This text is part of the special section on International Cooperation
With its Project for the Integral Strengthening of Children’s Rights (PRIDE), the International Bureau for Children’s Rights (IBCR) encourages the democratic participation of children and adolescents in Tunisia. An experience that is part of a global approach to sharing knowledge between the various initiatives that the IBCR supports around the world. And Quebec is listening to what is happening in North Africa.
PRIDE is an international cooperation project that started in 2020, for a duration of seven years. It aims to improve the well-being of young people and to highlight the promotion and respect of their rights. In Tunisia, this project materializes by promoting the participation of the child, which “is a fundamental right taken directly from the Convention on the Rights of the Child”, specifies Cécile Bettega, coordinator of communications and mobilization at the IBCR. . It is not simply a question of “letting the children decide”, but rather of allowing them to influence the actions of the institutions that frame their lives.
In the field
PRIDE stands out from other international cooperation projects since it is a long-term one, explains Lara Pocock, responsible for North Africa and Madagascar for the IBCR, speaking to us about Morocco. “This enables long-lasting collaboration with partners and people. » In Tunisia, the IBCR works with the Tunisian Forum for Youth Empowerment (TFYE), the Ado+ platform as well as with the Office of the General Delegate for Child Protection (DGPE), an institution placed under the Ministry Family, Women, Children and the Elderly.
“The children set up a radio station for teenagers, Radio Ado+, an idea that came from them,” specifies Nidhal Hlayem, volunteer and adviser on children’s rights. Within this Web radio, “it is only children who work on this project, develop the financing, search for partners, find the subjects”.
With Ado+, the IBCR, through the project of the Junior Academy of Political Culture IV, supports young people in the development and drafting of legal texts with the aim of presenting them to elected officials. The objective is to encourage the creation of spaces for expression in their neighborhoods and to strengthen their involvement in democratic decision-making.
Four municipalities are taking part in the project as well as a sustainable development association. An opening desired by the government of Tunis and supported by the Minister of Family, Women, Children and the Elderly, Amel Belhaj Moussa, following the receipt of the results of the national report on the situation of the childhood for the years 2020-2021. The report, which adopts a methodology based on a human rights approach, proposes several recommendations taking into account, in particular, the right to education, the right to participation and free expression.
“A democratic process is not linear. And building the capacity of young people to participate contributes to the long-term work that needs to be done in Tunisia,” comments Mr.me Pocock, especially since the advent of the Arab Spring in 2010.
An international network
The objective of the IBCR is for knowledge to be shared between partner countries. Although it is difficult to reproduce initiatives from elsewhere as such, “the process that may have led to the implementation of activities or models of participation can help to reflect on the implementation of adaptable processes for other countries”, explains Mr.me Bettega.
In Quebec, we are interested, among other things, in the good practices of the other activities of the organization, that is to say in the impact and the results of the best projects and processes implemented to achieve the objectives of PRIDE, reports Mme Pocock. An international consultation process will begin at the end of February. Regional project partners of the IBCR will discuss different practices in order to “find solutions adapted to local contexts, between participation professionals”, comments Ms.me Bettega. One of the exchange sessions will take place in Tunisia. A visit by Tunisian partners is also planned in the province with the help of the IBCR, next spring.
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.