UNICEF in Action
The Convention on the Rights of the Child guides the work of UNICEF. With the support of the European Union, UNICEF, in 2000-2003, implemented the project Advocacy and Promotion of Women and Children’s Rights in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. Within the framework of the project, a National Plan of Action on Children for 2003-2007 was prepared; the Convention was incorporated into the school curriculum in Tbilisi and the national legislation was reviewed in accordance to the Convention. The Child Rights Centre was established within the Public Defender’s Office. 1,809 professionals, including 1,035 education professionals, 568 health professionals and 206 professionals from law enforcement spheres, were trained on how to incorporate the Convention in their daily work and protect child rights. A national contest on child rights was conducted with the aim of producing different stories on the convention for children, with mobile clubs on child rights established in Gori and Kutaisi. Various television and radio programmes and puppet shows were aired on Channel One, Georgian Public Television, with the aim of raising public awareness about the Convention. Intellectual games, ‘Who?’, ‘Where?’, and ‘When?’ with the theme of child’s rights among schoolchildren was carried out. Theatrical lessons on child rights were organised in Tbilisi and different regions of Georgia with the aim of educating children between the ages of 8-12 through theatre and play. Moreover, ‘Moot Court Competitions’ (model court sessions based on concrete cases) on child rights were conducted for schoolchildren.
Impact As a result of the project, the level of awareness on children rights was raised from 23 per cent in 2001 to 65.5 per cent in children in 2003 and, according to the project evaluation, revealed as much as 71.2 per cent in adults.
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