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Children First
Tel:
(031) 307 3405
Fax:
(031) 307 5771
Address:
2201/4 Commercial City, 40 Commercial Road, Durban, 4000
Website:
childrenfirst.org.za
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Children First is committed to presenting African perspectives on the situation of children in South Africa and Africa.
A platform for debating issues that affect children and their carers, ChildrenFIRST was initially published under the title, Recovery and was first published in 1995 by the Children's Inquiry Trust (CIT), a Johannesburg-based non-governmental organisation which emerged as an off-shoot of the Goldstone Commission of Inquiry into the effects of violence against children.
During the time that Children First was establishing itself and preparing to register as a Section 21 (not for gain) Company, which it did in November 1998, the KwaZulu Natal Programme for the Survivors of Violence and Practical Ministries undertook responsibility for administering the funding for the project.
Generously funded by the Bernard Van Leer Foundation, of the Netherlands, ChildrenFIRST has since been published as a bi-monthly publication of Children First. From the time that the publication's name was changed to ChildrenFIRST, thirty-four issues of the journal have been published. Two special issues were also produced for the 2000 Durban-hosted HIV/AIDS Conference and for the ISPCAN Conference in order to reach a broader constituency and to access international readers.
The writers who are published in ChildrenFIRST are people who are engaged in an immediate way with the actual issues affecting the children's sector in South Africa and Africa and who reflect on their own approaches in dealing with the challenges facing the sector and their attempts to develop good practice.
 There is a growing attempt on the part of the Editorial Board to change the profile of the writers so as to reflect the racial demographics of South Africa. The Editorial Board also attempts to include articles about or written by writers from elsewhere in Africa and the developing world. Examples of this include the articles written about children and issues affecting them in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tanzania and other African and other global-south countries such as Guatemala and Havana.
In addition to producing the ChildrenFIRST publication, the agency has also created the space for children to be heard through specially convened Children's Voices Workshops held in Port Shepstone on KwaZulu-Natal's South Coast, and in the deep rural area of Msinga.
Children First is involved in a number of networks in the children's sector and is frequently invited or requested to attend a range of workshops and meetings in this regard - be they for the purposes of lobbying, advocacy, policy discussions, or the sharing of experiences and knowledge.}
Governed by an Editorial Board of up to twelve unpaid members drawn from KwaZulu Natal-based NGOs. Board members have the support of their own organisations but do not necessarily represent their organisations. Their presence on the Editorial Board offers Children First access to a broader network of organisations. The Board meets once a month and considers issues such as the proposal of topics for articles and the commissioning of writers.
As an enabling forum in the development of models of good practice for working with children, ChildrenFIRST remains an important tool in promoting and protecting the rights and well-being of children. By lobbying policy-makers, activists and opinion formers, and other people of influence engaged in policy formulation processes and government structures it seeks to make them aware of what is being done in the Children's Rights sector, what needs to be done, and hopefully to create an awareness about the impact of various existing policies and their implementation or lack thereof.
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