Children20 Declaration represents hopes of young people for a better world, says child leader

The Children20 Declaration, a set of recommendations produced as a result of youth-driven dialogue, was handed to President Cyril Ramaphosa during the G20 Social Summit in November. It represented an all-too-rare opportunity for children to participate in global politics.

Amogelang Mashele (15), president of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament, led the handover process on behalf of all the children who participated in the development of the declaration. She described it as “a dream come true”, representing the collective hopes of young people for a better world.

“It’s a powerful statement of our demands for a safer, fairer and more just future,” she told Daily Maverick.

Mashele is from Kuruman in the Northern Cape and has aspirations of becoming a dermatologist, a path she’s pursuing as she has seen how people lose their self-confidence and develop low self-esteem because of comments from others about their skin.

She was introduced to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament, a joint initiative of Parliament, the Department of Social Development, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and Save the Children South Africa, after winning a province-level debating competition.

“I got to experience what representing the 20 million-plus children across our nation is like [and] learn about the importance of child safety, climate change, substance abuse, comprehensive sexual education and child participation – because those were the five commissions we were divided into to discuss – and I also got an opportunity to meet my fellow debaters from each province. Together, we inspired each other,” Mashele said.

Developing the Children20 Declaration

The Children20 Declaration was developed during a Children20 pre-summit in Johannesburg, with about 50 participants from across Africa. It was hosted by the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, with support from the Global Leaders Network. The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund served as the sherpa for the Children20 process.

Reflecting on the importance of children’s involvement in the G20, Mashele said: “Children’s voices matter. We are the future, and our perspectives are crucial in shaping policies that impact our lives. So, we deserve to have a say in decisions that affect us.”

Read more: Children raise voices as delegates to the G20 Social Summit, but they’ve yet to be heard loud and clear

During the pre-summit, the young participants explored themes that mirrored the G20 Social Summit. The resulting declaration called on leaders to take decisive actions in relation to:

• Digital inclusion and equitable transformation;
• Trade, resilience and inclusive value chains;
• Inclusive climate justice, just transition and energy democracy;
• Just and sustainable finance and international financial architectures; and
• Building momentum for the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 agenda.

At the handover of the declaration at the G20 Social Summit, Ramaphosa reaffirmed South Africa’s commitment to addressing child hunger, expanding access to opportunities and intensifying efforts against gender-based violence and femicide.

Mashele identified poverty, inequality, climate change and lack of access to education and healthcare as some of the biggest challenges children are facing today. She called for action, not just promises.

“I think our government should listen and not just talk. They should prioritise children's issues, involve us in decision-making and take concrete actions to address our concerns, because it is time to dream now,” she said.

Representing children across the nation at the G20 Social Summit was a highlight of her time as president of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Parliament, she added.

“I want every child leader to experience that as well,” she said.

Amplifying voices of children

Dr Linda Ncube-Nkomo, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, told Daily Maverick that child representatives from six of South Africa’s provinces, as well as Kenya, Lesotho, Sudan and Zambia, attended the Children20 pre-summit.

One of the key topics the children focused on was inclusion, particularly when it came to providing enabling environments in the education system for people living with disabilities, she said.

A strategic objective of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund is to create platforms that amplify the voices of children, Ncube-Nkomo noted.

“We saw the importance of being involved on a platform like this because we so believe in the criticality of children’s voices. Gone are the days where we used to say children should be seen and not heard,” she said.

“When we’re talking about policies, when we’re talking about sustainable development goals, when we’re talking about Africa 2060, we’re actually talking about creating a world that these children are going to be living in. And so it becomes important to hear their voices.”

Ncube-Nkomo said that all children in the world were facing violence in some form or another, with risks extending beyond the physical into the digital space.

“Violence against children is a global issue. [...] Poverty is an issue that is faced by children all over the world. [...] So, those are the common things that they face,” she said.

When it comes to certain challenges such as digital safety, there is scope for countries to work together across borders to create policies that improve child protection, according to Ncube-Nkomo. Families and communities also have a big role to play, and child protection systems at this level need to be strengthened.

Read more: Cape Town G20 event pushes for new global laws to keep children safe online

“Prevention is cheaper than trying to solve post an event and prevention is not as costly as when a child has been harmed. […] Prevention really comes back to [...] communities, families, caregivers, taking on the role of being the protectors of the children in the environment,” Ncube-Nkomo said.

This approach involves educating community members about violence against children and how to respond when there’s a possibility a young person is at risk, she said. DM