Participation and Children’s Rights: A Case Study on the Role of Non-Governmental Organizations Working For Internally Displaced Children in Khartoum-Sudan in Health Services

Abstract

Non-Governmental Organizations use a participation approach, claiming that the approach helps communities in the improvement in the lives of the poor[AOA1] . The Convention on the Rights of the Child (article 12) gives children the right to participate and NGOs should involve children in decisions that affect them.

This paper focuses on the work of a national organization working in health services for displaced children in Wad-Elbashir camp in Khartoum-Sudan and argues the case for a rights-based approach to participation in health services, including separate provision of services for adolescent mothers, along with education on sexual and reproductive health for children.

As evident throughout this paper, children’s rights to survival and development are not fulfilled and actively undermined by NGOs. This, in turn, affects maternal and child health as the organisation neglects many factors that can contribute to children’s health and survival.