Overview

In pursuance of the objective of promoting and protecting the rights of the child in Zimbabwe, (SAHRIT) initiated a community based child rights programme in Murewa District in the year 2000. The aim of the community based child rights programme is to make the community responsible and accountable for the welfare and well being of their children, in particular that of orphaned and other vulnerable children (OVC), through the promotion of the rights of the child. This is achieved through research, training, implementing community based child rights protection strategies and by affording material and psychological support to the OVC.

The 2004-2007 project cycle strategy is meant to develop community capacity, to improve the communities’ responsiveness to protecting the rights of the child, and to improve utilization of existing child rights protection mechanisms, including social safety nets, in order to remedy some of the major challenges faced by orphans and other vulnerable children.     

Activities

Implementation of the community-based child rights programme is premised on the Human Rights Approach to Programming (HRAP), an approach that promotes, among other things, intervening in the best interest of the child, empowerment of communities, popular participation by community members, equality of opportunity of men and women, girls and boys, community ownership of development programmes and respecting the views of children and community members that seek to further the goals of the project.

The project uses a multidimensional and holistic approach to human rights because it links human rights to sustainable human development. The multidimensional view of human rights is important for its emphasis on the respect, protection and promotion of the human rights of the vulnerable groups of society such as children and women, and for adding crucial economic, social and cultural rights to the civil and political rights spectrum.