Accountability and Sharing Lessons Learned in the promotion of child rights in Nicaragua

With the support of Save the Children Norway for more than 30 continuous years 

More than 200 people of diverse ages took part in the event, Accountability and Sharing Lessons Learned, organized by Save the Children in Managua.

Through the use of exhibits and discussion panels, children and adolescents and the personnel from Save the Children’s partner organizations shared their experiences implementing various projects that were part of the 2015-2018 program. These included projects in education, child protection, health in school, and child rights governance, all undertaken with support from Save the Children Norway and Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation NORAD. 

“Collaboration and partnerships during these years have been consolidated. This has allowed us to establish new alliances and different work modalities, to make positive and long-lasting changes in the lives of Nicaraguan children a reality, in the framework of support for child rights,” commented Argentina Martinez, Country Director for Save the Children in Nicaragua. “Our goal is providing greater opportunities to children and adolescents living in rural areas of Nicaragua, improving their skills and abilities to survive, and guaranteeing that they learn and are protected from violence, in the framework of more and better quality investments in basic services,” she concluded.

Girls, boys and adolescents from Ciudad Sandino, Jinotega, León, Matagalpa and Managua participated in this event on Accountability and Sharing Lessons Learned, contributing to discussions about progress made and pending challenges, based on their own experiences taking part in activities that promote reading, school health, or meaningful participation in different local and municipal arenas.

“I like to give talks at schools about what we learned at the radio. When I got involved with Radio Chavala, I was self-conscious about everything. But not now. I have changed and I believe in myself,” stated 15-year-old Lucero, who is a member of Radio Chavala’s board of directors. This organization receives support from Save the Children as part of its Child Rights Governance program.

“There are different stages in the process,” explained Jospeh, an 11-year-old boy from San Francisco de Peñas Blancas, Matagalpa, who participated in the reading activities organized by Books for Children, with support from Save the Children as part of its education program. “First we become readers, then storytellers, and finally writers.”

“I like to go to Los Pipitos because they teach me how to do handcrafts,” Emily told us. She is 14, from Managua, and also mentioned that she takes part in these activities to become more independent and develop new life skills.

“I already wanted to be a doctor, but when I took part in the health in schools project and learned how to prevent diseases like Zika, I decided I want to study medicine,” said Camilo, an 11-year-old child from Achuapa, León. He referred to activities in his school that were part of Save the Children’s health and nutrition program, such as working as a school health brigadista.

Public institutions like the Ministry of the Family, Adolescents and Children, the Ombudsman’s Office and civil society organizations like CAPRI, CESESMA, the Nicaraguan Federation of NGOs working with Children and Adolescents (CODENI), FUNARTE, IPADE, La Cuculmeca, Books for Children, Los Pipitos, the Luis Alfonso Velázquez Flores Children’s Movement (MILAVF), the National Movement of Adolescents and Youth, Chavala Radio and the University of Central America (UCA) presented their experiences in their exhibits and also in different discussion panels.

“Save the Children Norway has had the privilege of supporting the work of our sister organizations in Nicaragua for more than 30 years. It is a great honor to have been part of this process and to have supported such meaningful achievements for all of Nicaragua’s children. We feel confident that we have made a great step forward toward achieving our global breakthroughs: Survive, which means that no childdies from preventable causes before their fifth birthday; Learn, with a focus on the quality of education; and Protection against violence,” declared Ángela Grajales, Award Manager of Save the Children Norway, at the Accountability and Sharing Lessons Learned event. 

Save the Children in Nicaragua

Save the Children is an international organization that will celebrate its 100^th birthday next year 2019. Eglantyne Jebb, who later led the process that resulted in the first Declaration on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations, founded Save the Children in England to provide care to children who were starving during the First World War.

Save the Children has worked in Nicaragua for the past 45 years, and continuously since 1986, supporting compliance with the rights of children and adolescents, in relation to education, health, and protection.

At Save the Children, we are supporting education and promoting the importance of completing primary education and continuing on to secondary education as key aspects of the full development of children and adolescents. We advocate flexible and inclusive educational strategies whose goal is to guarantee that all children and adolescents are able to attend or re-enter school. We work to promote ethical treatment, training in values, life skills, the prevention of all forms of violence (including pregnancy at an early age), and we promote equality and non-discrimination.

For more information about Save the Children’s work in Nicaragua, please refer to the “External Annual Report, 2017” and other publications on our website: https://nicaragua.savethechildren.net/resources