In many countries around the world police are often the main violators of child rights - especially in relation to street children. However, through training and sensitisation there is also the possibility for the police to become important partners as protectors of children's rights. There is obviously a lot of police training already taking place throughout the world. However, there also appears to be a general lack of evaluation of the impact of this training, and limited sharing of materials and information on what works best and lessons learned. 

The Consortium for Street Children (a network of 37 NGOs working with street children projects around the world) has received funding to research police training in relation to child protection. The project involves participatory evaluations of existing police training projects in 2 countries (Ethiopia and Bangladesh) as well as researching experiences from as many other countries as possible in order to find out what works / identify lessons learned. The project will result in the production and international distribution of a toolkit on police training in relation to children, compiling lessons learned and training activities from around the world. 

The Consortium for Street Children (CSC) needs help from NGOs and child rights professionals in making this project as extensive and thorough as possible. If you work with the police on training / sensitisation in relation to child rights; if you have experience and lessons learned that can be shared internationally on what works and what doesn't work; or if you are interested in the toolkit CSC are producing that will compile international experience in this area, then CSC would greatly appreciate any information you can share in order to improve the effectiveness and impact of all future police training internationally.

A questionnaire with multiple choice options and 'tick box' answers has been designed to gather this information. Please complete it as quickly as possible, or if you do not have enough time, just send information to CSC in any other way. They are interested in any type of information: case studies, training materials, stories and lessons learned from your experience of police training, etc. The questionnaire, as well as further information on this project, is linked to the homepage of the CSC website.  The questionnaire will be translated into Spanish shortly. [Source: CRIN]

Questionnaire deadline: 18 November 2004

For more information, contact:

Marie Wernham, Advocacy Officer
Consortium for Street Children
Unit 306, Bon Marché Centre, 241-251 Ferndale Road, London SW9 8BJ, UK
Tel: + 44 (0)20 7274 0087; Fax: + 44 (0)20 7274 0372
Email: marie@streetchildren.org.uk
Website: www.streetchildren.org.uk