Our child rights training started in the year 2000 in Koti Sangi Community in Kabul.

This is a particularly deprived area of the city where Children in Crisis supported a programme for street and working children from 2004-2008. Through this programme a strong relationship was established with the community members and experience and assessment in the area demonstrated a need for increasing awareness and understanding of children’s rights. 

In recent years Children in Crisis has worked with the community to establish youth and women’s groups and train them in the rights and protection of children so that they could take this learning and advocate to the wider community. Our child rights training manual focuses on the rights of children in an Islamic context through relating the rights of the child to particular verses in the Koran. In addition the programme has also:

• Trained teachers and police in children’s rights and positive discipline. Positive discipline allows teachers and police to understand why children misbehave and look at non-violent strategies to prevent their misbehaviour in the future.
• Trained religious leaders (Mullahs) to raise awareness of children’s rights through their lessons during Friday prayer.

Our Work Continues

In 2010-11 we delivered a child rights project promoting the rights of children, especially girls, to access quality education free from violence and addressing the important issue of violence against women. The project involved working with  teachers, police officers and community members to raise awareness about the rights of women and children.

2010-11, some key achievements from this training:

• 827 teachers trained in the rights of children and positive discipline techniques
• 78 police trained in the rights of children and positive discipline techniques
• 99 Social workers and 101 community workers received training in basic social work
• 346 staff from orphanages and juvenile prisons received training in child rights and child protection and are responding effectively to reports of abuse
• 472 Judges, prosecutors and lawyers received training in the Juvenile Code of Afghanistan and alternatives to detaining children

We have received further funding to continue a second phase of our Child Rights project and this is now underway. Bethan Williams, Afghanistan Programmes manager for Children in Crisis, recently visited our child rights training programme, read her report HERE.