On the eve of the African Union celebrating its 50th anniversary, two major discussion focusing on the continent’s children were held in Addis Ababa on Tuesday. In a High Level Dialogue organized by the African Child Policy Forum, African leaders and experts were united in calling for children to be at the centre of the post-2015 development agenda.
In another High Level Panel organized by the United Nations Children’s Fund, delegates urged African heads of state and government to make effective civil registration and vital statistics systems a political priority so that every child on the continent can gave a name and legal status.
Significant and challenging agenda in child survival and child development
While the global community has been intensely discussing what will replace the Millennium Development Goals, the AU Summit will adopt Africa’s Common Position on the Post-2015 Agenda. Delegates at the African Child Policy Forum-hosted meeting agreed on a number of critical priorities to ensure that children’s specific and holistic needs are reflected in a strong post-2015 development agenda.
(listen to Jenine Coetzer’s full audio package below)
Chairing that panel, former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano, said that while the Mug’s DID achieve much for children, there was still a significant and challenging agenda in child survival and child development that remains unfinished.
In a video-message to delegates, founder of the Graça Michel Trust, Graca Machel, emphasized the diversity of Africa, and different country’s possible responses to the targets.
Discussions at the panel event focused on a series of recommendations to provide a common voice on the way forward for children in the next decade and beyond.The recommendations include the elimination of preventable infant and child deaths; greater investment to ensure adequate nutrition andand universal birth registration. Currently an estimated 56% of births in Africa are not registered.
This so-called SCANDAL OF INVISIBILITY – the huge number of unregistered citizens on the continent – was the focal point in a another high-level discussion hosted by the United Nations Children fund, UNICEF, who believes the 50th birthday of the African Union is a chance to make a lasting commitment to the continent’s children by giving every child a name and legal status and bringing lasting change and social benefits for over 1 billion people in Africa.
UNICEF’s Deputy Executive Director, Martin Mogwanja, says Africa’s greatest resource is its children. Yet the aspirations of the continent can only be truly achieved when children have their rights to survival, development and protection realized says, and the first step on that road is making sure that every child, no matter where they are, is counted and is given a legal identity.
Mogwanja emphasized that by starting with strong civil registration systems, the continent will not only be closer to meeting its commitments to children, but these investments will help inform planning needs for the next generation, as well as meeting broader development goals.
– By Jenine Coetzer, Channel Africa
