The Women Affairs Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) says it will adopt the pathfinding model to end violence against children across the territory.
The Mandate Secretary, Mrs Adedayo Benjamins-Laniyi, stated this in Abuja on Wednesday, on the side line of the two-day ministerial-level Regional Meeting of the Pathfinding Global Alliance on Ending Violence Against Children.
The Pathfinding Global Alliance brings together countries and relevant stakeholders committed to accelerating efforts to end all forms of violence against children by 2030, in line with Sustainable Development Goals.
The alliance provides a platform for partners to share information, promising practices, and lessons learned, as well as to collaborate and demonstrate progress.
Benjamins-Laniyi said that the FCT Women Affairs Secretariat would establish the FCT Community Network for Ending Violence Against Children.
She added that a multisectoral approach, involving relevant sectors, would be strengthened to function with the full backing of a legal framework, for effective implementation of child protection programmes.
She said that the move was in line with the Nyesom Wike-led FCT Administration’s commitment to providing the needed environment for children to grow, develop and thrive to their full potential.
She said that for the Nyesom Wike FCT, “everything is a capital project.
“So, it is not just road and other capital projects; it is also about women and children – the human capital project of renewed hope in the FCT,” she said.
She described the pathfinding model and tool kit as a model of economy that invests resources into ending violence against children, thereby creating a trajectory for economic prosperity that impacts the GDP.
The mandate secretary added that more emphasis would be placed on the implementation of the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Acts, domesticated in the FCT about 10 years ago.
She said that the pathfinding regional conference was a wakeup call to ensure the activation and operationalisation of the VAPP Act, to strengthen child protection mechanics in the FCT.
“May 23 will mark 10 years of domestication of the VAPP Act in FCT with no form of implementation for a decade.
“We are, therefore, taking every step to ensure the full implementation of the Act toward an uninterrupted growth and development of children in the FCT.
“It will not be just a talk shop, but a concrete step towards profiling the 10-year existence of the VAPP Acts in the FCT and coordinating with children as principal stakeholders.
“This will enable the children to bring their ideas in driving solutions and application of the pathfinding toolkit to end all forms of violence in the FCT,” he said.
Benjamins-Laniyi said that FCT interventions also focus on the mother and the family unit, stressing that neglecting the mother would put a child’s future in jeopardy.
The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Violence Against Children, Dr Najat M’jid, inaugurated a tool kit to end violence against children.
A Senior Economist, Cornerstone Economic Research, Mr Simon Halvey, stated that the toolkit is entitled, “Building the Investment Case for Ending Violence Against Children Tool Kit.”
Halvey said that the purpose of the tool kit was to enable member countries and stakeholders in the child protection space around the world, to develop their own investment cases for ending violence against children.
“The tool kit will enable countries to generate evidence on why investing to end violence against children is not just a social and moral imperative but also economically the smart and the right thing to do.
“They can do this by demonstrating the massive returns in terms of outcome for children and in terms of long-term economic growth and development which can accrue by investing in preventing violence against children,” he said.
Also, a technical aide to M’jid, Mr Asmundur Dadason also said that the toolkit would help countries to make the needed budgetary provisions towards ending violence against children.
Dadason, a former minister of children and education in Iceland, added that the tool kit would significantly help in addressing the investment drought in child protection.
NAN
