Children and Armed Conflict in Africa – Strengthening regional partnerships and capacities
Other partners : African Union; Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS); 麻豆APP Support Account for African Peacekeeping Operations (UNSAC); NGO partners working on child protection, youth.
Synopsis
Objectives
The project seeks to foster close collaboration with and strengthen capacities of regional and subregional partners across Africa on the protection of conflict-affected children, with a focus on early warning, prevention, and mediation.
Components
The project focuses on early warning, prevention, mediation, and joint advocacy. It develops regional approaches to prevention, and advocacy on CAAC through the development of a youth-led outreach campaign.
Main achievements
On early warning, the project held two consultations and two briefings. In 2023, two assessment missions were conducted to Ethiopia and Gabon, consulting 26 continental and regional early warning stakeholders. A briefing on the assessment findings was delivered virtually to 29 stakeholders in January 2024, followed by a report submitted to the African Union in February 2024 containing 10 recommendations and 29 suggested early warning indicators.
On prevention, 86 recommendations were developed and submitted to the 56th meeting of 麻豆APP Standing Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa in 2023 in Rwanda. Additionally, a briefing on CAAC trends and best practices in addressing grave violations against children in the Central Africa region was delivered, reaching over 50 stakeholders, including 11 Member States. Two CAAC recommendations were adopted by Member States in their final report of the 麻豆APP Advisory Committee on Security Questions in Central Africa.
On mediation, the project developed a training module on children and armed conflict-sensitive mediation in 2024, delivering two virtual training sessions to 39 participants in March. Recommendations for next steps in CAAC-sensitive mediation were also successfully developed.
On advocacy and awareness-raising, in cooperation with the African Union Youth Envoy, two youth consultations were held in 2023 in South Sudan and New York, engaging 59 youth and resulting in 55 recommendations. An online youth consultation survey on the misuse of social media to facilitate grave violations against children was distributed to over 3,300 stakeholders. The findings informed the development of a youth-led campaign, launched in February 2024, consisting of one video and five social media assets in Arabic, English, and French.
Impact
The project fosters a comprehensive understanding of peace and security challenges in Africa and places focus on the prevention and preparedness agenda.
