‘Express Yuh Self with Rights’
For the past two years we’ve been reporting on a volunteer group called the Convention on the Rights of the Child Ambassadors. They represent an arm of the National Committee for Families and Children that go into the community to do outreach work on the convention. Those ambassadors, in collaboration with stakeholders, have developed a booklet to help children learn about their rights. That resource tool was officially launched today in Belize City. News Five’s Andrea Polanco attended the unveiling of the activity book and here’s that report.
Andrea Polanco, Reporting
The National Committee for Families and Children launched the ‘Express Yuh Self With Rights’ activity booklet today in Belize City. The booklet, developed by the CRC Ambassadors, is a sensitization tool to help children and families learn their rights as is set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Michael Fritz
Michael Fritz, PR, CRC Ambassadors
“Some of the rights that children with are the right to play; the right to education; the right to shelter; the right to be free from harm; the right to protection. These are some of the rights we have addressed in the booklet. We also addressed some of the key issues within our Belizean society that as a country we might not want to address. So, we’re talking about sexual exploitation, gun violence, and these are some of the issues that we incorporated in the book in a very information and interactive manner.”
The hope is that this resource will help to empower children and, by extension, families, to be able to teach others about their rights.
Michael Fritz
“We expect that the chain of connectivity, meaning the child or that individual can teach others about their rights. It is something that should be discussed on a personal basis. Yes, we have organizations such as NCFC who does educate people about their rights; it would be of more effect to have it on a one on one basis.”
The rights based children’s activity book is free of cost and will be shared with schools across the country. The booklet, which is complemented with a CD, features a number of fun and educational activities to help children learn and remember their rights.
Michael Fritz
“The book itself has a mixture of activities. We have puzzles, the ABC graphs for the younger kids, comprehension passages, and different activities like mazes in the book itself. So, it is a compilation of different activities. The CD itself, majority of them are nursery rhymes but in a very upbeat and Belizean or localized manner, so with heavy drums and so forth. We have also added the iconic Sweet Belizean Child and the Know Your Rights song on the CD, as well.”
Reporting for News Five, I’m Andrea Polanco.
Works are in the pipeline to make an online version of the booklet.
