It is on Saturday February 4, 2023 that the children will hand over to the Minister of Social Action, Children and the Family (MASEF) registers bearing 10,000 signatures, the result of a petition collected at the level of six Wilayas of the country as well as an Advocacy Memorandum for the financing of the National Child Protection Strategy 2020-2025.
Mauritanian children, members of the Children’s Parliament, will submit to the Minister of Social Action, Children and the Family (MASEF), Ms. Savia Mint N’Tahah, a Memorandum advocating for the financing of the Strategy National Child Protection (SNPE) 2020-2025. This memorandum is supported by a register bearing 10,000 signatures collected at the level of the Wilayas of Gorgol, Trarza, Brakna and the three Wilayas of Nouakchott.
A Memorandum and a Petition
The official ceremony for the presentation of the Memorandum and the Petition is scheduled for Saturday, February 4, 2023 at the Azalaï hotel, in the presence of the Ambassador of the United States to Mauritania, HE Mrs. Cynthia Kiersht, the Head of Mission of Save The Children, Ms. Siw Dörte Diallo, from several national and international partners such as UNICEF, the European Union and World Vision, among others.
Before the official ceremony
During a lively press conference on Wednesday 1is February 2023 by the Communication Officer of Save The Children, Bâ Tijane and the Director of Children at MASEF, Mohamed Ould Sid’Ahmed, the program for the day of February 4 has been declined and includes, in addition to the official ceremony, fun activities at the Olympic Stadium in Nouakchott in the afternoon.
The origins
It must be said that the new SNPE is the result of a long process that began in 2016, with the AFIA project funded by the European Union and implemented by UNICEF. The SNPE updating agreement would even have started much earlier, in 1999.
In 2017, several projects were initiated aimed at promoting the rights of children and their well-being, such as the protection of children on the move, the regional child protection table piloted at Wilaya level by the administrative authorities, as well as municipal child protection systems.
Thus, the SNPE would be a real guide for the protection of children living throughout the territory and targets both Mauritanian children and migrant children.
It was in 2020 that the SNPE was finalized and validated by the MASEF. Since then, the expected funding has not followed for the implementation of the strategy in order to launch the operational phase planned for 5 years.
After Rwanda, Mauritania could be a pioneer
Three years have already passed without funding for the strategy. The ceremony scheduled for Saturday February 4 is an approach launched by MASEF and Save The Children, with funding from the US Embassy in Mauritania. It assumes that ” everything for children should be done by children ».
This is how several children from the six wilayas mentioned were trained on their rights. Their participation was required to carry out advocacy on the basis that ” what children want and ask for in good things, adults must execute ».
Mauritania, by agreeing to finance the SNPE, would be the second country in Africa after Rwanda, where the participatory approach of children could bear fruit. Everywhere else, the approach failed, according to Bâ Tijane.
Mauritania will have a lot to gain by adopting the approach, according to Save The Children executives, because it would be a gateway to obtaining funding from partners for its SNPE, especially if the request comes from the children themselves.
Sheikh Aïdara