Children Lead The Way Child Centered Community Development (CCCD) in Action Child Participation Groups in Guinea Bissau Some comments on ChildPro from community members in Bafata and Gabu, Guinea Bissau: “It is as though we have been in another world, since the children started their GPI activi- ties .” Mother of a GPI member, Canssamba, Guinea Bissau. “It is as though we were on a long and difficult journey and the children have come along and carried us for a large part of the way .” Elder, Geba, Guinea Bissau. “It is as though the children have just helped us leap over a large number of problems in the community and brought us out on the other side .” Father of a GPI member, Cans- samba, Guinea Bissau. “50 years of NGOs have not obtained these results .” GPI Facilitator, Geba, Guinea Bissau. Page 1 Preface At the beginning of the liberation struggle the founder of the movement for Guinean independence, Amilcar Cabral, proclaimed: “The children are the main flowers of our struggle. They are what we are fighting for”. After independence the flowers Amilcar Cabral dreamt of flourished. They in turn now struggle to support their grandchildren (Aliu, Fatumata and others ). These are the very children who have chosen to take part in Child Participation Groups. The Child Participation Group Project aims to create space where children can express their opinions and participate actively in issues related to their own lives. In so doing the children make valuable contributions to the communities to which they belong and prepare themselves for responsible citizenship based on respect for human rights, democracy, non-violence and gender equity. In a country like Guinea Bissau where children under the age of 18 constitute more than two thirds of the population, creating space for the active participation of this part of the community and taking their contributions on issues related to them into account, is imperative. Plan International in Guinea-Bissau, as a child centered development organisation, has tried to introduce approaches that allow Guinean children, more specifically the children from regions of Bafata and Gabu, to find space to enjoy, practise and experience the full responsibilities of citizenship. The results have exceeded all expectations. More than simple participation, the children have increasingly committed themselves as instruments for the development of their own communities by initiating and developing a number of activities leading to the creation of better living conditions. It is important to stress that it is the children themselves who are the main agents of change within their own communities as they participate actively in the projects which they have designed and created themselves. The levels of confidence of the children, their ownership of the processes and their capacity to solve problems have amazed all the adults with whom they have come into contact from the communities benefitting from the project. In fact adults have clearly stated that they never believed that their children could show such potential and contribute so amazingly to changing attitudes and strengthening the basis for sustainable development. The Child Participation Group Project and its unquestionable success proves clearly that when the opportunities are provided to children they can contribute significantly not only to their own well being but also to the well being of the whole society. Ingrid Kuhfeldt Representative of Plan International Guinea Bissau Page 2 Table of Contents Preface…………………………………………………………………………...…………………………..………….....2 Introduction………………………………………………………………...………………………..……………….....4 What is ChildPro?......................................................................................................................6 How did it start?........................................................................................................................6 What are the children doing?..................................................................................................9 Promoting health………………………………………………………………………………..………….….…..9 Promoting education and gender equality……………………………...…………………....……..13 Promoting self sufficiency and autonomy…………………………………………………..…….....16 Promoting a healthy environment (harmony and unity)…………………..………………….16 Promoting child participation in community activities…………………...……………...…….16 Planning and monitoring their own activities…………………………………….………………...16 Impact of the GPI Project………………………………………………………………………………...……….17 Changes in the children………………………………………………………………………...……..………17 Changes in the communities…………………………………………………………….……………........19 Changes in the parents and other community members………………………...…….……...21 Costs and numbers of children/communities affected……………………………...…………..22 Difficulties encountered…………………………………………………………………………………….……….23 Factors making this methodology particularly effective………………………………….…………24 Page 3 Introduction According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child , all children have the right to participate in all decisions affecting their wellbeing (See Articles 10, 12, 13 and 15). However, this right to participation has proved one of the most misunderstood and the most difficult to guarantee, even though it is consid- ered the right most likely to ensure that children’s other rights are fulfilled. In this document, we shall see how the children of Guinea Bissau have been working in their child participation groups (GPI) to promote their rights to health, education, self-expression, equality or non-discrimination, birth registra- tion, a healthy environment and many more. Within Plan programmes, there have been many attempts to encourage the participation of children in community development, particularly since Plan’s adoption of Child-Centred Community Development (CCCD) as its rights-based approach to development.1 Indeed CCCD is not possible without the active participation of children. One of the most successful efforts in this regard, ChildPro, has been used in various Plan programme countries, where it has shown its ability to prepare children well to participate and to deal with many of the obstacles to effective child participation in community activities. ChildPro was first introduced in Guinea Bissau, in 2006/7, when 39 communities, out of the over 700 communities, in the Bafata and Gabu Regions, where Plan works, were selected and agreed to take part in the first project. A second project, in 2009/10, is setting up child participation groups (GPI) in an- other 31 communities in Plan’s project area (Bafata and Gabu Regions), bringing the total up to 70 GPIs. These groups have all achieved incredible results, and it is some of these efforts and results which are recorded in this document. Parents, community members and children, as well as Plan staff, are very happy with the results as can be seen in the comments 2 below, e.g. here are the comments we received from female parents and community members in Gã Fati, which give an idea of the range of activities carried out by the children and their impact: “This (project) is very important to us. There has been a large change in mentality in the chil- dren, and the children set a good example. They have also produced a change in their parents’ mentality and positive improvements in the village. They have cleaned the village, reducing the cases of malaria, and encouraged pregnant women to attend antenatal care, cleaned the water sources, encouraged people to drink clean water, and cleaned the well. They have taught the children to wash their hands properly with soap, and made sure that they are all clean and tidy before going to school. They encourage all the parents to send all their children to school and check most of the above regularly. 1A rights-based approach aims to ensure the respect of all (human and child) rights for all the people and chil- dren in the programme area. 2A recent external evaluation confirmed the successful results achieved, and many of the quotations here were collected during that evaluation Page 4 Every Saturday, they check the toilets and if they are not clean, insist on these being cleaned properly. They check the water supply and make sure that this is all in order. They have taught us that the toilet bucket should not be used anywhere else, plastic cups are more likely to carry disease, how to check the mosquito nets, etc. They are very polite and pass important information by example, e.g. sweeping the house, rather than just words. When the children work in the village, the parents work with them, e.g. cleaning, etc. If they find a dirty child, they wash them completely and advise them on how to stay clean and always to wear clean clothes. They have cultivated peanuts and sold some to finance their activities. They have also kept some as seeds for next year. The children check the stock for other projects (to make sure that everything is accounted for) and there is good co-operation with the teacher and chief of the village so that the children now have their part in community decisions. There is no more violence between the children in the village. They have also been raising awareness in the neighbouring villages. The parents have given 100CFA to cover their food when they do this, or provide them with food to take with them.” Plan staff have also noticed many changes which benefit their programmes: These activities support all Plan programmes, especially Health. The children have raised awareness through drama and other means on early marriage,