Youth Workin' It

Consultancy and Resources for Youth Workers and Organizations Worldwide

2 Free Session Plans About Children’s Rights – Hidden Gem #5

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Children's rightsHere’s the 5th installment of our hidden gems – previous posts that you might have missed the first time.

2 Free Session Plans About Children’s Rights

We think children’s rights are extremely important and that it’s well worth organizing youth work sessions that explore this issue.

This isn’t just because your young people get to learn more about what rights they have for themselves, but it also gives them an opportunity to learn more about the rights – or lack of them – that other young people have worldwide.

So today we have two Hidden Gems rather than one – a couple of different session plan ideas where you can help your youth learn about children’s rights.

You can find session one here and session two here.

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Veteran’s Day: Child Soldiers

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Child soldiersIt’s Veteran’s Day in the US, Remembrance or Poppy Day in the UK and Armistice Day throughout the Commonwealth. We usually spend this day remembering all the men and women who have willingly given their lives to serve in the Military.

However, there are soldiers all around the world who are not serving willingly. They’re recruited, drugged and forced into ‘military’ service.

They are child soldiers.

Despite the fact that one of the articles of the UNCRC is that children cannot become soldiers until they are 18 years old, children are serving in armed conflicts even now.

Today’s Spotlight on Youth is on former child soldier Ishmael Beah. His book ‘A Long Way Gone – Memoirs of a Boy Soldier’ came out a few years ago, but children are still being used as soldiers today all across the world. Here is an interview with him on The Hour in Canada.

 

Ishmael was able to forgive, overcome and move forward. Despite being a little older than the youth we usually spotlight, the story of his own youth is so compelling that it has to be shared. He has become a role model and advocate for youth all over the world.  If you’re interested in his book, you can preview a chapter or buy it from Amazon.

Ishmael was fortunate: UNICEF was able to arrange his release, but many other children and young people are still child soldiers today. You can learn more about child soldiers from Amnesty International and War Child.

Question: What could the youth in your program do to help raise awareness of child soldiers this Veteran’s Day weekend? Create a conversation in the comments below.

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Children’s Rights – Youth Work Session Plan Idea

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Children's rights youth work sessionAfter an introductory session on Children’s Rights, you might like to try this case study and freeze frame session idea to explore Global Issues with your youth.

Many times youth have a hard time developing empathy for others; sympathy is easy, but empathy can be a challenge. By helping young people create personal links with global issues such as child trafficking, sexual exploitation and police brutality, they’ll be more likely to develop empathy with other youth experiencing those issues.

Sympathy causes us to feel sad and maybe make a small change, but developing empathy in our youth will help them sustain connections with these issues to effect long term change. By stepping into the shoes of these case studies through frozen pictures, youth have the chance to explore how they would feel if it were their story.

Creating Personal Links – Frozen Pictures

Timing – 10-15 minutes for preparation, up to 10 minutes per freeze frame group

Aim:

  • For group to begin to make personal links with the 42 articles

Objective:

  • For participants to read and discuss a case study, putting themselves in the other person’s situation and drawing conclusions that relate to their own lives

Resources Required:

Activity:

  • Split group into smaller groups or pairs (depending on group size)
  • Give each group a case study
  • Ask each group to create a freeze frame (a paused picture in the middle of a drama) and read out their case study
  • Other groups discuss the freeze frame and the personal impact of the children’s rights being discussed in the case study
  • Once all groups have gone, have the young people discuss a time when they did or did not experience the children’s right from each case study

Possible Questions:

  • When did you experience a time where your rights were / were not acknowledged?
  • How did these two experiences make you feel?
  • If you were friends with the person in your case study, what might you suggest to help with their situation?

Desired Outcomes:

  • A clear understanding of the personal impact children’s rights – or a lack of them – can have on young people
  • Developing empathy for others

Notes:

  • In the final case study, there are sensitive issues which may cause offense in more conservative cultures. Please use your best judgement when using this resource. The case study has two valid issues, one of sexual exploitation and one of police brutality, the latter of which may be more applicable and acceptable to discuss.

Question: How do you help your youth create personal links with global issues? Share your ideas in the comments below.

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Children’s Rights – Youth Work Session Plan Idea

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Children's rights UNCRCAs you might have begun to learn from these posts on youth participation, Children’s Rights is an area I’m extremely passionate about when it comes to youth development and programming.

Here’s a brief history on Children’s Rights:

In 1919, Eglantyne Jebb set up the charity Save the Children. This led to children’s rights receiving a public forum and provided political pressure to see children’s rights become a reality.

In 1923, the League of Nations (now the United Nations) adopted Jebb’s ‘Declaration of the Rights of the Child.’ This declaration was the inspiration for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Information provided by Save the Children Website 2008.

 

“In 1959 the UN General Assembly adopted the second Declaration of the Rights of the Child.  The Convention on the Rights of the Child was drafted over the course of 10 years between 1979 and 1989. Representatives from all societies, religions and cultures contributed, and a working group was given the task of drafting the convention. On 20th November 1989, the governments represented at the General Assembly (which included the UK) agreed to adopt the convention into international law. It came into force in September 1990.”

HM Government 2006

 

Today, the convention contains 54 articles and two option protocols. The first 42 articles are specific and active rights for children, while 43 -54 are guidance for governments to ensure all children get their rights.

Only two governments have not ratified the convention: Somalia (due to lack of an official government) and the United States. (n.b. The US did ratify the two option protocols against child soldiers and child trafficking). For more information please visit the UNICEF Website or see this leaflet.

Help your youth learn more about children’s rights by using this youth work session plan idea:

Timing – 30 minutes to 1 hour

Aim

  • For participants to be introduced to the 42 articles of the UNCRC

Objective

  • For participants to rate the nine most important rights for children and young people in the world today, based on the 42 articles. This can be done using the diamond diagram shown below. (n.b. 1 is the most important, 9 is the least important)

Resources Required

  • 42 articles on cards (in English or Native Language depending on setting), cut up and placed in sealed envelopes (if available)
  • Envelopes (Optional)
  • Flipchart (Optional)

Children’s Rights Activity

  • Split the group into six small groups (pairs or more per group depending on overall group size)
  • Give each group an envelope containing a set of cards with the UNCRC’s 42 articles
  • Each group is to choose nine articles that they feel are the most important for children
  • Then pair up each of the groups, so that there are now three groups and a total of (up to) eighteen articles per group. Have the groups choose the most important nine
  • Each group must place their articles in order from most to least important, using the following diamond pattern

1

 

2                              3

 

4                              5                              6

 

    7                              8

 

9

  • Compare and contrast each group’s diamonds
    • Are there similarities?
    • What are the differences?
    • Call on different group members to explain the rationale/ justification for choices
    • If there is time, have the groups as a whole choose a final top 9 from their 3 diamonds and place them in diamond order

Possible Questions

  • What did you enjoy about that activity?
  • What issues or problems did your group identify or experience while trying to choose nine articles?
  • Which articles were important to you personally?
  • Which articles do you feel might not be appropriate for your country or culture?
  • Which articles do you feel are important to your country or culture which are not currently supported or implemented by your government or within your community?

Desired Outcomes

  • Participants become familiar with children’s rights and the 42 articles
  • Participants analyze and critique the 42 articles and begin to make links with the personal, local, national and global aspects of the rights

Notes

  • This activity was learned at a Participation Workers Training held by Youth Force ‘Essentials of Working with Young People’.
Question: Do you think youth participation and children’s rights are important for your youth work? Why or why not? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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