Phase 1 - South Africa

Informing on children's rights

In South Africa, the Children's Rights Centre produced a poster kit which included two full-colour posters called "Human Rights Begin with Children's Rights": one printed in English, the other in Zulu. The kit also contained a pamphlet on the rights of the child, which included practical activities for adults, children and teenagers.  The poster kits were distributed to 300 organizations and institutions including 100 libraries throughout KwaZulu-Natal, 100 primary schools and 40 rural development organizations. 60 additional kits were given to member and partner organizations working on issues such as street children, child health and education, children with disabilities, children in the legal and penal systems and child labor.  The recipient notes that the  network of distribution which was developed for the project will continue for future projects. The recipient also stated, "We feel that particularly for remote schools the library as a central learning resource is vital.  We hope that in some small way we have strengthened this."   The recipient also notes that the delay in receiving grant funds made it impossible to complete the project as originally scheduled. 

The South African Council for English Education conducted a debating tournament in eight High Schools; three rounds were carried out on the following topics: human rights and environment, and human rights protection within a democratic government.  According to the NGO report, the full objectives were met and even more: a Debating League was established; another tournament was scheduled and should take place during a National Event in 2000.