The Open Medi@ Institute 4 Social Action (Om!sA) in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UN human rights commission (OHCHR), has hosted a children’s rights awareness training and advocacy materials production workshop at the Magburaka Community Centre, Kholifa Rowalla Chiefdom, Tonkolili district. The seminar was attended by officials of the Tonkolili District Council, youth leaders and traditional authorities. It is part of the ACT (Assisting Communities Together) project.
The session, which involved creative art and writing competitions, including drawing, painting, essay and radio drama scriptwriting exercises, was attended by 75 pupils from various primary and secondary schools in the chiefdom, accompanied by their teachers and 50 observers.
It was climaxed by the production of two radio jingle scripts and establishment of a chiefdom-level children’s human rights club.
The jingles will be aired on community radio stations, while the articles and drawings are being adapted to simplified versions of texts from child rights and welfare instruments to produce awareness-raising materials, which will be distributed free of charge in the project communities.
The one-day event is part of a series of advocacy activities being implemented by Om!sA aimed at creating popular understanding of the rights and responsibilities of the African Child across schools in Kholifa Rowalla Chiefdon, Tonkolili District, and making children become active participants in promoting and defending their own rights, through creative art contests and mass media events.
The ACT project was established by the OHCHR, in partnership with the UNDP, to financially support local initiatives for the promotion and protection of human rights carried out by community-based organizations.
In Tonkolili, the project, which targets children aged 8-18 years in the Kholifa Rowalla Chiefdom, was formally launched in Magburaka on December 10, to commemorate international Human Rights Day, after a series of consultative meetings with school authorities, youth groups, school pupils and local authorities that started on 5 December.
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