On June 24 to June 30, the Child Rights Coalition Asia members and secretariat gathered for an Organizational Capacity Assessment/Planning and Annual Members’ Meeting in Pasay, Manila, Philippines.

The week-long event was a venue for the 11 member organizations to update each other on the their work and achievements for the past year and to talk about major child rights concerns in their respective countries.

With the assistance of an Organizational Capacity Development (OCD) consultant, CRC Asia was able to assess its organizational capacity and plan for the future. Specifically, members reviewed the Coalition’s vision and mission, identified organizational strengths and weaknesses, key areas of organizational development, financial management policies, by-laws, and strategic plans.

In terms of strategic plans, gaps were identified as well as techniques to address these gaps. The Coalition was taught to integrate lessons learned from country experiences into its programming model, craft a focused plan of action, and identify priority areas for development.

The group also discussed advocacy strategies. Members laid out future plans in advocating for priority development areas in the national and regional levels.

In order to strengthen the capacities of the member organizations, secretariat, and the board of trustees, participants explored better ways to collaborate especially in sharing knowledge and skills. The coalition also reviewed and discussed the protocols in recruiting new member organizations and members of the the board of trustees.

As a learning session, CRC Asia members had a chance to visit Bahay Tuluyan, an organization in Manila that provides alternative education, a drop-in center, and emergency and residential centers for street children. CRC Asia members learned how Bahay Tuluyan is able to provide for 40 percent of its operations and program implementation from small business undertakings such as a farm, a guesthouse, three (3) training and community centers, and a café.

Another learning session on how to prevent fraud in organization was set up later that week. Save the Children Philippines’ Legal and Compliance Officer presented definitions of fraud, reasons for its occurrence, and ways to address it. She likewise shared Save the Children’s principles, practices, and sample documents for controlling fraud within the organization. As part of this session, CRC Asia members were tasked to come up with a framework for its anti-fraud policy.

In this meeting, CRC Asia members did pre-work for the finalization of the Coalition’s by-laws. These will be finalized in the next Members’ Meeting which will be held in September 2016 in Thailand.

As a result of the discussions during the OCD Assessment/Planning and Annual Members’ Meeting, CRC Asia and its members drafted and signed the 2016 Annual Members’ Meeting Statement.

The Statement calls on concerned parties to focus and address issues such as the refugee situation, discrimination of and intolerance for migrants, upholding of human rights during national campaigns to end criminality, and online child safety.

The statement also recognized ratifications of key child rights treaties and protocols by Asian countries as well as the adoption of the ASEAN Regional Plan of action on the Elimination of Violence Against Children, and the decision of the Philippines and Thailand to accept refugees onto their lands.

Through this statement, CRC Asia renewed its vision to advocate for the promotion and protection of children’s rights, build capacities, and develop and disseminate information based on the reflections of children and child rights advocates.

The statement reiterated the Coalition’s focus on eliminating violence against children, promoting online child protection, advancing child participation, increasing public investment in children, and promoting adolescent child rights. Here, CRC Asia declared its goal of intensifying work for stateless children, indigenous children, sexually abused and exploited children, trafficked children, abandoned children, children in street situations, those separated from parents, children with disabilities, and children in emergencies. It also vowed to support efforts to address early pregnancy and eliminate corporal punishment.

For these, CRC Asia will continue improving its organizational capacity as regional network of child rights and human rights organizations and partner with other coalitions, groups, and individuals to ensure that children in Asia fully enjoy their rights.

Download the .pdf file of the full statement here.