Advancing children’s rights: A Guide for Civil Society Organisations on how to engage with the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. First edition

This guide is intended to be a resource for civil society organizations (CSO) in Africa on how to utilize the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of Children (the Committee) and, by extension, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC). The former requires the support of civil society to develop into an independent and effective mechanism for monitoring and advocating children’s rights in Africa. However, the Committee and ACRWC remain largely unknown and under-utilized by civil society. This is problematic as civil society has the opportunity to influence states and even the Committee to either ratify the Charter or to translate it into positive practice in daily life.  

Having collaborated with the Committee since its inception, Save the Children Sweden took the initiative to produce this Guide as a response to needs stated by civil society partners. Since Plan International was also working actively with the Committee, it was a natural step to join forces. 

A second edition of this guide is available here.