The Child Rights Convention, The CRC, is an international treaty of human rights developed by United Nations and ratified today by 193 countries except for Somalia, the recently established state of South Sudan, and the United States have not ratified the CRC. CRC is comprised of 40 different articles that focuses on the child’s best interest and 3 main pillars: Provision, Protection, and Participation. The three main pillars are referred to as the 3 Ps. The 40 articles are all based on the best interest of the child in providing them with the 3 Ps.

Sida - Swedish International Development Cooperation Sida offered, As part of its bilateral development assistance, ITPs of strategic importance to social and economic development in developing countries. One of them is ITP - Child Rights, Classroom and School Management. In 2003 Lund University administrated the program following the provisions and principles contained in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). During the years 2003-2016 the global ITP on Child Rights, Classroom and School Management was arranged 21 times (21 batches) with 630 participants completing it. Most of them are still working for children’s rights in their countries and have formed national and regional networks.

Participants in the programme form teams of three people from each country and represent different levels (local, regional and national) in the education system, which anchors the change processes on a broad front and creates the prerequisites for supporting structures and sustainability of the initiated projects. Further, an important aspect throughout the programme was the opportunity to compare and share experiences with participants from other countries. To “give and gain” was one of expressions used repeatedly in the programme to encourage and emphasise the sharing of experiences and knowledge.

Participants received training in Lund University in Sweden on the background of the UN Child Rights Convention and children’s rights in, to and through education. Tools to initiate and/or lead changes that make the participants’ respective organizations better able to implement and comply with the CRC and other relevant human rights instruments in the educational field were also required. Participants functioned as agents of change – “change agents” in their domestic contexts. So far, 630 change agents have participated and the training programme has initiated more than 200 change processes in the 29 participating countries. Most of the change agents remain active in the field of education, working for change in line with the CRC.

Egypt National Network : 

24 change agents in Egypt have received the training in Lund University in Sweden for a month then followed by a visit to one of the developing countries to share experiences. Each batch has developed and implemented change project for 18 months to enhance and maintain child rights in Egypt.

 The projects implemented in Egypt were:

During the implementation of these project follow-up visits were conducted by the respective mentor of each country. The mentor together with the team met stakeholders and evaluated the project for change. After the end of the project teams submitted the final change project reports . The final report was the end of the programme for each batch; however, it was not the end of the initiated change processes. Throughout the years almost all change agents have continued their work on children’s rights in their respective countries and networks.

Sustainability:

To sustain the efforts put in the project for 13 years, Sida funded the last phase of the program to launch a digital platform to consolidate results in terms of practices and materials and to facilitate the further CRC, partnership, research and exchange of experience. It will be accessible by everyone to know different countries experiment in CRC . The platform will provide professionals with a useful resource where experiences can be shared, knowledge enhanced and results disseminated - all in the best interest of the child.

http://www.globalcrconline.org/

Material found on the website:

Key aspects of children’s rights to, in and through education and their practical implications • Democracy in the school and the school’s role in society “citizenship”, inclusive education and gender equality • Opportunities to use Information and Communication Technology to promote increased quality and increased access to information and knowledge • Appropriate forms of leadership as well as organizational structures, forms and behaviour and a leaders’ role in the various structures • Difficult situations such as disciplinary measures, bullying, corporal punishment and sexual abuse and possibilities to make a change • Importance of problem-solving, critical thinking, participatory approach in the participants’ context • Education for Sustainable Development as a holistic approach where social, economic and ecological issues are integrated.

Change Agent Code:  One step does not make a path: (Göran Hydén, Phnom Penh, February 2016)