The Media Network on Child Rights and Development (MNCRD) is a vibrant, membership driven, media association dedicated to sensitizing and equipping the media and children to cover child rights and development issues. It works with government, civil society, cooperating partners, children and journalists to ensure that the voices of children and their issues are captured in the media to achieve policy change and implementation.

• VISION - A society where children’s rights are understood, prioritised and enforced.
• MISSION – We work to empower journalists, civil society, government, communities and children with child rights programming and media/advocacy/awareness-raising skills and involve them to promote the upholding of children's rights and welfare by engaging with the media, civil society organisations, children, traditional leaders, elected representatives and relevant government departments.
• CHILD RIGHTS APPROACH - The vision and mission statements adhere to the child rights approach by involving children in the planning, implementation and the monitoring and evaluation in all the programmes run by the MNCRD as active participants through the Children’s News Agency (CNA) Committee as a governance structure under MNCRD.

OBJECTIVES:

• To create awareness on the plight of children
• To advocate the upholding of children’s rights
• To promote media activism on children
• To promote professionalism, ethical values and accuracy in reporting on children
• To promote safe motherhood and gender equity as one component leading to the promotion of healthy children
• To promote the use of electronic, print and ICT in highlighting children’s issues
• To assist and develop journalists who want to cover children’s issues by building capacity and providing resources
• To hold functions that would highlight and promote the capacity of children
• To research and investigate conditions leading to children’s vulnerability
• To build the capacity of children and advocate for their rights

BOARD AND STAFF

The Board is elected at the biennial General Assembly (GA) for members to serve two-year terms. The GA is the supreme body of the organisation, which mandates the NEC to supervise the implementation of programmes by the secretariat. The Board has expanded its commitment to include one for members of the Children’s News Agency (CAN) to promote child participation within the organisation.

PROJECTS AND PARTNERS

• The Children’s News Agency (CNA) empowers children with media skills to engage government, civil society, parents and elected representatives to take up roles in fulfilling child rights supported by Save the Children International (SCI) Zambia office and East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO), Hivos Southern Africa Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and the British Council.
• The Children’s Media Monitoring Project (CMMP) monitors the media to find good and bad reporting. Once the violations by the media are discovered, the children visit newsrooms to question editors about their reporting supported by Save the Children International (SCI) Zambia office and ESARO.
• The Child Discussion or Dialogue Forums (CDF) or main hall debates bring civil society, child rights activists, government, elected representatives, and children before journalists to bring out issues around child rights and have them reported in the media supported by Save the Children and the Commonwealth Foundation.
• Media training builds capacity in the media to be able to effectively ask questions that hold duty bearers accountable supported by Firelight Foundation, Commonwealth Foundation and the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights.
• Radio programmes bring duty bearers and children on the air and the public is given an opportunity to call the panellists to answer their concerns about child rights supported by Firelight Foundation.
• Child development and protection activities engage the public and duty bearers on various issues such as education, health, birth registration, social protection, child safeguarding, child rights programming, sexual gender-based violence/HIV and child abuse using platforms to hold people accountable supported by the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA) Commonwealth Foundation, British Council and Firelight Foundation.