Promoting child rights in Kenya - Pelastakaa Lapset ry

inclusive though it managed to conduct advocacy at national level. In order to address this situationand ensure that children had a voice, in 2011 the government through the Department of ChildrenServices facilitated the establishment of Children Assemblies in all the 47 Counties. The overallgoal of the Children Assemblies is to create a formal and sustainable mechanism for children toparticipate and influence policy through a guaranteed state funded mechanism. To facilitate this,Guidelines for Establishment and Management of Children Assemblies, 2011 were developed byGoK in collaboration with UNICEF and CSOs. A Children Assemblies Charter which outlines theprocedure of conducting business in the Assemblies has been developed. The Kenya NationalChildren Assembly has also been established at national level and has held an initial meeting in theold chambers of the Kenya parliament. Currently not all the County Assemblies are functional.The Guidelines for Establishment and Management of Children Assemblies provide strategies thatseek to enhance participation by all children including those from marginalized groups to ensuretheir involvement at county and national level. The Assemblies are a boost to participation ofchildren in matters that affect them as they provide an enabling environment. They also create anavenue through which county and national governments will be informed on critical issues affectingchildren rights and welfare such as education, health, HIV/AIDS, budgeting and child protection.In the last two years Children Assembly leaders have been elected by other children duringdemocratically held elections. Gender and social status were not a bar and as one child put it,“Being an orphan and a girl did not stop me from vying for the post. I am now well placed to fightfor the welfare of my fellow children especially those who are disadvantaged.”6.4 Children Voices ConferenceChildren’s Voices was started by “Children for Children”, a UK based charity organization with theaim of giving children a voice, celebrating children’s creativity and empowering them to educateother children. This conference is organized by children and has been held in many othercountries across the globe. The objectives of the Children’s Voices Conference are:to create a forum for enabling children’s voices to be heard;to enhance diverse forms of expression among children;to enhance child participation; andto provide links to other children’s organizations at a global level.Kenya held the first Children Voices Conference in 1998, an event initiated and organized byChildlife Trust with support from the NGO and corporate sector. Organisations that supported theevent include WVI, KAACR, KENCEL, the Nation Media Group, Ford Foundation, Goal Kenya, NICBank, ScanGroup, Keringet and DSTV. To date the private sector continues to support the eventoverwhelmingly through free advertising (bill boards and banners), airtime to discuss pertinentissues on both television and radio, printing of t -shirts and other material, refreshments, water andtransport for children to venues for the celebrations. Initially the organisation was done byparticipating organizations but as the concept of child participation took root children became anintegral part of planning right from the outset. Currently the planning is done jointly by a child drivensteering committee with the support of the National Child Participation Sub-Committee.51