Governance and Accountability Approach
Insights from Lift Africa’s intervention at the CY21 Global Forum
Across Africa, the conversation on ending violence against children is often framed as a moral appeal or a social-sector responsibility. But frontline realities show something different: violence persists not because communities don’t care, but because systems are weak, fragmented, and unaccountable.
At the CY21 Global Forum on Ending Violence Against Children, Lift Africa Foundation made a clear case: child protection is not charity — it is governance.
When accountability structures fail, violence thrives. When institutions coordinate, protect, and respond, violence declines.
This essay outlines Lift Africa’s governance-centered approach to ending violence, grounded in evidence from Northern Nigeria and reinforced by global policy dialogue.
1. Child Protection Fails When Governance Fails
In many African countries, violence against children is treated as a welfare issue — something to be managed by NGOs, families, teachers, or social workers. But violence is rarely the result of one isolated factor. It is the outcome of:
- education systems that lack early warning structures
- justice systems that do not prosecute abusers consistently
- health systems that cannot fully support survivors
- economic systems that keep families in cycles of vulnerability
- community systems that normalize silence
This fragmentation shows a single truth:
Without governance coordination, protection cannot stand.
Our work in Kano reveals this clearly. Every case of abuse intersects with poverty, schooling, community norms, justice delays, and weak institutional pathways. Children fall through the cracks not because people don’t care — but because systems do not connect.
2. Why Institutional Coordination Is the Missing Link
Ending violence requires a whole-of-government approach.
Lift Africa advocates for:
- integrated reporting mechanisms across schools, police, health, and community actors
- budgeted protection frameworks — not ad hoc interventions
- cross-sector referral systems that work consistently
- political ownership at state and local levels
- strong data systems to detect patterns early
At CY21, we emphasized that child protection must be a state priority codified in governance frameworks, not left to goodwill.
When Ministries of Justice, Health, Education, Women Affairs, and local councils operate in silos, violence becomes predictable — and preventable harm becomes inevitable.
3. Financing Protection Systems: A Governance Imperative
Protection systems fail when financing is episodic, donor-dependent, or non-existent.
Lift Africa argues for:
- dedicated budget lines for child protection
- transparent, multi-year financing frameworks
- funding to strengthen SGBV/child protection desks, shelters, and SARCs
- investment in community protection structures and early reporting mechanisms
Without financing, policies collapse.
Without accountability for the funds, systems crumble.
Governance — not charity — sustains child protection.
4. Community Accountability: The First Line of Defence
Our work shows that community actors are often the first to know, but the last to be involved meaningfully.
At the forum, Lift Africa presented evidence from its field programs showing that violence reduces when:
- traditional and religious leaders understand legal obligations
- youth groups are trained to spot early warning signals
- mothers’ groups become reporting and referral anchors
- gatekeepers intervene to prevent case withdrawal
- community pressure shifts from silence → accountability
Ending violence requires community governance, not just community awareness.
5. Youth Co-Leadership: A Non-Negotiable Reform
Most child protection policies are written about children and youth — not with them.
Lift Africa pushed for:
- youth advisory councils embedded in state child-protection frameworks
- youth monitoring mechanisms for school safety, online harm, and community risks
- youth-led reporting systems that connect communities to formal structures
- inclusion of young advocates in national planning and budgeting
Children and youth cannot be protected without being heard.
Their participation must be structural, not symbolic.
6. Evidence, Data, and Early Detection
Most African countries lack reliable, disaggregated data on violence.
Lift Africa’s position:
Data is the backbone of prevention.
We advocate for:
- harmonized national child-protection databases
- early detection systems in schools and communities
- standardized reporting tools for frontline responders
- data integration across ministries and justice actors
At the CY21 forum, we emphasized that without evidence, advocacy is blind — and policymaking becomes guesswork.
7. A Governance Roadmap for Ending Violence
Lift Africa presented a governance-based framework built from field realities:
- Legal Mandates: Strengthen, harmonize, and enforce child protection laws.
- Institutional Coordination: Link health, education, justice, and community systems.
- Financing: Establish predictable, accountable funding mechanisms.
- Community Systems: Formalize reporting and accountability pathways.
- Youth Participation: Integrate youth into governance structures.
- Data Systems: Build evidence pipelines that detect patterns early.
- Accountability: Track institutional performance and sanction negligence.
Ending violence is not a humanitarian task — it is a governance obligation.
Conclusion: Protecting Children Is a Test of Our Governance Systems
At CY21, Lift Africa’s voice was clear and firm:
A society’s commitment to children is measured not by sentiment, but by systems.
Protecting children requires more than compassion — it requires political will, institutional coordination, financial commitment, and community accountability.
Our institutional stance remains unwavering:
Ending violence against children is possible — but only when governance prioritizes their safety above politics, silence, or convenience.