SIDA Global CSO Strengthening Program

Introduction and Background

The Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust (SAPST) is implementing a project that seeks to promote CSO and children’s engagement with Parliaments through viable and sustainable platforms where they can effectively advocate and influence child friendly policies and legislation in East and Southern Africa. The project aims at providing  technical support to regional civil society networks, national level CSOs as well as child-led groups to enable them to strategically influence policy-makers to mainstream and prioritise child rights in Parliamentary processes. This implementation plan has been developed against the background that 2024 is the third year and mid-term of implementing the Global CSO Strengthening Program. Efforts at this stage are therefore dedicated towards harvesting results made so far, evaluating progress made and implementing activities building on the progress and lessons learnt in the previous years.

1.    ACTIVITIES

1.1.        CSO Workshops on Child Rights Investment and Gender Responsive Budgeting      

During this period, the project will conduct capacity building workshops for CSOs in East and Southern Africa on child rights and gender responsive budgeting. The purpose of these activities is to enhance CSOs knowledge of child rights investment and equitable allocation of resources for gender equality. These activities which will be undertaken in partnership with Sonke Gender Justice (a technical partner on Gender transformative approaches) will be carried out at two levels, with the first capacity building session focusing on enhancing the capacity of the current SCI Implementing Partners. The second activity which will target CSOs in East and Southern Africa, will be undertaken as a side event at the annual CSO Forum, leveraging on SAPST’s strategic partnerships with regional child rights networks such as, Child Rights Network of Southern Africa (CRNSA) and the East African Child Rights Network (EACRN). Implementation of this activity at those two levels will improve the program’s reach through both implementing partners as well as other child rights CSOs in Africa. The project will make use of adult learning techniques such as participation and practical group exercises to ensure that participants are able to put into practice what they would have learnt from the workshop.

Activity: CSOs  Workshops on Child Rights Investment and Gender responsive Budgeting

Target: SCI Implementing Partners and Child Rights CSOs in East and Southern Africa

Timelines: April and November 2024

Methodology: Physical workshops

1.2 The 24^th and 25^th CSO Forum

The African Civil Society Forum (CSO Forum) is a group of Civil Society Organizations from all the five African regions, namely, East, Southern, North, West and Central through their regional child networks. The Forum exists to speak with one voice in pursuit of the common interest of the rights and welfare of African children as articulated in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). The CSO Forum which meets twice a year; at the beginning of the year for organizational and/or strategic issues, and at the end of the year for programmatic issues before the sessions of the ACERWC. These sessions bring together CSOs working on the rights and welfare of children across Africa, key child rights experts, Development Partners, and African Union representatives . This project will therefore participate in these two sessions in order build a strong mass of action with child rights stakeholders in Africa. As mentioned above, SAPST will leverage on this platform to train CSOs on child right investment and gender responsive budgeting.

Activity: The 24^th and 25^th  CSO Forum

Target Group: CSOs

Timelines: April and November 2024

Methodology: Physical Workshop

1.3 CLOs Training Workshops on Parliamentary Processes and Engagement

To ensure that children gain an understanding of their rights and skills related to advocacy and campaign, the project will carry out training workshops for Child Led Organisations on Child Rights Budgeting and Parliamentary Processes and Engagement. SAPST will partner with national child rights networks in East and Southern Africa in order to reach both the formal and informal child led groups. During this period, the project will hold two physical CLO training workshops in Kenya and Lesotho whilst technical support to CLOs in Botswana, Malawi, Uganda and Zimbabwe  will also be offered in order to continue strengthening their capacity to engage Parliaments on child rights investment.

Activity: CLOs Training Workshops on Child Rights Budgeting and Parliamentary Engagement

Target Group: Child Led Organisations in East and Southern Africa  [Kenya and Lesotho]

Timelines: August 2024

Methodology: Physical Participatory Workshop

1.4 CSOs and CLO Dialogue Sessions with Regional Bodies

After CSOs and CLOs have been trained in parliamentary engagement and child rights, it is necessary that platforms for experience sharing learning, cross-pollination of ideas and team building are created. These platforms are effective in building a strong children’s agency and CSO voice for child rights and cross cutting issues such as gender, climate change and social inclusion. The dialogue sessions will also provide a platform to engage with some office bearers or policy makers representing national Parliaments and regional bodies such as the SADC Parliamentary Forum and the East African Legislative Assembly . The project will host 2 such workshops, in partnership with CRNSA and EACRN.

Activity: CSOs and CLO Dialogue Sessions with Regional Bodies

Target Group: Child Led Organisations, CSOs, National Parliaments & Regional Bodies ( SADC PF and EALA)

Timelines: May and September 2024

Methodology: Webinar

1.5 Child Rights Budgeting Workshops for MPs

One of the project’s most effective and sustainable outcomes is a positive change of policies  for children. The only way to ensure that this outcome is achieved is by training MPs on the importance of child rights and how they can play a part in the actualisation of these rights through their core functions of national budget approval and law making. The project will conduct 2 Child Rights Workshops for MPs and participants will be drawn from Parliaments in both East and Southern Africa. The purpose of these webinars is mainly to ensure that Members of Parliament in East and Southern Africa have an appreciation of child rights concepts and the role they can play to fulfil children’s rights through national budgets. 

Activity: Child Rights Webinars for MPs

Target Group: Members of Parliament [ Botswana and  Kenya]

Timelines: April and June 2024

Methodology: Physical

1.6 Regional CLO/CSO/MPs Dialogue Session

The project will also hold a regional intergenerational dialogue session for Child Led Organisations, CSOs and Members of Parliament. The purpose of this activity is bring together stakeholders from both the demand and supply sides, to create an effective and sustainable platform for engagement where CSOs and child led organisations can discuss child rights issues with Members of Parliament in order to influence legislative and budgetary decisions in Parliament.

Activity: Regional CLO/CSO/MPs Dialogue Session

Target Group: Child Led Organisations, CSOs and Members of Parliament in East and Southern Africa

Timelines: April 2024

Methodology: Webinar

1.7 Continuous Technical Support (Development of Policy Briefs and Budget Advocacy/position papers)

To ensure that CSOs and CLOs put into practice knowledge gained through workshops, it is necessary for the project to offer continuous mentoring and support. This will be in the form of technical assistance in developing policy briefs and CSOs budget position papers on issues that arise in the child rights arena. This support will commence soon after the capacity building workshops and will be offered throughout the life of the project. The project will leverage on the experience that SAPST has acquired in evidence based advocacy over the years.

Activity: Continuous Technical Support (Development of advocacy/position papers)

Target Group: Child Led Organisations, CSOs and Members of Parliament in East and Southern Africa

Timelines: Ongoing

Methodology: Technical Assistance