I think the saying, ‘never say never,’ is one of the truest truisms in the world. When we understand this truism, we will be careful how we give our words. The Truth of the matter is that we are in most cases not as in control as we think or as we desire.

Just Monday, here I solemnly made a commitment that I would not break the series on Commandment of Rights-Based Approach to Communication with Children. I think I broke the promise as soon as I made it. I was not able to be here yesterday. I had a personal emergency. Today, as I settle down to continue the journey, I felt the strong need to share something else entirely with you. So bear with the feeling of my infirmities as I share with you this important information.

ChildProtectionCREED Roundtable(CR)-Introduced : Permit me to introduce to you our ChildProtectionCREED Roundtable (CR). It is our latest efforts to enlighten primary and secondary child caregivers in the life on child protection. It is our commitment to leave every one without excuse in creating credible platforms to discuss and empower others and themselves on matters relating to Child Protection.

Having been in the forefront of Child Protection through the instrumentality of the law in the last 16 years and working with UNICEF in the last 8 years, we have come to the irresistible conclusion that the law as an independent tool of child protection is as powerless as a paper tiger. Therefore, for the law to make sense, it must be mixed with enlightenment. It is our informed position that Enlightenment is Superior to Enforcement™ of the laws relating to children and their rights. The strength of enlightenment is that it leads to prevention of child abuse. ‘Prevention is better than cure.’

How does the roundtable work?: We seek individuals, who will assembly people of influence or friends within his/her network in a place of his/her choice and invite us to lead a discussion on Child Protection. We also seek organizations or group of friends, who will also work with us same way.

What we seek is an informal discussion, participatory in nature, brief enough not to waste the time of discussants, but long enough to sow an eternal seed that we get every discussant to act in the best interest of the child at all times. Therefore we seek to have the roundtable discussion at informal settings, like homes, gardens, offices, board/meeting rooms and other related environments. And if we have to meet in a hall, the sitting arrangement will be in form of community meeting. We seek the CR to hold in evenings of working days and weekends. It may also hold in the mornings, afternoons and evenings of public holidays or weekends. The duration of CR is between 1 hour, 30 minutes and 2 hours. No group is too small to hold the CR. Our principle in respect of number is ‘where-two-or-three-gathered.’

The CR discussions are done with our ChildProtectionCREED Handbook. At the end of the discussions, we seek that the discussants, having become persuaded that Enlightenment is Superior to Enforcement™ of the laws relating to children and their rights will become one of our treasured Child Protection Social Policing™ Enthusiasts. Their twin post-CR commitment is to begin to relate with the children under their care according to their knowledge of Child Protection and also lead discussions in their own areas of influence, using our handbook.

Conclusion: I will like to close this introduction with a brief light on Child Protection Social Policing™. The goal of CR is enlightenment. But enlightenment is not an end in itself. It is a means to an end. The goal of enlightenment is Child Protection Social Policing™. Child Protection Social Policing™ happens where every primary and secondary custodian within the four (4) institutions (Family, Community, State and International Community) responsible for the protection of the child are equipped with Knowledge (what to do), Skills (how to do it) and Attitude (wisdom and inner strength) to professionally and effectively protect, preserve and defend the rights of the child, even at the cost of personal discomfort.

Thank you for reading; we look forward partnering with you as we urge you to give us access to your network. We round up this child-friendly advocacy in the words of Archimedes, ‘give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.’

Think the CHILD…Think TODAY…Think the FUTURE. Have an INSPIRED Day.