The day of prayer and action for children was celebrated in Mogadishu on November 20, 2011. The celebrations were organized by the Somali Youth Development Network (SOYDEN) in collaboration with the African Council of Religious Leaders —Religions for Peace (ACRL—RfP) and GNRC Africa. The day’s activities operated under the theme, “’Stop Violence Against Children’’. Earlier on, a team of young professionals had been engaged to identify deserving street children from the Benadir region districts to benefit from small support that would see them start small income generating activities in town. The process identified 40 street children who were each issued with a shoe shining kit.

The celebration the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children in Mandera was organized by the Student Peace Club Union in Mandera.  Activities included working with primary, and secondary schools. The goal was to bring children and teachers together along with religious leaders to pray.  This provided the participating groups an opportunity to understand the concept of violence and its effects to children.

The African Council of Religious leaders — Religions for Peace (ACRL—RfP) in conjunction with the Ethiopian Interfaith Forum for Dialogue Development and Action (EIFDDA) and GNRC Africa  organized a forum in Axum Hotel, Addis Ababa on the 25Th of November, 2011 to mark the World Day of Prayer and Acton for children (DPAC). The day’s proceedings were guided by the theme, “Stop Violence Against Children” with prayers, presentations and discussions being the main activities of the day. Religious leaders from three different religions (Orthodox, Muslim and Bahi) were represented. Orphaned and Vulnerable Children (OVC) were the key participants during the forum.

With the theme “Stop Violence against Children”, on 20th November over 2000 children gathered in prayer and action to advocate the Rights of the Child to the public through music, drama and poems.

At the sidelines of the COP17 meeting in Durban, young people who embarked on an inaugural Journey from Kenya to South Africa, and children from St. Francis School in Durban, South Africa marked the Day of Prayer and Action for Children on November 20th, 2011.

The African Council of Religious Leaders — Religions  for Peace (ACRL—RfP  ) and the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC Africa) under the project “ Dignifying Childhood” facilitated implementation of a number of activities in several African countries to mark the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children (DPAC). The activities were centered on the theme, “Stop Violence Against Children”. Participating countries included: Kenya, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Somalia. Below, you can discover some of the activities held in Somalia.

The Liberian Council of Churches in collaboration with the African Council of Religious Leaders — Religions  for Peace (ACRL—RfP  ) and the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC Africa) organized and celebrated the World International Day of Prayer and Action for Children in Rural Montserrado County, Todee District, Liberia, hosted by the Gwee Town Presbyterian Church. six (6) Churches, namely: The host, Gwee Town Presbyterian Church, Praise and Deliverance Ministry, United Methodist Church, The Lutheran Church, Wesleyan Church, and the International Bible Church, participated in the celebrations.

GNRC – Africa celebrated the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children on the 20th November 2010, in harmony with the agreement stating its celebration, annually, on the UN Universal Day of Children. The World Day aims at bringing together religious and goodwill people to safeguard the integrity, rights and dignity of children and to promote and protect their rights.

The Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC- Africa) celebrated the commemoration of the Day of Prayer and Action for Children (DPAC) on 20th Nov. 2010. To effectively commemorate the day GNRC-Africa organized a number of activities including; workshop, forums and peace march. Two workshops were organized on 16th and 18th Nov. 2010. The workshops took place at UNICEF’s conference hall and it brought together 30 participants including; children, youths, patrons and matrons as well as religious leaders from Zanzibar (Unguja, Pemba) and Tanzania mainland. DPAC was concluded at Mnazi Mmoja grounds in Dar-Es-salaam, this was preceded by the peace March involving about 3000 children and youths from more than 40 schools both in Dar-Es-salaam and Zanzibar. The Guest of honor was from the Ministry of Community Development Gender and Children Affairs.

The Day of Prayer and Action for Children was marked in Isiolo County in the Eastern part of Kenya at the Al-Falah Children’s Center where over 50 children from different schools and children centers came together to pray, commemorate and share together for the sake of the children. The Al-Falah children’s home takes care of over 300 children majority of whom are orphans.

Borama is the third largest city in Somaliland with an estimated population of 120,000. The World day of prayer and action for children was marked and commemorated in Borama. The slogan of the event was “healthy and cared children in a stable and beautiful environment” which blended well with the overall theme of this year’s DPAC theme of reducing child mortality and improving maternal health.