Last year thousands of people across the globe heard about how to improve treatment for children through the Good Treatment Campaign (GTC) run by Viva partner networks in each of their local communities.
Children were trained to share the messages with their parents and other adults and even spoke on national radio programmes about the importance of children’s rights. Partnerships with local authorities, businesses and non-government organisations (NGOs) ensured the GTC was spread widely among countless adults and children – some of whom had never heard such vital messages.
Although the world is starting to learn to live with the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, some government restrictions remained even in 2021, and activities have been based both online and in-person. Viva partner networks are incredibly resilient and came up with creative ways to reach their communities with GTC messaging, including through the use of social media and street marches.
The Campaign for Good Treatment of Children aims to be a simple program to implement and administer. It engages with many local adults and tackles some of the children’s critical issues. We like the idea of a simple tool to collaborate with many adults in a network community, ideally through the actions of children connected to the network and trained by the network.
This program offers potential to raise awareness through networks about the needs and rights of children.
The program is based on a Promise to commit to good treatment of children by signing a Promise Card (It can be digitally distributed). The program will be carried out by children and for children. They can be child ambassadors of the network, members of the church or young people linked to the network’s member organization. The participation of the boys and girls must be fun and voluntary, arising from a sense of ownership of the themes and programs that they have been developing and in this case, due to issues of restrictions and distancing, we are suggesting the commitment is the distribution in a virtual way (social networks).
The Promise is based on a series of thought-provoking statements and each person who receives the information at the level of a brochure or a certificate, business card style, in which they are making a commitment to uphold Good Treatment.
Some networks may wish to use the program to build on the public face of the network around an identified issue and engage in celebrity endorsement or advocacy on a local issue. This could be an effective way to incorporate the new strengths of the program into the current strengths and direction of the Network.
The 5 statements are based on good treatment. We propose that these be used for each new campaign, but you may need to adapt or extend them to address the key issues the network has found.
WEEK 1
Let them know you LOVE them everyday.
WEEK 2
LISTEN to them and understand what they have to say.
WEEK 3
ACCEPT them as they are and strengthen their abilities.
WEEK 4
TEACH them to be good citizens.
WEEK 5
PROTECT them in mistreatment situations.
