identify advocacy problems in the course of your direct interventions so you have to narrow the focus. The questions below3will help you prioritise the issues to focus on:

• What is the issue’s relevance to your organisation’s mission and strategies? • What is its relevance to your programme work?

• Is documentation and research available? Do you have evidence about this problem or possible solutions from your direct interventions?

• Do you have a clear position and a positive alternative, or a clear policy solution? • Is there a chance for success in improving children’s lives?

• What is the relative importance for children and potential impact on key groups of children affected?

• What is your assessment of the sensitivity and risk factors associated with this issue?

• What is the possibility of strategic alliances, including with other members of the International Save the Children Alliance?

• What strategic opportunities are there to address this issue? • Do you have adequate resources and staff?

• What is the potential for increasing the role of children in civil society?

Exercise 3.2A