Program: Canada Fit for Children Conference September 13-14, 2004
Posting Date: 12 Aug 04
Author(s): CFC Steering Committee
A Canada Fit for Children – A South Asian Plan of Action
September 13-14, 2004
IDRC, 250 Albert Street, 14th Floor
Ottawa, Canada
Organizers: South Asia Partnership Canada
Canadian Teachers’ Federation
Canadian Society for International Health
Planned Parenthood Federation of Canada
Action Canada on Population and Development
Children & Armed Conflict Working Group of
Canadian Peacebuilding Coordinating Committee
UNICEF Canada
PROGRAM
REGISTRATION: IDRC Ground floor Lobby, 250 Albert St. Ottawa
MORNING, SEPT. 13 – 9:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. [Plenary]
§ Welcome & Introduction: Richard Harmston, Executive Director, SAP Canada
Keynote Address: The Hon. Landon Pearson, Senate of Canada –
“A Canada Fit for Children: Its International Goals”
Summary Report: South Asian National Plans of Action – An Overview
Report of a Virtual Dialogue: Summary of civil society voices
– Maja Andjelkovic, Canada Fit for Children List-server Moderator
10:30 a.m. Refreshment Break
Keynote Panel: Challenges for Children in South Asia
Mr. S. Eswaran, Secretary General, All India Primary Teachers’ Federation (India)
Ms. Razia Sultan Ismail, Convenor & Trustee, Women’s Coalition for Peace and Development (India)
Ms. Foroogh Foyouzat, Head of Child Protection, UNICEF Afghanistan
Introduction to the Workshops on education, health and protection
LUNCH – 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
AFTERNOON, SEPT. 13 – 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. [Workshops]
Three workshops meet in parallel sessions to present and develop shared understanding of the issues on the themes (See information on workshop scope & issues below):
Promoting Education and Learning
Facilitator: Barbara MacDonald, Canadian Teachers’ Federation
Panellists:
Mr. S. Eswaran, Secretary General, All India Primary Teachers’ Federation
Ms. Reny Jacob, Director, VIKASINI – Centre for Women’s Development (India)
Mr. Terry Price, President, Canadian Teachers’ Federation
Ms. Gwen Dueck, Secretary General, Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation
Promoting Healthy Lives
Facilitator: Janet Hatcher-Roberts, Executive Director, Canadian Society for International Health
Panellists:
Ms. Razia Sultan Ismail, Convenor & Trustee, Women’s Coalition for Peace and Development (India)
Dr. Anjum Akhter Rizvi, Program Manager and Implementation Officer of the Community Based Reproductive Health Extension Project in Pakistan, Family Planning Association of Pakistan
Katherine McDonald, LL.B., Executive Director Action Canada for Population and Development
Monika Rahman, Policy Researcher, Youth Coalition
Protecting from Harm
Facilitator: Raseema Alam, Project Manager, UNICEF Canada
Panellists:
Ms. Christine Watkins, Child Protection, UNICEF Sri Lanka
Mr. Girish Godbole, Country Director, Save the Children Canada, India
3:15 p.m. Refreshment Break (or at time of each workshop’s choosing)
Reception – 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. National Press Club, 165 Sparks Street. Ottawa, Hosted by the High Commissions of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka
MORNING, SEPT. 14 – 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. [Plenary & Workshops}
Remarks from CIDA: Natalie Zend, Senior Child Rights Analyst, Policy Branch, Canadian International Development Agency
A Canada Fit for Children: Canada’s International Action – focus South Asia
Workshops continue: What should Canada and Canadians do? Formulating
recommendations for action in South Asia on each theme
Promoting Education and Learning
Facilitator: Gwen Dueck, Secretary General, Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation
Dialogue:
Nora Fyles, Education Specialist, Strategic Planning and Policy Division, Asia Branch, CIDA
Natalie Poulson, Graybridge-Malkam Consultants
Reny Jacob, Director, VIKASINI – Centre for Women’s Development (India)
Promoting Healthy Lives
Facilitator: Janet Hatcher-Roberts, Executive Director, Canadian Society for International Health
Protecting from Harm
Facilitator: Raseema Alam, UNICEF Canada, & Kathy Vandergrift, Director of Policy, World Vision Canada
10:30 a.m. Refreshment Break (or at time of each workshop’s choosing)
LUNCH – 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
AFTERNOON, SEPT. 14 – 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. [Workshops & Plenary]
Workshops: Wrap up conclusions & reports
3:15 p.m. Refreshment Break
Full Conference: Workshop reports leading to discussion and development of
A Framework for a South Asian Plan of Action
Conclusions & Outline of follow up.
Information on the Conference Workshops
The following statements identify the scope of issues and discussion in the workshops. In each workshop, a panel of specialists on the respective theme from South Asia and Canada will launch and frame the dialogue.
Promoting Education and Learning
Those who penned the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, understood the importance of education to dynamic societies. World governments have promised to make Education for All (EFA) a reality and the latest target date of 2015 is a mere decade away. South Asia has many challenges to meet a key goal of “Ensuring that by 2015 all children, especially girls, children in difficult circumstances, and from ethnic minorities, have access to and complete, free, and compulsory primary education of good quality”. India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, (along with Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) account for 50% of children not in school. Across South Asia, civil society organizations are struggling to reinforce public education where it has a meaningful foothold, and devise alternatives where it does not. The education workshop will review barriers to quality public EFA from a civil society perspective, and present some current opportunities and approaches. An underlying assumption of the workshop is that as quality teaching reaches more South Asian children, the region as a whole can look forward to healthier social conditions.
Promoting Healthy Lives
Improving the health of children is key in the fight against poverty. Healthy children become healthy adults who can become socially and economically productive citizens and improve the well being not only of themselves but also of their communities and nations. The health issues facing young people in South Asia are varied and widespread, including persisting high levels of infant and young child mortality, low birth-weight, childhood illnesses, communicable diseases including TB, Malaria, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, anaemia in young and adolescent children, unsafe water and sanitation facilities, early marriage and child-bearing, with high rates of maternal mortality, to name only a few. A critical shortfall in most countries of the region is the low investment in health and nutrition, and poor standards and inadequate coverage of health care and nutrition security. A major concern in the current reality for children and youth of South Asia is the persisting denial of the right to information and to informed choice, and the lack of protection (including from domestic sexual exploitation). It is part of ongoing advocacy by NGOs and civil society groups to press for better attention to these concerns within the National Plans of Action. The health workshop will focus on rights to health, including sexual and reproductive health, as they relate to children and youth in South Asia, with a view to contributing to an overall framework for a South Asian Plan of Action.
Protecting from Harm
The World Fit for Children is the first international action plan for children that includes strong commitments to protect children from abuse, violence, and exploitation. Two of the top ten priorities are: “Protect children from harm and exploitation” and “Protect children from war.” National Action Plans are important instruments to turn these commitments into practical strategies. Canada’s plan, entitled A Canada Fit for Children, gives a high priority to protecting the security and rights of children, including through its international assistance programs. Areas of focus are protecting the rights of working children and combating exploitative labour; protection from sexual exploitation; and protection from armed conflict. These are issues of importance in the South Asia region. The workshop on Protection will explore what the needs are in the South Asia region and how the Canadian government and Canadian civil society groups can support the efforts of partners in the South Asia region to improve protection for the rights of children.
Attached file: FINAL PROGRAM at September 10 2004.rtf