Ref: 17/2022
Date: 23 June 2022
On Wednesday, 22 June 2022, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded a training program on “Capacity Building for Child Protection Teams on Participation, Monitoring, and Accountability to Fulfill Their Rights.” The training course was attended by 70 female and male children, who were selected by 30 child rights organizations in the Gaza Strip and divided into two groups. The 60-hour training course was held over the course of 3 weeks from 31 December 2021 to 22 June 2022.
This training comes within PCHR project “Strengthen child participation, child rights monitoring, reporting and accountability to child rights,” funded by Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) in partnership with Save the Children and in coordination with community organizations.
This training aims to raise children’s awareness on national and international conventions, especially the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to enhance their role in monitoring, documenting, and reporting violations against children. The training also intends to impower children to expose child rights violations, lead on data collection and accountability.
The training program was divided into three main components (20 hours/component):
In conclusion of the course, PCHR organized a closing ceremony, where Abdul Halim Abu Samra, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit, thanked the participants for thier interest, commitment and active participation during the training days and encourage them to transfer what they learned to their peers in the schools and institutions that nominated them and to nearby communities for increased impact. Abu Samra added that in the coming phase, the children will join a a series of practical measures to implement what they have learned in the training course in reality through conducting practical learning days atnPCHR’s various units, visiting child rights organizations, holding accountability sessions with decision makers at both national and local levels, and preparing plans to organize and implement initiatives and support children to establish advisory boards. Abu Samra emphasized that PCHR will continue working with and exerting more efforts with partners to develop such programs in a way that guarantees their active participation and role in defending their rights.
For their part, the child trainees stressed that during this training they gained new skills and knowledge, enhanced their experience, developed their theoretical and practical knowledge in child’s rights, advocacy and accountability for child rights issues with the decision makers and community participation. They added that the training will have a positive impact on their role in transferring knowledge and experience they learnt to their peers and local communities and enhancing their skills in monitoring and documenting child rights violations in addition to their role in reporting, accountability and addressing the competent authorities. Moreover, the participants praised PCHR and Save the Children for their role in advocating for child rights and Norad for sponsoring this project.