What We Stand For: Essentials of Children’s Rights is an engaging, story-driven online course that brings UNICEF’s child rights mandate to life. The course helps translate our shared commitment to children’s rights into everyday practice across all areas of work.
The interactive online course explores the rights that children have and what it means for children to be rights holders, how the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has transformed the way the world relates to children, and the obligations of States in upholding these rights set out in the CRC.
Through animations following the stories of three children, you will experience how children’s rights can be realized, or denied, in everyday situations. You will unpack common misconceptions, examine the pushback against children’s rights, and learn how UNICEF’s unique mandate positions it to uphold these rights globally.
The course blends emotive storytelling, interactive exercises, reflective learning and assessments, resources for further learning, as well as inspiring messages from the UN Secretary-General and the UNICEF Executive Director to bring complex concepts to life and to inspire action.
Whether you are new to UNICEF or a long-time advocate, this course will inspire you to strengthen a culture of human rights in all aspects of your work and daily life, and to champion children’s rights wherever you are.
Learning objectives
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Explain what children’s rights are and what it means for children to have rights;
- Describe how the Convention on the Rights of the Child transforms the ways in which we relate to children;
- Counter common misconceptions regarding children’s rights;
- Identify some of the dynamics seeking to undermine children’s rights globally and in your regional and national contexts;
- Explain UNICEF’s mandate and role in relation to children’s rights;
- Describe some children’s rights principles to keep in mind at work and in your daily life ;
- Identify some of the ways in which children’s rights are monitored.
Audience
Everyone working with UNICEF, including all staff members, interns, volunteers and consultants.
Length
It should take you about 60 minutes to complete this self-paced course.
Methodology
This self-paced online course is composed of nine self-paced modules, followed by a final assessment. Course modules include animated scrolly telling videos, interactive images and CRC visuals, knowledge checks and quizzes, video messages from the UN Secretary-General and UNICEF Executive Director and curated links to external resources, guidance, and further reading for deeper exploration.
Structure
This course is composed of 10 sections:
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- The human rights of children
- The Convention on the Rights of the Child
- What it means to have rights
- The transformative power of the CRC
- The pushback against children’s rights
- UNICEF’s mandate
- Child rights in everyday life
- Human rights mechanisms
- In closing
- Final assessment
Contact details
Course content issues and questions: rights@unicef.org
Technical issues: In case of any technical issues while completing the course, UNICEF learners should Report the IT Problem through the Service Gateway portal. Guest users can reach us using this support request form.