Chronicle Editor
Leonard Ncube, [email protected]
IN less than a fortnight, Victoria Falls will host thousands of people from across Southern Africa and beyond for the 2024 World Children’s Day.
Baobab Primary School will be the venue for the auspicious event which is expected to attract high-ranking delegates from across the region on November 20.
Already, civil works have started to prepare the venue- Baobab Primary School’s sports ground where two 000-seater tents are being pitched.
Gravel has been poured and spread on the northern end of the grounds where a car park will be while Dell Crescent Road which semi-circles the school is being rehabilitated.
More work is being done around the school premises as preparations for the event gather momentum.
About 10 000 children from Sadc countries including Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe are expected to attend.
A number of pre-event activities for and by children are lined up.
There will be a monumental lighting on the No Man’s Land on the Victoria Falls Bridge.
The 2024 Regional World Children’s Day commemorations will build on the Calls-for-Action of children and the commitments by the Heads of State made at the previous celebrations, which focused on education, climate, children with disability and the need for society to be inclusive and uphold child rights.
The children from the participating countries will present an updated call for action and hold their governments accountable for the commitments made to promoting child rights.
Every 20 November, the world celebrates World Children’s Day to mark the anniversary of the United Nations’ adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The day highlights the right to participation, which is one of the underpinning principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
Since 2021, four countries – Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe – have come together to celebrate the Regional World Children’s Day jointly, so this year, Zimbabwe will be hosting the 2024 Regional World Children’s Day commemorations, building on the momentum created by the commemorations in Botswana in 2021, Zambia in 2022 and Namibia last year.
Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa are invited to join the commemorations making seven attending countries.
This day is dedicated to promoting, advocating, and celebrating child rights through dialogues and actions that will build a better world for children.
Online Reporter