Reflections on human rights education from the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) sector in Mozambique

Human Rights Education (HRE) often forms the cornerstone of addressing human rights issues at the local level where nongovernmental bodies in partnership with human rights agencies deliver various initiatives. Such agencies mostly operate from a neo-colonial framework as addressing structural and po...

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Main Author: Cora Burnett
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021-01-01
Series:Cogent Social Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2020.1860275
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author Cora Burnett
author_facet Cora Burnett
author_sort Cora Burnett
collection DOAJ
description Human Rights Education (HRE) often forms the cornerstone of addressing human rights issues at the local level where nongovernmental bodies in partnership with human rights agencies deliver various initiatives. Such agencies mostly operate from a neo-colonial framework as addressing structural and political power struggles limits addressing structural transformation for most vulnerable populations. There is a gap in the existing literature about the sense-making of such roles and responsibilities related to a local agency that speaks to active citizenship and youth as agents of change. This paper examines the effects of HRE associated with Freire’s emancipatory education on youth in the impoverished community of Trevo in Mozambique. Within this impoverished community, orphans and vulnerable youth makes up one of the lowest socio-economic strata that was targeted as the research population for this study. The research question addresses how such vulnerable youth make sense of HRE and how do they apply the learnings in an authentic and realistic way. A local nongovernment organisation (NGO) implemented the Bons Vizinhos (Good Neighbours) programme where children and youth received human rights’ training. Three executive members, two implementers and six youth took part in semi-structured interviews (primary data), whilst 21 posters from youth as part of a photo-voice activity were re-interpreted and thematically categorised (secondary data). Vulnerable populations socially construct their understandings of what they consider “safe” and “unsafe” spaces. HRE practitioners need to draw on these insights to make learning meaningful.
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spelling doaj.art-5bdcebf9c8e147de9ac6d2d5dc555f512022-12-21T19:38:24ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Social Sciences2331-18862021-01-017110.1080/23311886.2020.18602751860275Reflections on human rights education from the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) sector in MozambiqueCora Burnett0University of JohannesburgHuman Rights Education (HRE) often forms the cornerstone of addressing human rights issues at the local level where nongovernmental bodies in partnership with human rights agencies deliver various initiatives. Such agencies mostly operate from a neo-colonial framework as addressing structural and political power struggles limits addressing structural transformation for most vulnerable populations. There is a gap in the existing literature about the sense-making of such roles and responsibilities related to a local agency that speaks to active citizenship and youth as agents of change. This paper examines the effects of HRE associated with Freire’s emancipatory education on youth in the impoverished community of Trevo in Mozambique. Within this impoverished community, orphans and vulnerable youth makes up one of the lowest socio-economic strata that was targeted as the research population for this study. The research question addresses how such vulnerable youth make sense of HRE and how do they apply the learnings in an authentic and realistic way. A local nongovernment organisation (NGO) implemented the Bons Vizinhos (Good Neighbours) programme where children and youth received human rights’ training. Three executive members, two implementers and six youth took part in semi-structured interviews (primary data), whilst 21 posters from youth as part of a photo-voice activity were re-interpreted and thematically categorised (secondary data). Vulnerable populations socially construct their understandings of what they consider “safe” and “unsafe” spaces. HRE practitioners need to draw on these insights to make learning meaningful.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2020.1860275civil societyhuman rights educationpovertymozambiqueyouthphoto-voice
spellingShingle Cora Burnett
Reflections on human rights education from the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) sector in Mozambique
Cogent Social Sciences
civil society
human rights education
poverty
mozambique
youth
photo-voice
title Reflections on human rights education from the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) sector in Mozambique
title_full Reflections on human rights education from the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) sector in Mozambique
title_fullStr Reflections on human rights education from the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) sector in Mozambique
title_full_unstemmed Reflections on human rights education from the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) sector in Mozambique
title_short Reflections on human rights education from the orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) sector in Mozambique
title_sort reflections on human rights education from the orphans and vulnerable children ovc sector in mozambique
topic civil society
human rights education
poverty
mozambique
youth
photo-voice
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2020.1860275
work_keys_str_mv AT coraburnett reflectionsonhumanrightseducationfromtheorphansandvulnerablechildrenovcsectorinmozambique