Nairobi, 21-22 June 2017
The Africa Expert Consultation on Violence against Children (VAC) in All Care Settings to be held June 21-22 in Nairobi, Kenya will bring together a group of identified leaders and thinkers in the field of VAC and care and will include members of government, international and national civil society organisations, and research and academic institutions. The expert consultation builds on global and regional progress and commitments around the elimination of VAC and ensuring appropriate care for children in line with international standards. It will harness the already growing momentum to ensure better care for children at risk of or requiring alternative care. It will also add to current interagency initiatives to support the implementation of the Guidelines on Alternative Care in Africa.
The expert consultation in Africa has two key objectives:
- Engage the AU and other regional treaty bodies, national governments, civil society and experts on violence against children and alternative care to formulate key regional recommendations targeting: the African Union, other regional bodies, national governments and other key actors involved in the elimination of violence against children and the implementation of the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children.
- Prompt the establishment of an effective Africa-focused and based working group to follow up with a concrete action plan in Africa to fully implement the recommendations of the UN Study on Violence against Children and the Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children in relation to the prevention and elimination of violence especially in care situations.
Invited speakers will highlight, among others, the existing evidence base (and noted gaps within the evidence) and programming and interventions related to VAC and Care: a) within the family environment and as a push factor resulting in family separation and placement into alternative care; b) VAC within the range of alternative care options; and c) VAC after children leave alternative care.
Our partner, Challenging Heights from Ghana, will speak at the conference on the theme of Social Protection as a means of preventing family separation at 15:30 on 21 June during the session on Programming and interventions to address VAC in all care settings.
