CHILD RIGHTS EDUCATION FOR PROFESSIONALS
CRED-PRO -Overview of Project Under Development

Child Rights Education for Professionals (CRED-PRO) is an international initiative, endorsed by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, to develop educational programs on the human rights of children for professionals working with and for children to improve the development and quality of life of children.

CRED-PRO will be developed and offered, in cooperation with the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, by an international consortium of centers for higher learning and professional associations representing diverse regional and cultural perspectives. CRED-PRO will be managed by the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada) in cooperation with project partners

Rationale: The nearly universal commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is far from being fulfilled. A key building block in transforming children’s rights commitments into constructive practices is to assure that relevant professionals and policies makers act to respect and advance the human rights of children. Child rights education for professionals has been strongly and consistently recommended by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in its public statements and dialogue with States Parties. To date, very few resources and materials have been developed to facilitate this process.

Audience: CRED-PRO is intended to serve all professionals preparing to and presently working with and for children, including pediatricians, psychologists, lawyers, social workers, educators, police, judges, magistrates, prison officers, child care workers, architects, and many others, as well as public policy experts. Special emphasis will be given to professionals, service providers and policy makers in developing nations.

Nature of Envisioned Program: CRED-PRO will provide a core curriculum of foundational and advanced programs that can be adapted and developed to address the priorities and contexts of different social, economic and cultural environments as considered necessary by regional, national and local experts cooperating with and employing the project. The overall program will enable professionals to understand and employ the relevance of children’s rights for: (a) the purposes, policies and practices of their profession, (b) their own professional behavior and practice, and (c) their roles as citizens of their communities, nations and the world.

Delivery of Program: CRED-PRO is to be offered through a wide range of distributive education systems (e.g., distance-electronic, hard copy print, face-to-face programs) and in a variety of languages. Components and articulated programs will be made available through the Internet and/or on location in cooperation with the most effective combination of recognized institutions of higher learning, professional associations and local service providers. Programs will be offered in a manner making it possible for them to be pursued for professional development purposes informally or formally, by individuals and by collectives.

Project Planning and Development: CRED-PRO is to be developed during a 10-year period. An initial planning and piloting period of two years will be required to develop and refine core project objectives, standards, operational design components, and their projections for professions at every level of service within and across cultures. During this period, child health has been targeted as a primary area for development, and as the vehicle through which to elaborate the future methodology for the production of the program. Education, child protection, and mental health are also to be given early attention. International children’s rights and child service experts will design, construct and provide CRED-PRO programs, in cooperation with the representatives of the professions, centers of higher learning, and young persons to be served.

Resources: Formal commitments have been made to participate in the initial stages of development of this project by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, the World Health Organization, respected and influential organizations that represent professionals (e.g., education, psychology, medicine, child protection, law) and centers of higher learning, child advocacy/service organizations throughout the world; and by persons expert in major dimensions of the project as projected. Financing will be sought to cover the first 10 years of project development and implementation stages after which it is expected to be self-sustaining.