5th Malawi Children’s Parliament: Full Report Out!

The 5th Children’s Parliament of Malawi met from 8th to 11th August 2005 at Malawi Posts Telecommunication Training Centre in Blantyre. Under the theme “With Children Malawi Can Develop,” the Children’s Parliament had 80 Child Parliamentarians of equal gender representation within the age of 12 – 19 years drawn from all districts of Malawi

The actual sitting days for that Parliament were two, 10th and 11th August 2005. The first two days were devoted to Capacity Building for Child Parliamentarians to equip them with appropriate skills for debating in the Chamber during the sitting days.

During the two days of Capacity Building, the Child Parliamentarians were taken through five major sessions:

a) Feedback on the resolution made during the Children’s Conference and the Young General Assembly that were held on 22nd – 24th November 2004 and 29th July – 7th August 2005, respectively.

b) Training on the following subjects:

• Child rights
• Public speaking skills
• Child participation
• Identification of provisions in the Republican Constitution that concern the children
• Parliamentary Procedures and Standing Orders for Child Parliamentarians
• Roles and functions for officers of the Parliamentarians

Furthermore, the Assembly also elected new Speaker, new Clerk of Parliament and Sergeant-at-Arms amongst its members.

c) The Children’s Assembly divided itself into two political parties: the Children’s Party (as Ruling Party) and the Millennium Party (as Opposition Party). Each political party elected its own leaders.

d) The Members, through brainstorming, identified four major topics for debate in the Chamber during the sitting days. The topics were:

• Violence Against Children
• Empowerment and Development
• Strengthening Participation Rights for Children, and
• Children in Difficult Circumstances

e) Orientation and rehearsals for Chamber proceedings

The workshop was facilitated by staff from the Malawi National Assembly; Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Community Services; Eye of the Child; and also Speaker of Children’s Parliament of Nigeria.

The meeting was funded by Plan Malawi and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) through the Ministry of Gender, Child Welfare and Community services.

The full report, with all the resolutions reached, is already available at Plan Malawi. For more information, contact them on <malawi.co@plan-international.org>