Child Participation in Zimbabwe's National Action Plan for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children: Progress, Challenges and Possibilities

Abstract

Children have the right to participate in all matters that affect them—including national policies, such as Zimbabwe's National Action Plan (NAP) for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children. Officially launched in September 2005, the NAP's primary strategy for facilitating child participation is to nurture child representation on the committees charged with plan implementation. This paper studies several existing NAP committees and comments on their progress in using child representation to facilitate child participation, as well as the challenges they are facing. Based on these reflections, it identifies opportunities for creating a broad range of mechanisms for child participation and meaningful roles for children in NAP initiatives and institutions. Recommendations include developing child-friendly policy information, ensuring child representatives have a constituency, and offering child participation trainings for children and adults. These recommendations are important considerations for any organizations and government ministries working to make child participation in national policies a reality.