Adult Appraisal of Child Rights Self-Advocacy Concept: The Case of Plan International's Child Affective Media Project.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine how adults appraise the concept of child rights self-advocacy using Plan International's Child Affective Media project as the basis of the study. In the study, a qualitative research approach was used. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were used to collect data from Plan International's Child Affective Media project areas. Six focus groups with teachers and parents, and seven in-depth interviews with opinion leaders were used to collect data. Amongst the key findings, the study revealed that although majority of adults is not ill disposed towards the idea of child rights self-advocacy, individual factors and lack of adequate knowledge in child rights self-advocacy contributes in a major way to adults' negative appraisal of the advocacy. These findings suggest that for any child rights self-advocacy campaign to suc- ceed it must seek to raise the general level of awareness of children right and child rights self-advocacy amongst the adult target population as it is an important factor in the success of the campaign. Secondly, it must seek to determine how individual and other factors in specific cultures may be influencing adult ap- praisal and decision-making process, in order to design communication strategies to counter their negative influence.