For a child protection system that respects children’s rights in Angola

Mandated by UNICEF, the IBCR launched a project in Angola last August to strengthen the child protection system. This project ended on 31 January and is an opportunity to review the results achieved.

In order to ensure that Angolan children in contact with justice, police, social services, education and health institutions receive effective and respectful treatment, the Bureau has developed tools and measures aimed at providing a better framework for their care, particularly when they are in contact with the law, victims of sexual abuse, neglect or abandonment, or users of psychotropic substances.

In the course of this project, the Bureau created and made available specific documents on good practices in child protection. In particular, a procedural guide for the different sectors has been developed. It helps to define the roles of actors in the child protection system while improving and expanding the delivery of their services. This work was carried out in partnership with the Ministries of Education, Health, the Interior, Justice and Human Rights, and Social Action, the Family and the Promotion of Women.

In terms of meetings, the IBCR went to Luanda in September (see more here), to meet partners in the field and organise workshops and working sessions with professionals from the different sectors involved. Three workshops were held, at the national, provincial and local levels, to develop the project, bringing together about sixty professionals.

Then, in November, a training session for professionals from the various sectors involved in children’s rights took place. These specialists will then be called upon to train their peers, thus increasing the number of professionals in the country who are aware of children’s rights. More than 20 people attended and are now able to apply all the IBCR’s tools and transmit their knowledge. 

5 workshops dedicated to each of the sectors (health, justice, social services, interior and education) were also held and brought together 59 people. For these same sectors, 5 condensed “training kits” (a set of tools and guides to provide comprehensive training in children’s rights) were created to teach professionals how to best apply the recommendations of the procedural guides.

In total, more than 129 people have supported the IBCR project in Angola, contributing to the strengthening of the child protection system and the expansion of their capacity for action. This is a real success story that has been widely endorsed by the Angolan government.

 

Indeed, it was subject to political validation on the 13th of December 2019. The entire technical content of the project was thus approved and politically validated so that it could be disseminated nationwide. The Ministry of Justice intends to eventually turn it into an executive decree.