DRAFT Memorandum of Understanding by and between the Member Organizations1 of Child Rights Advocacy Coalition, Bangladesh Preamble The purpose of this Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Member Organizations (hereafter referred to as Members) of the Child Rights Advocacy Coalition, Bangladesh-CRAC,B (hereafter referred to as Coalition) is to agree on the shared vision and strategic focus including the scope of work and clearly delineate the roles and responsibilities of the Members in the achievement of the objectives as stipulated in this memorandum. This is not a legally binding agreement but posits that the Members would adhere to the letter and spirit of the MoU for the advancement of the child rights in Bangladesh. In order for the Coalition to succeed in attaining the objectives, multiple members must fulfill their individual responsibilities as well as those that require collaboration between members as posed for and agreed upon by the Coalition time to time. Background Bangladesh is one of the first countries to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1990 as well as two of its Optional Protocols hence is obligated to respect, protect and fulfill children’s rights at any circumstance by the letter and spirit of the convention. The country has also formulated several policies and legislations for safeguarding child rights e.g. National Child Policy 2011, The Children’s Act 2013 to name a few that reaffirms its commitment to the cause. Nevertheless, despite these provisions, children of the country continue to experience sustained or chronic deprivation of resources, services, capabilities, choices, security and power for proper enjoyment of their childhood. These further perpetuate systemic violation of their right to survival, development, participation and protection. Deep-rooted structural causes around gender stereotype, discriminatory behavior and attitude, social exclusion, combined with weak governance, institutional bottlenecks, and lack of enforcement of laws and policies exacerbate these violations. With long development history, innovations and vibrant NGO movements in the country since independence, quite a few national and international NGOs have invested significant efforts and resources, both individually and collaboratively, to uphold child rights and fight for their justice with notable successes. They also have partnered and closely worked with government in many of its successful endeavors and contributed to the development of national policies and legislations. Still, child rights violations continue. There also seems to be a lack of coordinated and concerted advocacy efforts around child rights among these NGOs. Therefore, NGOs have felt the need to coordinate their actions 1
The nine member organizations of the coalition are (in alphabetical order): ActionAid Bangladesh (AAB), Ain O Salish Kendra (ASK), Bangladesh Shishu Adhikar Forum (BSAF), Child Rights Governance Assembly (CRGA), Girl Child Advocacy Forum (GCAF), Plan International Bangladesh (PIB), Save the Children in Bangladesh (SCiB), Terre des Hommes-Netherlands (TdH-NL) and World Vision Bangladesh (WVB)
and jointly advocate with government and other stakeholders for upholding child rights, especially since joint advocacy can add greater value and voice than the individual efforts in a number of areas. It is therefore crucial that the organizations which are committed to safeguard child rights devise a coordinated mechanism for joint advocacy efforts so as to create greater influence on the policy process and deepen impact on children. It is in this backdrop that these nine organizations have formed a coalition ‘Child Rights Advocacy Coalition, Bangladesh (CRAC,B)’ to jointly advocate for legislative and policy reforms for the realization of child rights. A mix of both national and international NGOs as well as networks within the Coalition will provide it with strong legitimacy and position to exert influence over policy makers, raise collective voice and strive for legal remedies against child rights violations as and when necessary. Broad objective of the Coalition ďƒ˜ To influence government and other key stakeholders to uphold child rights in line with UNCRC and other relevant national and international instruments Specific objectives of the Coalition The specific strategic objectives are as follows: 1. To initiate and/or strengthen joint advocacy actions for holding both state and non-state actors/institutions accountable to implement recommendations of the UNCRC Concluding Observations and Universal Periodic Review (UPR) 2. To unite and campaign against child rights violations Principles The Coalition will abide by the following principles in delivering its functions: A. Mutual respect, requiring the Members to equally value and respect diverse perspective, position and opinion without being influenced or biased by the identity and contribution of any member(s) but with the spirit of upholding the best interests of the children B. Equal participation, requiring the Coalition to create democratic space for the Members so that they can freely and meaningfully participate in the coalition actions without imposition, share collective responsibility but within the individual capacity and raise voice against any decision(s) that affects them C. Transparency and accountability, requiring the Members to be accountable to the Coalition as well as to children and other stakeholders in its actions and results while also promoting open flow of information and communication including sharing of both successes and failures D. Flexibility, allowing any Member(s) to express reservations against any particular position, action and decision of the Coalition without compromising its accountability to the shared vision and objectives of the Coalition
Strategic focus To achieve the aforementioned objectives, the Coalition initiatives will be underpinned by the UNCRC principles and encompass four broad dimensions of child rights 1. Right of children to survival 2. Right of children to development 3. Right of children to participation 4. Right of children to protection Scope of work To align with the strategic focus, the Coalition actions would encompass the following: 1. Advocacy - The Coalition will undertake evidence-based advocacy, lobby and campaign for policy and legislative reforms (enactment/amendment/enforcement). For the purpose, the Coalition will conduct law/policy reviews and issue-based research to identify advocacy agenda and actions. 2. Child Rights Monitoring and Reporting - The Coalition will also undertake a coordinated regular UNCRC monitoring to evidence situation of child rights and develop UNCRC Alternative Report for strengthening the quality of child rights monitoring and reporting system. Operational Strategy 1. The Coalition will formulate its overarching strategy and annual action plan, which may however be reviewed at any given period if the Coalition deems so. It may also develop other supporting strategies/frameworks as and when necessary. 2. Based on the strategy and regular actions, the Coalition will agree on joint advocacy agenda and actions as proposed by the Members, supported by adequate evidence, rationale and objectivity. 3. The Members will undertake joint actions and share responsibility as agreed by the Coalition. However, any Member(s) may be delegated to take lead on and coordinate any specific theme, event or action under the agreed plan due to relevant expertise should the Coalition agree so. 4. The Coalition and its members may strategically engage with children’s platforms, media, and other relevant actors to strengthen its influence over policymakers for safeguarding child rights. The Coalition will attempt to maintain working relationship and liaison with other networks/coalitions. 5. The Members will support the Coalition in maintaining close relation with the Government, National Human Rights Commission and media. 6. The Members will mobilize, contribute and share resources for the agreed Coalition actions. 7. The Coalition will develop a logo as a distinct entity and brand its profile and visibility. In any coalition action, the visibility of the coalition must be ensured (e.g. use of coalition logo in publications etc) while the visibility of the lead member or any others will be ensured as the Coalition deems appropriate.
8. The Coalition member will decide the spokesperson around any issue(s) or event as the Coalition led by the organization in coalition meeting. Coalition members before each action will decide on the representation for that particular action. 9. The Coalition will regularly monitor its actions and devise a mechanism to streamline this process. Coordination and Management 1. Membership: It is a coalition between National and International NGOs and networks working on child rights. It currently comprises of nine members. All the coalition members are obligated to abide by the Coalition principles as well as decisions set by the coalition. 2. Representation: Each member will delegate representative (s) to the coalition with the authority to join coalition actions, share responsibility and present organizational opinion and position in coalition decisions. It is expected that the delegates/representatives are not changed frequently. 3. Monitoring: The activities of coalition will be monitored and reviewed as per standardized and systematic mechanism and framework. By yearly rotation, monitoring responsibility will be carried out by member organizations based on the discussion. A yearly monitoring report will be published. 4. Decision making: Majority opinion will be considered for taking decisions. Based on the principle of flexibility, coalition member may disagree with any decision or express reservations against decision, position or action. If any organization have the disagreement on coalition decision but majority organization agreed to go into action the disagreed organization in reference to the MoU have the flexibility to withdraw its name from that particular action. 5. Coordination: Any member will serve the role of coalition secretariat as a single coordination point upon agreement by the Coalition. The secretariat role will rotate among the members in every two years. However, any other member can also be given the role of coordination for any particular coalition action should the Coalition agrees so.