On Children's Convention Day, Monday 20 November 13:00-17:00, Erikshjälpen organizes a children's rights conference in collaboration with Jönköping University and the County Administrative Board of Jönköping County. How do we create equal growing conditions for all children? is the question that the conference focuses on.
All children are equally valuable and should have the same rights. At the same time, the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child show systematic shortcomings in Sweden regarding the integration of a child rights-based approach and child participation.
During the Children's Rights Conference in Jönköping, Sweden, Children's Ombudsman Elisabeth Dahlin, researcher Frida Lygnegård and children's rights consultant Åsa Ekman will focus on children's right to safe and equal conditions for growing up. Together with expert panels, they will discuss what Sweden needs to do better to implement the UN's recommendations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Programme Children's Rights Conference 20 November 2023
Date: November 20, 13.00-17.00 (mingle and mini-expo 12.00-13.00)
Place: Aula at the School of Education and Communication, Jönköping University, Gjuterigatan 5, 553 18 Jönköping.
Registration: The deadline for registration is November 10, 2023. Registration is done via registration form
Last Friday, September 29, the start of this year's fundraising week for Världens Barn took place. For 22 years now, Erikshjälpen has been involved in donating a whole day's worth of money to the collection and this year is no exception.
Världens Barn is Radiohjälpen's fundraising for all children's right to safety, health and school. The fundraising is done in collaboration with Swedish Television, Swedish Radio and 14 civil society organizations, including Erikshjälpen.
For Erikshjälpen, it is a matter of course to contribute to the collection for Världens Barn. Since 2000, Erikshjälpen has contributed in a unique way, namely by donating an entire day's takings from all second-hand shops. Last year, the sum amounted to more than 3.4 million Swedish kronor (SEK).
This Saturday, October 7, you have the opportunity to contribute to the collection by shopping in one of Erikshjälpen's second-hand shops. That's when we donate the entire day's cash! Many stores will also have extra activities.
And this year, your action is more important than ever. The charity Akelius Foundation will contribute by doubling the money raised for Världens Barn until October 31. So every krona raised is two Swedish kronor (SEK) until then.
On the Världens Barns website you can read more about what the money from the fundraising goes to. The common goal is to raise money for projects around the world to promote children's rights.
The money is enough, varldensbarn.se
Each organization that participates has a special project that is highlighted each year. This year, Erikshjälpen is highlighting a project in Cambodia to help children grow up without violence. In particularly vulnerable areas of Cambodia, violence is part of everyday life, mainly due to poverty and ignorance. There, Erikshjälpen provides support in schools and in parent clubs that make a difference for children to grow up in a world without violence.
Read about Erikshjälpen's project here: A childhood without violence
Author: Martina Bohl
In a project dealing with disaster risk management and climate adaptation, Erikshjälpen supports the work with safe areas in Kampong Chhnang province in Cambodia to ensure that children are better protected.
In central Cambodia, communities are heavily affected by climate change and many affected communities fall into severe poverty. One of these communities is in Kampong Chhnang province where Erikshjälpen, together with local partners, works to ensure children's right to safety, protection and education in disaster-affected areas.
During our visit to Cambodia, we met with children, parents, leaders and other local officials to learn more about how poor communities are affected by natural disasters and climate change.
In Kampong Chhnang, work is underway on so-called safe areas. This is to ensure that children are better protected during the rainy season, floods and other disasters. The safe area is located three to four meters above the village level and serves as a safe gathering place during disasters. To ensure the children's right to education, there is also a newly built kindergarten and school. It has also secured access to clean water, built new toilets and created a safe place for children to play.
We were able to listen to the children's thoughts and this is perhaps the most important thing we will take with us in our future work.
Erikshjälpen makes regular visits to partner organisations to support and strengthen and as part of the work to ensure that collected funds and gifts reach the children. The visits are often made by staff at regional offices around the world, but sometimes staff from Sweden also participate.
Author: Anton Eriksson
Listening In Phnom Penh City in Cambodia, Erikshjälpen works together with the local Sunshine Cambodia Organization to strengthen children's rights and give them the opportunity to grow up in a world without violence.
Every child has the right to grow up in a world without violence. But in Cambodia, this is far from reality. In particularly vulnerable areas, it's not uncommon for everyday life to be marked by violence and abuse, both at home and in schools, and it's often adults - parents, older siblings or teachers - who use violence against children.
There are several reasons for what drives violence and therefore the problem must be addressed in as many ways. Together with our local partner Sunshine, Erikshjälpen works with targeted interventions that all, in different ways, aim to promote children's rights.
A large part of the work involves communicating knowledge about children's rights to all the adults around them. It is also about working with different social actors to strengthen children's safety in the public environment and to increase their opportunities to go to school. interventions that in the long term build children's self-confidence and give them a safer growing environment.
Much effort has been made over the years to promote children's rights in Cambodia, but there is still much work to be done. Especially when it comes to engaging and including the child's voice in decisions at different levels of society. Thanks to Erikshjälpen and Sunshine, girls and boys are supported in schools, youth centers and children's clubs to understand their rights - and to make their voices heard.
"Now I dare to tell my mom if I have any problems"
The beatings could come if he hadn't done his homework. Or if he was too tired to help at home. But now, 13-year-old Sereyvat and his mother have a warm relationship based on mutual respect between each other.
Sereyvat's childhood outside Phnom Penh City was long characterized by beatings and scolding. His mother Sokuntheary, who is widowed and infected with HIV, often took her bad temper out on her children, and Sereyvat would be beaten if he wasn't at school.
- Now she has stopped hitting and scolding me, instead she uses nice words and encourages me to do my homework," says Sereyvat.
Since 2017, the family has participated in family support activities and parenting clubs run by Erikshjälpen's local partner Sunshine just outside Phnom Penh City. Here, Sokuntheary has not only received support in her role as a parent or start-up capital to run a small food business, but also knowledge about how her children are affected by a childhood characterized by violence. Something that has paid off.
- Now I dare to tell my mom about my problems and she helps me solve them. There is also a big difference in how I behave myself and I notice that I have become more patient. Before, I often used to fight with other children at school, but now I don't do that anymore," says Sereyvat.
The support of Sunshine and Erikshjälpen has also given Sereyvat the courage to tell his mother if she hits him again, and he now knows his right to grow up in a world without violence.
- My teachers motivate me to come to school regularly. Whenever I have any problem with other students, the principal tells me not to fight with them. He also encourages me to study and tells me to think about my mother who is trying to earn money for my education and future," he says.
Example of costs
- 82 SEK - Annual cost for a parent to participate in the parents' club.
- 124 SEK - Excursion for a child with the aim of strengthening the child's self-esteem.
- 3100 SEK - Start-up capital for small businesses.
First, an intense heatwave. Then heavy rain. Northern India has been hit by severe flooding, causing enormous destruction and up to 200 deaths. Erikshjälpen is providing assistance to affected households through the local partner organization EFICOR.
In July, monsoon rains swept across northern India. The period is expected to last until September and rainfall is extremely important for Indian agriculture. But with the rains come floods, and the consequences are often devastating, with deaths and communities completely destroyed.
This is the current situation in northern India. Here, the weather has become increasingly extreme in recent years and this year's monsoon rains came after a long and intense heatwave. The result was quickly catastrophic, with several landslides and severe flooding. The worst affected areas are those along India's major rivers, where people have been forced to flee their homes empty-handed and seek temporary shelter in makeshift tents.
Support package for almost 600 households
Up to 200 deaths have been reported from six states, while destroyed houses, bridges and roads have devastated both smaller villages and larger communities. Erikshjälp's local partner organization EFICOR was quickly on the ground in the areas of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi to provide both emergency assistance and financial support to the affected households.
Erikshjälpen is contributing to an effort focused on families affected by flooding along the Yamuna River in East Delhi. Here, support packages with food, tools and shelter materials have been distributed to almost 600 households - mainly to vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, widows and single women. It is hoped that another 300 households in Delhi will receive relief packages in the coming weeks.
Hope of moving back home
Since EFICOR started the operation in mid-July, more than 1,700 households have received assistance in the form of support packages or financial support. Help that gives hope to the affected families. Hope to overcome all the challenges brought by the floods and hope to eventually move back to their homes. For EFICOR, work continues in the affected areas and the aim is to reach a total of 5,000 households in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.
Author: Johan Larsson
Following Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, almost 2 million children are in need of Humanitarian Assistance. Many children are fleeing alone, through unsafe and dangerous environments. Erikshjälpen is involved in relief efforts to support children and families in Ukraine - those who have crossed the country's borders and those who remain.
How we support refugees
We provide immediate assistance to displaced people, with a particular focus on the situation of children - how they can be protected if they are separated from their families, separated from their parents or when institutions are evacuated.
We have been working for many years in Ukraine's neighbors Romania and Republic of Moldova, with one of our Regional offices located in Romania. Together with local partner organisations and staff on the ground, we provide support to families coming across the border from Ukraine.
Our interventions are implemented in different phases. We divide the interventions to provide sustainable help over a longer period of time.
We give refugees the information they need
We help Ukrainian refugees register and provide them with the information they need, from safe transportation to their rights. We do this to reduce the risks that increase during flight, such as trafficking.
We offer psychosocial support in safe reception centers
In Republic of Moldova , we provide psychosocial support and safe children's activities in reception centers for Ukrainian refugees. In our reception centers, many minors have crossed the border without parents or other guardians and lack documentation.
We help refugee families stay connected
In Romania, Erikshjälpen focuses on social support for children and families crossing the border and has also started working with organisations specializing in translation, into Ukrainian and Russian.
Through a collaboration with NetOnNet in Sweden, Erikshjälpen, through its partner, can provide several reception centers in Romania with chargers for mobile phones - something that many of the refugees forgot in the flight but which is necessary to keep in touch with family members and friends who remain in Ukraine.
We support Ukrainian refugees in Sweden
Refugee children and families are welcome to attend Erikshjälpen Framtidsverkstad , which is located in several places in Sweden. Here you can participate in activities that are designed together with other children and families in the locality for increased cohesion, networking and personal development. We offer the initiatives in collaboration with local actors from both authorities and civil society.
How we support those who remain
Our interventions inside Ukraine aim to help and support children and families who are forced to seek shelter or live as internally displaced persons. Our partner on the ground is working to provide those in need with food, water, blankets, clothing and other necessities. We also provide psychosocial support and social assistance to affected people - directly on the ground but also by phone and online.
Many of the internally displaced are children and young people. They are forced into difficult routes, with unsafe transportation and accommodation. We are working to strengthen their protection, with the help of our local partners, who are working on the ground to meet the unique needs of each child.
Author: Elin Jonsson
Erikshjälpen works to enable more girls to go to school, to give them the opportunity to influence their lives and their future. During the International Education Day on January 24, we highlight our work in Bangladesh, which is one of the projects in the Postcode Lottery's major thematic initiative for girls' education.
260 million children worldwide do not attend school, despite the fact that all children have the right to do so. Of the children who miss out on schooling, girls are clearly overrepresented. Erikshjälpen is working in many ways to change this.
In the coastal areas of Bangladesh, poverty is enormous. The situation means that child labor, school dropout, child marriage and migration due to climate change are a major part of children's daily lives. The government schools that currently exist are inadequate and it is difficult to recruit teachers. Many girls drop out of school after grade five.
From dropout to hope
In the summer of 2022, we launched a three-year project in two of Bangladesh's poorest coastal districts - where the first steps were taken to build eight new schools. The project "From dropout to hope", Erikshjälpen does together Codec and Friendship - two local partner organisations.
The work is funded by the Postcode Lottery, where Erikshjälpen is one of seven organisations that together have received Swedish kronor (SEK) 50 million to promote girls' right to education. Read more about the Postcode Lottery's thematic initiative here.
This is what we do in the project
- We are building eight schools for grades six to eight (equivalent to secondary school).
- Schools are placed close to children's homes to prevent school drop-out.
- The schools are being built with sustainable technology and solar panels, to enable digital education via monitors by some of Dhaka's best teachers.
- We allow children to participate in children's rights groups where their confidence is strengthened, so that they can grow as individuals and learn to stand up for themselves.
- We will increase the preparedness of families in relation to climate change and severe weather changes.
- We advocate in the area, so that the adult world takes girls' right to education seriously.
In this work, the future students are part of the project, and we will follow them on their path to education. They will be involved in discussions about the building and participate in workshops where they can dream and plan together. 
The whole community benefits from girls' right to education
Investing in girls' education is investing in whole communities. More children have more choices, can get jobs and become more independent. This is vital for them, their families and the communities around them.
This week, the Green Party's spokesperson Märta Stenevi visited Erikshjälpen's Future Workshop in Gränby, Uppsala. The young people in the Future Workshop presented their activities and got to ask Märta questions on various topics, such as injustices in public transport and the growing mental illness among young people.
- "It was incredibly inspiring to hear about Erikshjälpen's work in Gränby. They work broadly to give children, young people and parents a sense of participation and self-determination in their neighborhood, says Märta.
In Gränby, many children and young people feel that there is a strong negative image of the area and those who live there. Erikshjälpen's Future Workshop has become a platform where young people can make their voices heard to the public and decision-makers.
- "Young people being more involved in how neighborhoods are developed makes them more inclusive, safe and vibrant," says Hanna Löfstrand, Head of Unit for Erikshjälpen's Future Workshop.
If we are to break the negative criminal spiral, resources need to be deployed early on from various sources, so that children who are hurting at home or have fallen into trouble are caught.
About Erikshjälpen Framtidsverkstad in Gränby
Erikshjälpen's Future Workshop in Gränby started in the spring of 2021. Today there are many different activities for both girls and boys. Such as different types of groups in dance, boy and girl groups, nature and culture, but they have also started to organize camps for the young people.
- "We also have a positive collaboration with the municipality with vacation youth, which is now entering its third year," says Hanna Löfstrand. "This year, the focus is on activities for children at various leisure activities that will give young people increased knowledge of the Convention on the Rights of the Child based on Erikshjälpen's material, 'Barnrättsäventyret'.
Märta Stenevi had time to talk to the young people in Gränby. It was a conversation that covered everything from injustices in
public transport to the increase in mental health problems among young people.
Engaging conversations on injustice and mental health
When Erikshjälpen's Future Workshop and the young people had talked about the activities in Gränby, it was time for the young people to ask Märta Stenevi questions. It was a good conversation that dealt with everything from injustices in public transport to the increased mental illness among young people.
- During the spring, I have traveled around the country and met with police officers, teachers, social workers and actors from civil society who all work with young people, says Märta Stenevi and continues:
- Everyone says the same thing. If we are to break the negative criminal spiral, resources need to be deployed early on from various sources, so that children who are hurting at home or have fallen into trouble are caught.
Erikshjälpen Framtidsverkstad offers young people a place and a context where they can be in the summer - for all children's right to a meaningful leisure time.
Summer vacation is the time of year when many of the inequalities in growing up in Sweden become most apparent. Graduations and student parties are just around the corner, and many children and young people get a well-deserved summer break after a busy school year. But the summer break is also a time of hardship for many.
Many families in Sweden struggle financially during the summer period. Not everyone can afford to go on vacation and many children stay at home, with nothing to do.
Young people lack the resources to get their first summer job, leading to a lack of activities and employment for several months. This lack can lead to a feeling of hopelessness - a feeling and situation that criminal gangs like to exploit to recruit new members.
We offer vacation internships during the summer
Every year, Erikshjälpen Framtidsverkstäder takes in young people as vacation interns and offers them a job during the summer. The vacation internship gives the young people a context, but also an income and lessons that can be built on in future summers - as a valuable line in a CV. During the internship, young people can organize activities for other young people, take part in local events, and participate in advocacy activities, such as interviewing people in power.
Erikshjälpen Framtidsverkstad Linköping welcomes four young people who are doing their holiday internship on site in the Skäggetorp area this year.
- "I'm looking forward to doing fun activities for children and young people in Skäggetorp," says one of the young people when they meet for an introduction at the Future Workshop on June 2.
For further information
Support Erikshjälpen Framtidsverkstad
Your gift plays an important role in the work of our Future Workshops. It is through your commitment to children's rights that we can run the Future Workshops and offer young people in underprivileged areas a summer job. Make a donation to our work for children in Sweden and help give more children the right to a meaningful summer.
