CHILD RIGHTS ADVOCACY (SCM 411)

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About Course

Course Description

SCM 411 – Child Rights Advocacy is an advanced, practice-oriented course designed to equip students with real-world advocacy, communication, and intervention skills required for professional Child Rights work.

The course departs entirely from theoretical instruction and adopts a hands-on, field-driven learning model, enabling students to operate as emerging Child Rights advocates, strategic communicators, and media practitioners. Learners will engage directly with communities, media institutions, advocacy networks, and policy environments to diagnose Child Rights challenges and design actionable responses.

Throughout the 14-week programme, students will develop professional advocacy portfolios, produce media-ready content, design campaigns and events, simulate conflict resolution interventions, and conduct evidence-based evaluations of real Child Rights initiatives.

The course emphasises:

  • Applied advocacy strategy

  • Ethical Child Rights reporting

  • Stakeholder engagement

  • Strategic communication planning

  • Policy-oriented research and evaluation

By the end of the course, students will possess a comprehensive practical portfolio suitable for careers in advocacy organisations, media institutions, NGOs, development agencies, and public policy spaces.

Course Focus

This course focuses exclusively on the practical dimensions of Child Rights Advocacy, including field research, media production, campaign design, stakeholder negotiation, and intervention planning.

Course Category

Strategic Communication and Media Studies

Eligibility

Open to Communication, Film, Media, and Journalism students with foundational knowledge of communication principles.

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Course Content

Download Course Practical Manual

  • Download the Practical Manual Here

Week 1: Mapping the Child Rights Ecosystem & Institutional Landscape
Week 1 is designed to help students understand the environment in which Child Rights advocacy operates. Before anyone can advocate effectively, they must know who is responsible, who has power, who does what, and where advocacy efforts should be directed. This week therefore trains you to think strategically, not emotionally, about Child Rights work.

Week 2: Context Diagnostics – Understanding the Forces That Shape Child Rights
Child Rights challenges do not occur by accident. They are produced and sustained by cultural beliefs, social structures, economic pressures, and political conditions. Week 2 trains you to diagnose context before proposing solutions. It helps you understand why Child Rights violations persist in certain communities and how advocates can respond in ways that fit real-life conditions. This week shifts students from institution-focused thinking (Week 1) to community-focused analysis.

Week 3: Childhood Interpretation Workshop – Defining the Child for Advocacy
Before advocating for children, advocates must be clear about who a child is. Conflicting definitions, legal, cultural, and developmental, often weaken advocacy, policy enforcement, and media reporting. Week 3 trains students to interpret, compare, and synthesise these definitions into a clear, professional position that can be used in advocacy, policy engagement, and media work. This week helps students move from context analysis (Week 2) to conceptual clarity for action.

Week 4: Field Writing Laboratory – Analysing Child Rights Issues
Advocacy depends heavily on clear, accurate, and ethical communication. Child Rights stories must go beyond emotion and storytelling; they must explain why problems exist, how they affect children, and what must change. Week 4 trains you to observe, analyse, and write professionally about Child Rights issues using field-based evidence and journalistic discipline.

Week 5: Advocacy Blueprint Studio – Designing Strategic Advocacy Messages
Effective advocacy does not start with slogans; it starts with strategy. Week 5 trains students to translate issues into clear advocacy blueprints that define goals, audiences, messages, and communication channels. This week bridges analysis (Week 4) and campaign execution (Weeks 8–11).

Week 6: Media House Immersion I – Understanding Child Rights Content Production
Media institutions are powerful actors in Child Rights advocacy. However, many advocacy messages fail because advocates do not understand how media houses actually work. Week 6 introduces you to the internal logic, routines, and constraints of media production so they can engage the media more strategically and ethically.

Week 7: Media House Immersion II – From Observation to Content Design
Week 7 builds directly on Week 6. Students now translate observations into practical media products, learning how Child Rights stories are conceptualised, structured, and adapted for production. This week shifts you from passive observation to applied media thinking.

Week 8: Cross-Platform Child Rights Reporting – Producing Professional Field Stories
By this stage, students have observed media houses and learned how stories are planned. Week 8 moves them into full content production, requiring them to apply ethical, analytical, and strategic skills to create professional, rights-based Child Rights stories. This week emphasises quality, credibility, and platform awareness.

Week 9: Advocacy Event Architecture – Designing Action-Oriented Child Rights Events
Advocacy is not limited to media content. Events—town halls, workshops, rallies, dialogues—are powerful tools for mobilising communities, influencing policy, and generating public commitment. Week 9 exposes you to design advocacy events strategically, not as ad-hoc gatherings.

Week 10: Strategic Communication Lab – Advocacy vs Other Interventions
In Child Rights work, many activities are mistakenly called “advocacy.” This confusion weakens campaigns and leads to misdirected communication. Week 10 trains students to clearly distinguish advocacy from other intervention types and to design stakeholder-specific communication strategies that match advocacy objectives.

Week 11: Multi-Channel Advocacy Campaign Design – From Strategy to Execution
After mastering advocacy strategy and messaging, students must learn how to integrate multiple communication channels into a single, coherent campaign. Week 11 focuses on designing advanced, multi-platform advocacy campaigns that are realistic, ethical, and measurable.

Week 12: Professional Networking & Resource Mobilisation in Child Rights Advocacy
Sustainable Child Rights advocacy depends on relationships, partnerships, and resources. Even the strongest advocacy ideas fail without networks and funding structures. Week 12 equips you with professional engagement skills needed to work with NGOs, government agencies, donors, and advocacy coalitions.

Week 13: Conflict Resolution & Intervention Design in Child Rights Cases
Child Rights advocacy often involves conflict—within families, communities, institutions, or between stakeholders. Advocates must be able to manage conflict ethically and strategically. Week 13 trains you to design intervention strategies using conflict resolution tools appropriate for Child Rights contexts.

Week 14: Evidence-Based Advocacy Research & Final Evaluation
Effective advocacy must be evaluated, not assumed. Week 14 brings together all skills developed throughout the course to assess real Child Rights interventions and generate evidence-based recommendations. This is the capstone week of the course.

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