UNICEF and the EU launch a Child Rights Toolkit in Bangladesh

DHAKA, July 7 (NsNewsWire) — As part of their collaboration, UNICEF and the European Union (EU) launched today “Child Rights Toolkit: Integrating child rights in development cooperation” providing practical guidance to all donors and concerned social actors on how to operationalize a rights-based, child-focused approach to development programming, budgeting, policy-making and law-making.

UNICEF Bangladesh and the EU share a strong commitment to ‘promote all human rights in all areas of external action’ and to integrate children’s rights into all operational development cooperation activities.

Pierre Mayaudon, Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Bangladesh, said: “This toolkit aims to ensure that children’s rights as well as initiatives to promote the well-being of all children can be effectively integrated and applied across programmes of bilateral and multilateral development assistance.”

“Children are central to development. They are the greatest drivers for change in society and gains achieved by investments in children far exceed those in other areas”, said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative. “To achieve sustainable change, children must be our highest priority and our first call on our resources. Investment in children today yield long-term returns and benefits not only for children and their families, but also for societies in general.”

Launched in the presence of H.E. Mr. Anisul Huq, MP, Minister, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs, the Toolkit contains more than 80 innovative and easy-to-use tools in eight thematic modules covering child rights in development programming, child participation and impact assessments, child rights in governance, in crisis situations and budgeting. It deliberately looks beyond traditional child focused sectors (such as nutrition, health, and education) and includes practical guidance and readymade tools for different sectors and stages of the programming cycle.

The Child Rights Toolkit comes at a critical moment. In the context of the 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and as we prepare for a post-2015 world, business as usual is not enough. We need new ways of engaging partners and building social and political space for children, focusing in particular on the most affected and most disadvantaged children.

The Toolkit is useful not only for civil society partners engaged in the design or implementation of programmes with development focus but for all involved parties including state bodies. The intention is for those engaged in children’s development to be able to apply new knowledge to effectively guarantee child rights.

“Child Rights Toolkit: Integrating child rights in development cooperation” can be obtained free online in English, Spanish and French versions.

-Ends-