Launch of Child Protection Curriculum for PSOs

In partnership with Save the Children International, EASF launched the Child Protection Training Curriculum in Peace Support Operations (PSOs) on Wednesday, 26th April 2017 at the EASF Secretariat in Nairobi.   

The event was officially opened by the newly

appointed Director of EASF, Dr Abdillahi Omar Bouh from the Republic of Djibouti.  The Save the Children International team was led by Mr Ben Aliwa, Director for Regional and Multi-Country Programming.

This programme is the first harmonised child protection curriculum in Africa, developed under the framework of the African Union, and forms part of the capacity-building programme for EASF and across the continent. It is designed to protect the welfare of children during conflict. 

The curriculum provides a training toolkit for personnel serving in PSOs on issues related to vulnerability of children during conflict.  It comes in the wake of the urgent need to protect children from various forms of danger and to enhance capacity to support them. Often children are killed and maimed during violent attacks, while other grave violations such as recruitment and use as child soldiers, rape and sexual violence, abduction, denial of humanitarian access and attacks against their schools and hospitals become commonplace.  An estimated 12 million children are internally displaced throughout the continent.

The launch attracted several institutions currently involved in capacity building and training on child protection issues. This included representatives the International Peace Support Training Centre (IPSTC) in Nairobi,  Southern Africa Development Community (SADC),  African Peace Support Trainers Association (APSTA), Ethiopia Peace Support School, Rwanda Peace Academy, Sudan Peace Support Training School, Uganda Peoples Defence Forces and the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM).

EASF has been working in partnership with Save the Children since 2013 on a programme to implement harmonised training standards on Child Protection for EASF thereby strengthening child protection interventions in the region and beyond.  All the ten member states, namely Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan and Uganda have shown outstanding commitment for the programme and have contributed to the development of this curriculum.

Photogallery: Child Protection Curriculum is Launched