Children's Rights and Business in Sub-Saharan Africa

Communications and technology provider, Safaricom, places the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the centre of its business.

Learn about Bayer’s advancements in the area of child labour mitigation, through the implementation of its Child Care Programme (CCP).

Samsung has implemented a range of family-friendly policies promoting employee wellbeing and work-life balance, to support children’s rights.

Are companies prioritizing children’s rights among all the other issues on the sustainability agenda? Learn more from our Global Benchmark - The State of Children's Rights and Business 2021

In the final days before lockdown was introduced in the United Kingdom, CRIN hosted a panel discussion on surveillance and facial recognition at the Tate Modern where we addressed some of the risks they pose for children’s rights. Since then, the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many people to move their lives almost exclusively online, as adults began working from home and schools resorted to online learning. Such big changes, however, raise basic questions.

As social distancing, quarantines and lockdowns have spread across the globe to slow the spread of coronavirus, they have imposed some of the greatest worldwide restrictions on public gatherings in living memory.

To mark Global Child Forum’s ten-year anniversary, Désirée Abrahams asked both adults and children, what they considered the top 10 most important child right’s issues for business to consider in the next decade. In this blog post, she shares her reflections on the process and the survey’s findings

A score is only a snapshot in time. Knowledge, however, is dynamic. Explore and assess the resources below to help your company activate your commitment to children’s rights.

Deutsche Post DHL Group and SOS Children’s Villages have been partnering since 2011 in an initiative called GoTeach to help disadvantaged young people bridge the gap to the world of employment.

Standard Chartered banking group implemented its Goal programme to support girls in taking on leadership roles in their communities.

A study analysing business investments in children’s education, with examples showcasing how companies can create positive outcomes both for their operations and the wider community.

This case study details how SCA is recognising children as stakeholders and ensuring their rights are integrated into daily operations.

Björn Sellström, Coordinator for Crimes Against Children team from Interpol, talks about Interpol’s fight against commercial sexual exploitation of children and what the corporate sector can do.

Safaricom is one of the leading mobile operators in Kenya with over 23 million customers and almost 4500 employees. They are partnering with Save the Children to implement the Children’s Rights and Business Principles throughout their organisation. Bob Collymore, CEO of Safaricom, who is also a member of the UN Global Compact Board, is passionate about the importance of children’s rights in business. Children’s rights and business videos

Safaricom is one of the leading mobile operators in Kenya with over 23 million customers and almost 4500 employees. They are partnering with Save the Children to implement the Children’s Rights and Business Principles throughout their organisation. Sanda Ojiambo is Head of Corporate Responsibility at Safaricom. Children’s rights and business videos

Children’s rights and business videos

We explore how BNP Paribas is combating social exclusion with culture development and education supporting children’s rights.

This case study on Millicom examines how the company works to ensure children’s rights throughout its operations.

This case study examines the Pick N Pay (PnP) sustainability strategy - including its five focus areas. Read on to discover more!

Economic migration, migration on the grounds of employment or financial stability, continues to play a key role for households in East Africa. With a specific focus on the private sector in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda this report focuses on four issues: the characteristics of migrant parents; child support strategies and mechanisms; the impact of migration on the migrant and left-behind children; and child support expectations for the migrant parents. The report provides many recommendations but focuses on the responsibilities and actions of the private corporate sector and the necessity of corporate social responsibility through building child rights awareness, developing sustainable business principles at the workplace, and a focus on child protection.

Global Child Forum is an independent, global multi-stakeholder platform for informed dialogue and thought leadership on how to advance children’s rights in support of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This report is part of Global Child Forum’s objective to initiate and share research, raise crucial global awareness, new thinking and cross-sector dialogue regarding children’s rights. 195 investors in Europe and USA were invited to participate in the survey; only 22 responded. Some of the main findings included: Investors typically focus primarily on child labour and less on other children’s rights issues. 32 of the 195 investors have a publicly available responsible investor policy that includes a reference to children’s rights Of the 22 investors who responded, 21 replied that children’s rights have a potentially material impact to their investments.

The views from children in this booklet developed by Save the Children Sweden, are taken from several consultations with children about corporate social responsibility, the Children’s Rights and Business Principles and from child rights reporting, especially regarding the impact of the business sector. Children know a lot. Let's listen to them and take their views into account!

A guide developed by Save the Children containing information and ideas for consulting with children and young people and collecting their views on the Draft Children’s Rights and Business Principles. It takes the reader through a series of simple steps and  activities needed to get started and  gives tips to ensure young people's recommendations are accuratley documented. The guidelines can be adapted to suit the particular needs and preferences of the participants with respect to children's rights in the context of business activities.  Within this Guide you will find information about how to prepare for the consultation; important details/suggestions for ensuring young people's recommendations are accurately documented; various group activities to support discussion, learning and team building; and finally, some ideas relating to next steps and follow up.  This Guide also contains a list of required and recommended resources about children and young people’s participation.

This paper has been prepared to support you, children and adolescents, to better understand how business affects your lives, families, communities and also your rights. Within these pages you will also learn about the ‘Children’s Rights and Business Principles Initiative’ (CRBI), the first comprehensive set of global standards for child-friendly business practices, developed by Save the Children Sweden together with the UN Global Compact and Unicef.  Here you will find out more about what children's rights are, what is meant by the term 'children's participation', and the impact of business on the rights of children.  You will also find answers to simple and basic questions about the Principles and at the end there is a list of key words to help you understand the terms used throughout this resource.

This document summarizes inputs received from over 400 young people aged 7-17 in nine countries: Brazil, Argentina, Philippines, Zambia, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Senegal, Paraguay and Peru. These young people participated in consultations to discuss the Children’s Rights and Business Principles Initiative. They explored: what is business; how does business affect our lives and rights; what role does business have to protect our rights; and more. They also reviewed a draft of the Children’s Rights and Business Principles and gave their detailed recommendations.