Newsletters

Dear Friends,

July greetings from Aflatoun!

This month's newsletter is all about the Aflatoun Mid-Campaign Meeting in Cairo held July 5-7, 2009 held under the auspices of First Lady Suzanne Mubarak and the Ministry of State for Family & Population. The three-day meeting brought together over a 170 participants from 50 countries with many great accomplishments. We all came together to share, review, and celebrate the mid-point of the 2008-2010 Aflatoun Campaign, while setting the global Aflatoun agenda through to the end of 2010.

Launched in March 2008, the Aflatoun Campaign aims to bring the programme to 1 million children in 75 countries by the end of 2010. With your help, we are now well on the way, with over 540,000 children in 24 countries!

A Mid-Campaign Meeting Report is available online and includes all the key happenings, outcomes, and presentations from the Mid-Campaign Meeting.

Mid-Campaign Meeting Highlights

* Egypt is the first country to formally integrate Aflatoun Curriculum into its national curriculum

* The first ever children's participation session held with over 50 of Egypt's Aflatoun children participating in a “Children's Panel”

* Five new Regional Representatives were elected to the Aflatoun General Board

* Children & Change 2009 edition was unveiled, featuring current research on Aflatoun

* A new Aflatoun video was showcased 

* Aflatoun's four Taskforces for Quality Assurance, Impact Assessment, Child Participation, and Curriculum Development met and new regional representatives were elected

* Two new Taskforces were formed: Afla-Finance (financial access for Aflatoun children) and Afla-Innovations (new projects and product ideas)

* Partnership agreements were signed with 63 organizations to implement the Aflatoun Programmes in various countries

* The unveiling of the Afla-Kit - a set of guidebooks and manuals for use by new organizations implementing Aflatoun. This was made available in four official languages (Arabic, English, Spanish and French). Copies are available upon request.

July's The Aflatoun Network Talks features a quote from Egypt's Aflatoun Children and their very own panel at the Mid-Campaign Meeting.

Also, we highlight our commitment to the UNCRC this month with a reminder on A Child's Right under Article 12—can you guess what it is about?

Finally, thank you too all the participants at the Mid-Campaign Meeting ?uro;“ you made it all happen. Our biggest thanks go to Egypt's Ministry of State for Family & Population, Minister Moushira Khattab, and her wonderful staff and volunteers for all their wonderful efforts in hosting the Aflatoun Movement in Cairo.

Read all about it in the July Aflatoun Talk!

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Egypt integrates Aflatoun Curriculum into National Curriculum

During the Mid-Campaign Meeting, the Egyptian Minister of Education and Minister of Family and Population announced Egypt's formal integration of the Aflatoun Curriculum into the country's public primary school curriculum. While this is Aflatoun's goal for every country, Egypt is paving the way as the first country to achieve formal integration into the national curriculum. Egypt has been the first country to achieve this because the Aflatoun Pilot started with a government organization and has scaled up since thanks to the support of Minister Moushira Khattab, a national champion for children's rights and Aflatoun. Integration into national curricula is Aflatoun's strategic programme goal, because in line with MDG 2 every child attending primary school should be able to access the social and financial life skills Aflatoun provides. With Egypt setting the example, we hope more governments will follow suit.

First Children's Participation event at an Aflatoun Meeting

The first ever children's participation session was held on July 7th with over 50 of Egypt's Aflatoun children participating in a “Children's Panel” and hosting their own exhibition on the Aflatoun programme. In Egypt, the Aflatoun Programme is implemented with Girl Friendly Schools, among many other primary schools. Female students from the Girl Friendly Schools spoke during the panel and noted how the Aflatoun Programme has served as a platform for teaching them about topics like female genital mutilation and early marriage, within the context of their rights and responsibilities. Currently, the Egyptian Programme is being implemented with over 16,000 students soon to go national. The event also served as a precedent, as Aflatoun plans to host a global Children's meetings with students from the programmes across the globe in 2010 and 2011.

Five new Regional Representatives elected to Aflatoun Board

Aflatoun's General Board is comprised of representatives from each region who meet twice a year in The Netherlands. At the Mid-Campaign Meeting the 2008 Board Members from MENA, the Americas, Africa, Europe and Asia had completed their one-year terms and elections took place among each region for new representatives. Serving 2009-2010 terms are: Irene Mutumba from PEDN Uganda (Africa), Jose Martin De la Riva from Vision Solidaria Peru (Americas), Fazle Hasan Abed of BRAC (Asia), Ljiljana Vasic for Pomoc Deci Serbia (Europe), and Minister Moushira Khattab of Egypt's Ministry of Family and Population (MENA). This General Board, along with Aflatoun's Daily Board in The Netherlands, governs the Aflatoun Movement as it grows across and within countries.

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The Aflatoun Network Talks

On July 7th, Egypt's Aflatoun Children met and hosted a “Children's Panel, Exhibition, and Q&A session” for all participants to learn about their experiences with the Aflatoun Programme in Egypt. During the panel one female student noted her understanding Core Element 2 of the Aflatoun Programme “Child Rights & responsibilities”:

“We are human, we are aware of our rights and responsibilities. I now know about child labour and that there are slums where people don't get their rights. My responsibility is to raise awareness.”

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The UNCRC - It's a Child's Right

The Aflatoun Talk section on children's rights reminds us all of one “Article” or Right quoted in child-friendly language from the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

July's child right is Article 12: “Children have the right to give their opinions and for adults to listen and take these seriously.”

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A final word of Thanks to new Aflatoun partner organizations!

This month's words of thanks are dedicated to all the Mid-Campaign Meeting attendees and to the Egyptian Ministry of Family and Population for all their wonderful efforts in hosting thr meeting in Egypt. We would especially like to thank Minister Moushira Khattab of the Ministry and her staff (Hala, Amr, Randa, Hamdi, and Mahmoud and all NCCM staff and volunteers) for all their wonderful efforts!

Stay up to date with Aflatoun on Facebook

See the Aflatoun Mid-Campaign Meeting Photo Album on Aflatoun's Facebook account too. You can friend, follow, or comment on Aflatoun via Facebook: http://cts.vresp.com/c/?AflatounChildSocialF/e6e27bb01d/6202031381/c3c5912018