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International Day for Street Children 2020

Published 05/05/2020 By CSC Staff

From April 8th – April 15th children, NGOs, and individuals around the world joined the CSC Network in recognising International Day for Street Children (IDSC). Following on from last year’s hugely successful IDSC which focused on Step 1 of our 4 Steps to Equality Campaign, this year’s campaign theme was focused on Step 2 – Protect Every Child, centring the theme on ensuring #SafeSpacesForStreetChildren – a theme which has taken on an added importance in light of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Government-imposed public health measures, such as lockdowns and self-isolation orders, forced many of our members to cancel or postpone their celebrations, and led CSC to take the decision to make this year’s IDSC an exclusively digital campaign. The CSC Network and a host of non-members engaged with the campaign nonetheless, taking to social media to show their solidarity with street-connected children during the pandemic – we’ve included a handful of examples of how our network engaged below.

In the lead up to IDSC we reached out to our network and asked for recordings of the children they work with talking about what makes them feel safe. You can watch a playlist of the recordings of children from Lebanon to Vietnam, and from Serbia to Tanzania:

“I am feeling safe because I am getting my basic needs, including food, shelter, and education”

We also partnered with network member Mobile School to share games on the theme of ‘Safe Spaces’ on their StreetSmartPlay platform.

We were also thrilled to have the support of several high profile individuals, such as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, the UN SRSG on Violence Against Children, and Ann Skelton, a Member of the UN Child Right’s Committee.

How the CSC Network got involved

In India, street children were interviewed by CHETNA as part of their ‘Video Street Talk’ series, where they shared their experiences of life in India’s lockdown as part of an IDSC special.

In Indonesia, children shared their thoughts on what makes them feel safe with Yayasan KDM.

In Nigeria, the staff at Education for Purpose Initiative shared their thoughts on what they want for street-connected children.

Laughter Africa shared videos of their IDSC celebrations as well as images of posters created by children in Sierra Leone on what makes them feel safe and their demands to the government.

In Uganda, SALVE International published a ‘News from the Streets’ newspaper written by children for IDSC on the theme of protection from violence and safe spaces.

StreetInvest launched a series to recognise IDSC, shining a light on the Street Workers around the world who are continuing to work in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The ‘They Depend On Us’ series highlighted what would happen if street workers were not able to reach street children during the pandemic.

Street Child United shared videos of their Young Leaders speaking about how they are staying safe during Covid-19.

In Ghana, Adamfo Ghana produced a video addressed to the president, calling on the government to take action and provide safe spaces for street children.

Click here to find all the campaign materials
Join the CSC Network

Please get in touch if you would like to enquire about joining our network, offer comment or get involved in our work: info@streetchildren.org