As of February 2021, it has been just over a year since the Convention on the Rights of the Child became Swedish law. Much work remains to be done to ensure that the best interests of the child come first. During a webinar organized by Forum for Social Innovation Sweden UNICEF Sweden, best practices were presented on how the business community, the public sector, and the nonprofit sector are helping to strengthen the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in practice through social innovations.
Many children in Sweden are living in vulnerable circumstances, such as food insecurity and homelessness. This has become particularly evident during the current pandemic.
“The pandemic further underscores the fact that we cannot afford to neglect children’s rights; instead, we see that children who are already vulnerable are becoming even more hidden from view as society’s transparency diminishes,” says Katharina Eisen of UNICEF Sweden.
Vulnerable children and families have many points of contact
Vulnerable children and their families typically have 34 points of contact with various agencies that their guardians need to coordinate. In the worst-case scenario, this can result in interventions not being implemented because agencies such as healthcare, law enforcement, or social services believe that someone else has already initiated them. This can also occur when no single profession has a clear mandate to ensure that the children’s needs are met.
Clearer guidance is needed
To move forward and put the best interests of the child first, a variety of measures are needed. First, there needs to be clearer guidance and pressure from policymakers when it comes to strengthening children’s rights.
“We need to move from words to action and secure the structures within the municipalities,” says Katharina Eisen.
Children need to have a greater say
Second, stakeholders need to build on the children’s own stories and allow children and young people to participate in issues that affect them. Maskrosbarn works to provide support to children and young people, primarily in Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. They meet with about 100 children each week. Many organizations want to include children but don’t know how. That’s why Maskrosbarn uses service design, where users help define problems and co-create tools and processes. They’ve developed a range of tools, such as the Children’s Rights Box with the card game “Common Questions for Social Services,” the Investigation Map, and “Pimp My Soc,” where young people got to decorate the social services’ consultation room.
“To get young people on board, we need to focus on relevant issues and practical matters that matter to them. We need to meet them where they are and create opportunities on equal terms,” says Therese Eriksson of Maskrosbarn.
More and better cross-border cooperation is necessary
Ultimately, to better serve children’s best interests, we need more and better cross-sector collaboration. There is enormous potential in collaboration. Different sectors of society complement one another and need to work together even more closely. A good example is the collaborative campaign “The Karma Lemon Challenge,” carried out by Save the Children and Karma, a startup that developed an app where unsold food from restaurants and cafes is sold to consumers at a lower price. During the pandemic, Save the Children contacted Karma for a project to help vulnerable children. This led to the creation of a campaign where followers were challenged to eat a lemon, donate five meals to children, and nominate five other people to do the same. The campaign went viral on social media; many individuals, as well as celebrities, participated, and together they distributed 50,000 meals.
Many children are completely dependent on school meals
“Many children rely entirely on school meals to avoid going hungry. We wanted to do something to help improve the children’s situation,” says Victoria Svensson of Karma.
As a startup, Karma doesn’t have the same financial resources as large corporations to devote to charity, but it was able to offer an agile and dedicated team, as well as a platform with many customers and restaurant partners. At the same time, Save the Children knew which families with children were in need of meals.
“We realized we could create a win-win situation. Joining forces is what made the campaign so successful,” says Victoria Svensson.
The business community needs to do more
The business community can and must do much more to promote children’s rights and equal opportunities. Kavli has long been committed to supporting vulnerable children. The company provides funding to a variety of organizations and initiatives, such as Erikshjälpen, which assists children living in poverty in Helsingborg and Uppsala.
“We need to view society’s shared needs from a broader perspective. I think the private sector and the public sector are far too disconnected. The foundation for collaboration is a shared goal,” says Gerhard Bley of Kavli.
Want to know more?
Watch the webinar(YouTube).
Presentations from the February 19 webinar(PDF).
Questions and answers from the chat during the February 19 webinar (PDF).
UNICEF Sweden’s Child Rights Municipalities.
The Kavli Foundation, the Kavli Foundation’s program for research in healthand empathetic leadership.
Maskrosbarn’s Child Rights Box and the new initiative Extravuxen.
Karma.