Tuesday, 25 September 2012

Children monitoring the media in Cape Town


Children at Pelican Park Primary, Grassy Park in Cape Town are participating in the Media Monitoring project implemented by the organisation Media Monitoring Africa.  The project encourages child participation in the media. It also ensures media literacy and children's ability to analyse the media when it comes to their rights. The project also improves children's ability to read and write. 

Children interact with the media not only by reading papers, but also through newsroom visits to get a better understanding of how media works and to interact with journalists and editors. The other way is through giving written and verbal feedback to the monitored media - be it complaints or compliments.

Most of the children have been part of the project since 2011. Very few have dropped out in 2012 (due to busy school schedule and being involved in other projects at school). They are between the ages of 11 and 13 in grades 6 and 7.
 

The morning session of today’s programme introduced the children to why people write letters to the editor. The most common reasons are: 
  • Commenting on something that is happening
  • Complaining about something that was in the newspaper that was offensive, biased, not correct,
  • Complimenting the newspaper about something good in the paper
 How to write a letter is also shared. What has to go into the letter, personal details and how to raise the issue and what to avoid in your letter. Children are allowed to write a letters on issues that came up in the papers they monitored. The best letter will win a prize which will be presented tomorrow.

The school is having a Readathon tomorrow, Wednesday 26 September where all grades will participate.  The theme for the event is: Going green...save our environment, save our planet.




Wednesday, 19 September 2012

CALL FOR EVALUATION PROPOSALS




Purpose and Aim of the Evaluation into the Imali YeMwana Network
The aim of the evaluation is to review the network in order to strengthen it so that it can have a comprehensive strategy that empowers different country networks in future. To achieve this, the successful consultant shall undertake the following:

a)    Evaluate if the initial goal, objectives and strategies of the network have been achieved since its inception. 
b)    Analyse and evaluate if the network has brought any change (s) in the lives of children who are the main benefactors of the project.
c)    Analyse and evaluate if the network has brought any change (s) in budget priorities at SADC and national levels in regard to service provisions for children.
d)    Document the impact, achievements and added value that the project has brought on regional and national networks and recommend how to make Imayi ya Mwana more attractive and effective to ensure that it meets its original objectives and goals.
e)    Evaluate if the network has achieved any capacity and organisational development for the national partners and national networks.
f)     Identify the strength (s) and weakness (es) of the network and how it can be improved.
g)    Evaluate and analyse if there is any challenges in the network’s coordination and communication mechanism and recommend various options to improve its coordination and communication with national members.


Introduction
Save the Children is a membership-based international non-governmental organisation, independent of any political party or religion, working for the rights of children. Save the Children advocates for the realisation of children’s rights stipulated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACWERC). Save the Children collaborates with and funds more than 20 civil society partners in Southern Africa. 

In 2004 Save the Children funded a consultative meeting in Johannesburg; initiated by Idasa through the then Children’s Budget Unit and other partners.  The consultative meeting passed a resolution to form the SADC Child Budget Network, also known as Imali YeMwana, a network of eight Southern African child rights organisations, with a specific focus on advocating for more budgetary allocations to address the rights of children. The network was/is premised around strengthening both national and local networks and creating linkages between these networks on a rights-based approach towards budgeting. The current members of the network are Zambia, Botswana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius and Lesotho.  Countries are represented in the network by individual organisations that work in the area of children’s rights. In addition to the individual member organisations, the network has also worked with civil society networks including, MACOSS in Mauritius; Lesotho Council of NGOs; and National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations in Zimbabwe. All the networks have programmes directly related to children’s rights.

To inform further growth and development of the network on the role it should play for the future, Save the Children and Idasa, together with the other partners will undertake an evaluation to establish the impact of the network on its members and to obtain a better understanding of what role the network could play in the future at regional and national level on child budgeting.

Background of Imali YeMwana Network
Imali YeMwana Child Budget Network, conducts regional training and support around child budget analyses, advocacy, tracking and monitoring. It builds capacity of parents and children to monitor local level spending on basic services for children through the advocacy and support of child rights.

The project has the following objectives and related outcomes;
  1. To promote child rights organisations’ participation in national budget processes and monitoring in the SADC region.
    • To build capacity of members to advocate and lobby social sector ministries and  Parliaments for policy reforms and more efficient allocations to education and other social services in the eight member countries.
    • To improve civil society’s understanding of government policy and decision-making processes, to enable better participation.

  1. To build a regional network of civil society organisations using budgets for policy advocacy on behalf of children. 

    • To network with national, regional and international media and other civil society organisations for advocacy platforms and exchange of information and skills on children’s issues.

 As part of the Strategic Plan of 2007 to 2010, the partners identified challenges to child access to education, health and social protection in their countries.  While it is to be presumed that some of the challenges do not remain the same, they provide a useful baseline for the project as it continues along the same trajectory.   The challenges that were identified by members included the following:

  • The quality of education in most countries is poor;
  • Street children are poorly integrated into communities;
  • A poor appreciation of child rights and child participation;
  • Much of the education budget is spent on tertiary education;
  • The problem of integrating learners with disability into the education system;
  • Enormous gaps exist between the numbers of those entering primary school and those who graduate;
  • High levels of HIV and AIDS impact on the ability of health systems to provide diverse services;
  • The SADC region as a whole has very high numbers of orphaned children but very weak social protection;
  • Limited space for citizen participation in governance;
  • Increasing levels of poverty, joblessness and high levels of mostly illegal migration; and
  • Increase in citizen protests, mostly youth led (Swaziland, Mozambique, Malawi, and South Africa).
 Scope of Work
In addition to desktop research, interviews, meetings and phone-calls to network partners – including Save the Children. The consultant will travel to meet with four (4) national network partners for site visits which will be agreed to by Idasa and Save the Children.

Deliverables (to be submitted in electronic format and in hard copy)

  • A comprehensive work-plan and budget. 
  • Draft and final reports, maximum 20 pages, excluding appendices for partner-specific information.
  • Make a presentation of the draft conclusions and recommendations of the report to Save the Children Sweden and Idasa on a date to be set.
  • Submission of a final report incorporating comments and feedback from the Imali YeMwana partner meeting in August.

Proposed Timeframes
Deadline for submission: 30 September 2012
Final report: 12 November 2012

The details of specific dates to be stipulated in the contract will be finalised by Save the Children Sweden, Idasa and the selected consultant.

Competencies
Consultants and research institutions interested in conducting the evaluation should include personnel with the following qualifications:

  1. Expert knowledge and practical experience on conducting evaluations in the NGO sector and networks.
  2. Proven experience in conducting organisational review and assessments.
  3. Ability to travel across the SADC region and to communicate to individuals.
  4. Excellent analytical skills.
  5. Fluency and proficiency in written and spoken English


For more information and to send proposals contract:
Relebohile Senyane: rsenyane@idasa.org.za
Lead Implementation Officer, Imali YeMwana Project

Or 

Contact person: Theophilous Chiviru: theophilousc@saf.savethechildren.se
 Regional Programme Officer - Child Rights Governance,
Save the Children - Southern Africa