#HEARD Initiative | Child Awareness Project (CAP)

(Coming Soon)

#HEARD is an initiative developed by the Child Awareness Project (CAP), as an effort towards ‘Childproofing the World’ - to make it a better and safer place for children.

#HEARD aims to empower children and young people to realise and advocate for children’s rights by actively exercising their right to voice out.

Being #HEARD means that your opinions are being listened to and your actions taken seriously.

But it does not stop there. Being the opinion initiator is not enough. Being #HEARD also means that you listen to and take into account the opinions of other children and adults, and then collectively decide the best solution. In other words, being #HEARD means being an active participant in the conversation for change.

It is every child’s inherent right.

Article 12 in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) clearly states that all children have the right to express opinions in all matters that affect them and that these opinions must be listened to and taken seriously by adults.

The youth knows what the youth needs.

Adults may not always have the most relevant insights to be able to effectively decide what is best for young people. Hence, you as a young person may have a better understanding of problems and issues affecting the current generation. No one knows better what you and your peers need, other than you. What you think and say can make an effective difference to children’s welfare everywhere.

Making your stand known is the gateway to fully realizing your rights.

By letting others know what you and/or other young people should get as rights, you show to others that you not only understand what you need, but also respect and are responsible for your own rights. Thus, others cannot ignore what you say and instead, help you fully exercise those rights.

Making your voices heard facilitates life-changing social and cultural change.

When you make your stand openly long enough or together with other young people, your community will eventually see its importance in improving youth welfare and will gradually transform to embrace this change.

ChildPros are voluntary ambassadors of the #HEARD initiative. They empower children with their inherent right to speak up. They also take action to help other young people by protecting and increasing awareness about children’s rights.

To be eligible, you must:

be between 15 to 30 years old
have prior experience working for child rights
demonstrate dedication, integrity & leadership skills

As all ChildPros are current older children and youth, they know and better understand the needs of their child peers compared to adults. ChildPros are encouraged to help younger child peers realise their rights. Selected ChildPros will have a ONE year-long tenure which may be renewed on a case-by-case basis.

We at CAP believe that empowering young Child Rights Advocates is only possible when there is adequate interaction of rights awareness, education and leadership guidance between the older and younger children. Hence, through activities, a ChildPro is not only a benefactor to help other children realise their rights, but also an educator, guide and model to help younger children become future Child Rights Advocates. This is the positive cycle we aim to create.

A ChildPro must implement at least 2 normal, 1 awareness-based and 1 supervised activities/projects annually. Please take note that CAP is unable to provide funding for any activity/project by a ChildPro; it is completely of the ChildPro’s initiative (We will brief selected ChildPros about the specific details of each project).

You may contact us at ChildProTeam@gmail.com for more information regarding the #HEARD Initiative and becoming a ChildPro.

You can either participate in a ChildPro activity/project that have available volunteer spots, or join a supervised activity/project.

Download this record sheet and record the past activities/projects you have participated in. You can then email us the completed record sheet at ChildProTeam@gmail.com. By the end of the year, you will receive a Junior certificate based on the activities/projects you have participated in. Should you participate in 20 activities/projects before turning 15 years old, a ChildStar certificate will be awarded to you. The above incentives are to inspire more dedicated efforts in advocating and helping others realize child rights.