4 children. 2 International events. 1 message – Children are citizens today.
Posted on July 26, 2014
Representatives from children’s sanghas in India are making their voices heard in International Forums this coming week. Democratically elected by their peers and having prepared for the meetings through extensive dialogue and study, they will carry the learning, wisdom and voices of children of Udupi to two events in Norway and Switzerland where they will be participants and co-facilitators.
St. Olav Festival, Trondheim (Norway)
The St. Olav Festival is inspired by the heritage of St. Olav, a Viking warrior and king who later became a saint. The Festival’s identity is expressed through the values: faith, hope and justice. This year, the main theme will be: People. One of the issues in focus is the ‘Children’s right to be heard’, in context of the recent related amendment to the Norwegian Constitution.
The Concerned for Working Children has been working with the city council of Trondheim since last year to shape the sessions on ‘Children’s right to be heard’. These sessions will cover workshops with children and youth on children’s right to be heard, children and governance and information management. Post the workshops, the children will consolidate and present the outcomes of the discussions from the workshops with adult decision-makers from the city, county, parliament and the church along with participating and presenting at a concluding public programme. Kavita Ratna, Director – Advocacy (CWC), will also be speaking at the event.
Venkatesh (18) and Annapurna (16), longstanding members of the children’s sangha in their respective villages in Karnataka (India), will be participating from India in the St. Olav Festival. They will be attending several workshops and also be meeting members of the Norwegian administration. Most excitingly, they will be part of the resource team, to facilitate two workshops for members of youth council and children from marginalised communities. The workshops have been designed and will be conducted by representatives of the Concerned for Working Children. Ganapathi MM and Venkatesh Moodkeri – Assistant Directors (CWC) will be accompanying the team.
Read more on St Olav Festival: http://www.olavsfestdagene.no/
Children as Actors for Transforming Society (CATS), Caux (Switzerland)
Children as Actors for Transforming Society (CATS) is managed by the organization – Initiatives of Change, in partnership with Child to Child Trust and Universal Education Foundation. This year’s conference will be celebrating ‘Young Advocates for Change’. CATS provides a space where children, young people and adults live, learn and work together as equal partners in transforming society.
Puneet (14) and Vidhya (15), longstanding members of the children’s sangha in their respective villages in Karnataka (India), will be participating in various workshops and will also be co-facilitators with CWC staff for a comprehensive workshop on ‘Children & Research’ and ‘Monitoring & Evaluation’ for the other participants. The children will speak from their experience of supporting and participating in the Monitoring and Evaluation Toolkit process. The creation of this Toolkit involved ten projects across nine countries in different regions of the world, in partnership with Save the Children, UNICEF, Plan, World Vision and The Concerned for Working Children. Kavita Ratna, Director – Advocacy (CWC), is an Advisory Committee Member to the CATS event. Biplaw Sing, Researcher – Centre for Applied Research (CWC) and Documentationand Ramesh Mallya – Project Officer (CWC) will be accompanying the team.
Read more on CATS: http://www.caux.iofc.org/en/CATS2014
How the children were selected and enabled for the events
As is the tradition of the children’s sanghas, the process of nomination for the participation has been democratic and most importantly prompted by the children themselves.
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