National Child’s Rights Coalitions

The NGO Group Secretariat provides support to national child rights coalitions to monitor and advocate for the full implementation of the CRC through capacity-building training programmes and guiding tools.

The Secretariat also assists national NGOs with the establishment and maintaining of child rights coalitions.

If you work on children's rights and would like to join, or create, a child rights coalition in your country, contact Ms Roisin Fegan, Child Rights Officer of the NGO Group, for more information.

NEW: Follow-up to the CRC Concluding Observations - Participate to our pilot survey !

The NGO Group is currently researching how national coalitions and NGOs follow-up on the Committee 's Concluding Observations (COs). The aim is to better understand how you use COs and more specifically what are the best practices and challenges you faced in your follow-up on COs.

If you want to participate to our research, go to our online questionnaire which you can answer in English, French or Spanish (it will take you about 20-30 minutes to complete it).

Your input is crucial for us! Many thanks in advance for your participation!

HIGHLIGHT: Meet CRAE - an English national child rights coalition

Several times per year, a case study of a national child's rights coalition is featured. The current case study is the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), a coalition of more than 380 voluntary and statutory organisations committed to the full implementation of the CRC in England. 

Please click here for more information.

Do you represent a National Coalition?

Since the adoption of the CRC, more than 100 national child's rights coalitions have been formed across the world. A list of national coalitions has been compiled by the NGO Group.

If your national coalition is not on the list, or if the information about your national coalition is incorrect, contact Ms Roisin Fegan, Child Rights Officer of the NGO Group, so that we can put you on our map or update your information.

Maintaining a National Child Rights Coalition - Share your best practices with us and inspire other national coalitions!

While it is often easy to build a national coalition for the purpose of preparing alternative reports, coalitions tend to fade between reporting periods.

The NGO Group feels it is important that national coalitions sustain their work in between two reporting cycles as it would strengthen the capacity of child rights NGOs to follow-up the implementation of CRC Concluding Observations. To that end, the Secretariat has started to collect information describing how national coalitions publicise the Concluding Observations in their country and monitor the implementation of these recommendations.

Share your experience with us !

How did your coalition manage to maintain its existence after the reporting process? What kind of challenges did you face?

Send your experience to Ms Roisin Fegan, Child Rights Officer of the NGO Group, so that we can share it with other national coalitions.

A Platform for national coalitions engaged in CRC alternative reporting - the NGO Forums

During each CRC pre-session week, an NGO Forum is organised for NGO and national coalitions' representatives coming to Geneva to meet with the Committee.

These forums provide national child rights coalitions and NGOs with a platform to exchange information, share their experiences and best practices in reporting, and discuss the follow-up to the Committee's recommendations. Participants also learn about other child rights advocacy opportunities through other UN mechanisms.

Outcomes of the NGO Forums

After each NGO Forum, the Secretariat prepares an outcome document which summarises the lessons learnt, the best practices and the ways forward discussed by the NGOs present.

If you are engaged in monitoring the implementation of the CRC in your country, have a look at the latest outcomes to inspire your work:

• NGO Forum - February 2011 (Follow-up to Concluding Observations and Child participation/Other opportunities for children's rights advocacy at the international level)
• NGO Forum - October 2010 (Follow-up to Concluding Observations/How NGOs can engage in the UPR)