Areas of Work (Thematic Focus)

Children bear the brunt of armed conflict. The harm done to children in armed conflict is not only often more severe than that done to adults, it has also longer lasting implications. In Africa, at least one in four children lives in an area impacted by conflict and the number of reported grave violations against African children during armed conflict has almost tripled since 2010.

ACPF and its CSO partners campaign vigorously to hold perpetrators to account. Through this initiative, ACPF engages with the UN, AU and African governments to influence action to address the root causes of conflict; uphold international and national laws and standards, including ending the impunity of perpetrators; and to establish programmes to protect children and help them recover from the effects of war.

African countries have made progress in adopting and implementing child-friendly laws and policies. Most African countries have put in place child-friendly structures such as dedicated child courts and law enforcement units. Despite the progress, many African countries’ justice systems remain far from being child-friendly.

Still, there are countries with inconsistent, discriminatory and gender-insensitive laws and policies. Further, in some countries, customary laws apply parallel to the formal justice system subjecting children to discriminatory rules. It is necessary to change customary rules that negatively affects children’s rights. Furthermore, child-friendly structures often lack adequate funding. Even in countries where child-friendly laws and policies exist, implementation remains a challenge.

The child justice initiative promotes action by African governments to ensure that their laws, policies and structures are child-friendly and adequate budgets are allocated for the effective implementation of the same.

Child poverty, fundamentally, is a violation of children’s rights to access essential services that are critical to their physical growth and cognitive development. Evidence also shows that deprivation in the early years disrupts human capital formation and creates inequality of opportunity later in life. Child poverty also has huge economic costs due to reduced productivity, decreased potential earnings, expenses associated with poor health among adults who grew up in poverty.

Despite its devastating short- and long-term impact, of child poverty on children, communities and societies, 352 million children are affected by multidimensional poverty in Africa. This accounts for 53.5 per cent of Africa’s child population and makes up 59 per cent of the total number of children living in poverty worldwide.

Our initiative on this area aims to put child poverty on national and regional agenda and influence policy and programmatic action against it through coordinated and multi-layered interventions that involve key stakeholders operating at these levels.

Monitoring child rights implementation at national level is weak in many African countries – due in part to limited political will, but also the lack of suitable tools and capacity for tracking progress, collecting and analysing data, and translating that data into evidence to shape child rights programming.

Our role as Africa’s leading child rights watchdog enables us to systematically monitor and report on progress – or lack of it – through established and respected analytical frameworks and reporting mechanisms such as the Child-Friendliness Index (CFI).

ACPF provides technical assistance and capacity building to help governments implement and monitor reforms in national laws, policies and systems, and to support CSOs to become more effective in their evidence-based advocacy and monitoring to hold governments to account.

The climate crisis undermines child rights across Africa. Climate change affects children’s rights to health, life, dignity and education, and increases the risks of violence and displacement from climate-related conflict and disasters.

According to the Children’s Climate Risk Index, 490 million children in 35 sub-Saharan countries are at risk from the worst impacts of climate change, and at least 11 million children across the continent face food insecurity due to extreme weather events including drought and floods.  ACPF’s work on this important theme aims to influence the African Union (AU) and African governments to act urgently to put children at the front and centre of their economic, climate and social policies.

Africa has one of the largest populations of children with disabilities in the world.  Disability in the continent has been fuelled by widespread armed conflicts and the legacy thereof, particularly in the form of uncleared mines, and by household poverty allied with a lack of adequate healthcare services.

Despite the significant scale of the challenge, sufficient attention has not been accorded to the issue, either in research, policy and legislation or in service programming.  An interconnected set of factors explain this sorry state of affairs: limited political commitment, a genuine lack of resources, and lack of knowledge of current policy and legislative and programming options.  Furthermore, due to disability-related stigma, discrimination and multiple other barriers, children with disabilities are often subject to violence and sexual abuse, and often forced to work under exploitative and dangerous conditions. ACPF’s work under this thematic focus aims at promoting and realizing disability inclusive policy and practice that benefits children and their families.

We believe that African governments must start to take investment in children’s wellbeing seriously, or risk future social and economic development. Africa is on the verge of a serious human development crisis which could carry grave consequences for the social and economic wellbeing of its people and for the future stability and prosperity of the continent.

ACPF’s research demonstrates that realising children’s rights and ensuring their wellbeing has long term economic and social benefits. Investments in essential services for children, in quality basic education, health, nutrition and social protection is investing in human capital, which is the foundation of economic growth and inclusive development.

ACPF’s work under the theme of Economics and child rights aims to contribute to making economic policies sensitive to child wellbeing and promote increased investment in children. Through this initiative, we catalyse action at national and regional levels and urge African governments to commit to accelerating Africa’s sustainable and equitable development by investing in children now.

African girls are valued and respected far less than boys and remain vulnerable to harm and exploitation. Millions disproportionately face discrimination, marginalisation and have their rights violated on a daily basis because of deeply ingrained political, social and cultural beliefs and practices, such as child marriage, FGM and lack of access to reproductive health services.

National laws and government policies must be urgently reformed to guarantee equal rights to girls in order to bring about transformational change in behaviour, action and the daily lives of girls. Gender discrimination is still embedded in the laws of many African countries. ACPF believes SDG 5 – achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls – will not be reached in Africa unless there is a radical shift in laws, policies and practices towards the best interests of girls. Our work under this thematic focus aims at bridging these gaps and contributes towards gender equality and fulfilment of girls’ rights.

Our initiative on law and policy reform aims to support African governments to pass and implement inclusive child-friendly laws and policies and to harmonise their domestic legislation with international instruments such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the African Child (‘African Charter’).

We do this by providing governments with knowledge and resources, building the capacity of law and policy makers through series of training particularly focusing on the most vulnerable and marginalised children, and by monitoring implementation of laws and policies.

Evidence on progress and challenges on ending violence against children (VAC) in Africa indicates uneven results across countries. On one hand, a growing number of countries are taking significant steps to strengthen their protective environment and scaling up response services. But many countries have not given the required focus and resources to address VAC comprehensively.  This difference is driven by political will and shaped by country leadership. The situation of violence calls for urgent and concerted action by African countries. There is a need to fast-track efforts in violence prevention and response if Africa is to meet VAC targets in Africa’s Agenda 2063, Africa’s Agenda for Children 2040 and the SDGs.

ACPF’s work under VAC aims at promoting collective action through the African Partnership to End Violence against Children (APEVAC) that brings together Governments, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), civil society organisations, activists, researchers, academia, media and children to inform, inspire, influence and support collective action to end VAC in Africa.