Child-Friendly Accountability

by ChildFund Alliance
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What is child-friendly accountability?

Child-friendly accountability is the ability for children to meaningfully participate in making certain that those charged with protecting and fulfilling children’s rights actually do what they are supposed to do. If they do not or cannot, children and their representatives must have some recourse.

Governments are responsible for ensuring children’s right to survival and development and for protecting them from violence. Children must be able to hold governments accountable to their commitments and contribute to finding constructive ways to solve problems. However, in most countries, children have no voice, no platform and are not meaningfully engaged in decisions that affect them.

Child-friendly accountability is not only about giving children a voice; it also requires that children and youth are able to participate in identifying problems and solutions. It demands that children and youth are able to engage in an informed dialogue with decision-makers about issues of concern to them. It is most powerful when children and youth are able to see the tangible results of their actions.

ChildFund Alliance and child-friendly accountability

child friendly accountability methodology coverChildFund Alliance is developing a mechanism that will enable children to hold decision-makers accountable to their goal to eradicate all forms of violence against children (Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 16.2).

The objectives of our child-friendly accountability initiative are:

  • to help children access age-appropriate data and information and contribute to monitoring child protection systems;
  • to support children in holding their governments and local authorities accountable to their commitments in SDG target 16.2;
  • to advocate for international, national and local systems and policies focused on eliminating violence against children.

During the first phase, the initiative will engage children (ages 13 to 17) and young people (ages 18 to 25) through schools and youth associations. It will monitor child protection systems, as opposed to individual incidents of violence.

Children will work together to identify and monitor local protection systems. They will report to community leaders and work with local authorities to identify direct actions that can improve protection services for children.

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