New Hope Foundation Zimbabwe
GLOBAL MARCH AGAINST
CHILD LABOUR
Zimbabwe 2007
We have made history with our work but little is known in Zimbabwe.
From the many national events that gave us a name we will let you know of the two major ones that later became international projects, the first activity that took us to the Child Human Rights platform is a global event in 2007, seeing how the world is changing and the rise in cases of abuse in children, we saw an opportunity to carry out a global child rights advocacy campaign, we then organized and carried out a global event on child rights advocacy, dubbed The Global March Against Child Labour, and this has landed our name on Wikipedia.
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After the event we decided to do more that would give us a chance to reach out to a million
other children to get to know their constitution, we then approached the Switzerland embassy in Zimbabwe for support on this, and we came up with two child-friendly coloring constitutional books now hosted by Save the Children International online resource center.
The first one is called my ABC child rights coloring book and the second one
child rights advocacy through art: To read more about them, scroll down this page
2021 International year for the elimination of child labour
We Planned, We Marched, We Arrived, We Achieved
In 2007 New Hope Foundation Zimbabwe, working with other partners in child protection, such as the Global March Against Child Labour, embarked on a month-long campaign dubbed the Global March Against Child Labour Zimbabwe Initiative 2007, this was done to raise awareness on child labour and its worst forms (child trafficking), this was a month-long physical march from Harare to Plumtree covering 541 kms in 28 days.
The overall objective of the march was to contribute efforts to the reduction of excessive labour and exploitation of children. We can all agree that due to HIV & AIDS and the prevailing economic challenges currently facing Zimbabwe, more and more children are now exposed to child labour than before.
Three Government Ministries joined the Campaign i.e.,
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Ministry of Home Affairs, for security and Escort
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Ministry of Education on the provision of accommodation and the involvement of schools on the March And
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Ministry of Women's Affairs Gender and Community Development.​
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To register more impact and inform the rest of the world on the effects of child labour in Zimbabwe, New Hope Foundation Zimbabwe entered into a partnership with an international Campaigner on Child Labour.
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Team Work
The Global March Against Child Labour Organisation based in India, this Organisation’s duty was to help in publicity of the Zimbabwe event and the use of their name for the Zimbabwean initiative, this was done using their website www.globalmarch.org
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Our target was to reach 5 000 000 people in all provinces of Zimbabwe, through workshops, adverts in all media houses and the march itself. This has been done, six provinces were covered and our target was exceeded.
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The main goals of this march were to:
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"Protect and promote the rights of all children, especially the right to receive free, meaningful education"
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"To be free from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be damaging to a child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development".
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The march took us across the country, the pain we endured during the march was less than what we wanted to achieve, we toiled for 28 days of rain, wind and cold days with one thing in mind, to create a better life for every Zimbabwean child.​
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In line with New Hope Foundation Zimbabwe’s principle on teamwork, networking and solidarity, the march also took on board ideas from other people as well as participation by other NGOs and government departments with relevant sectoral mandates.
All the participating NGOs added value and their voices to the march and their involvement created an opportunity for a wider dissemination of information and knowledge to the wider community.
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The goal of the Global March was to combat child labour and to spread education to the children of that country. Media outlets were used to promote this event through television, newspaper and radio.
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The march was very successful, and it achieved its purpose by allowing changes to occur with the policies on child labour being discussed.
The participation of the International Labour Organization was a moral booster for the marchers.
It was a network of change, a team of like-minded groups and organizations all thinking of one thing, the Child.
Child Friendly Constitutional
Coloring Books
With support from the Switzerland Embassy in Zimbabwe and UNICEF Zimbabwe, New Hope Foundation Zimbabwe, then known as Defence for Children International Zimbabwe under its Defence for Children Initiative program, embarked on a project to design and produce two Child Friendly children's rights constitutional coloring books.
The project came after Elfas Mcloud, Z Shangwa and another officer at NHF-Zimbabwe were supported by the Switzerland Embassy in Zimbabwe to travel to Geneva to attend an international Child Rights Advocacy training in 2011. It was after this historical moment that Elfas brought this unique idea of using arts as a tool to promote child rights.
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The project uses, coloring, drawing, painting, sculpturing, music, dance and sports as tools of change. These tools are used to promote constitutionalism in children from 3 to 15 years old and to promote an awareness of their rights enshrined in their country constitution and the relationship to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
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It is a fun way of teaching children their rights while they're colouring, drawing, shaping, singing, dancing and enjoying themselves, they learn to understand their rights and responsibilities, know about their environment and laws that protect them in their countries as well as discover and understand the UNCRC
