Some ideas for action: World Day of Prayer and Action for Children

Work to end the use of children as soldiers
The Red Hand Campaign calls for universal ratification and enforcement of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The goal is for every country in the world to ratify the optional protocol by 2012, the tenth anniversary of treaty.

Call President Obama to send the Convention on the Rights of the Child to the Senate for advise and consent
The United States has signed, but not ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The U.S. Cam­paign on the CRC invites peo­ple com­mit­ted to the wel­fare of chil­dren to par­tic­i­pate in a peti­tion cam­paign ask­ing Pres­i­dent Obama to send the CRC to the Senate. In keeping with the call of the 202nd Gen­eral Assem­bly (1990) of the Pres­by­ter­ian Church (U.S.A.) for the United States to “take the action nec­es­sary for rat­i­fi­ca­tion of the con­ven­tion in a thor­ough and timely man­ner,” Presbyterians have joined this call.

Study God’s Creation, Our Health: Taking Action Together
This four-session study was produced by the Office of Child Advocacy in partnership with the Office of Environmental Ministries and Jed Koball, mission coworker and companionship facilitator for Joining Hands Against Hunger Peru. Use it with children to explore what our faith has to say about environmental stewardship. Following the lead of CAMBIALO, a group of concerned and active young people in Peru, they will learn how to speak out about contamination of the environment and what it does to children’s health and how to take action to protect God’s creation and children’s health.

Study Our Day to End Poverty: 24 Ways You Can Make a Difference
The study guide, for use with small groups of adults in congregations, provides additional suggestions that connect with work being done by many ministries of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to end poverty. Use with Our Day to End Poverty: 24 Ways You Can Make a Difference, by Shannon Daley-Harris and Jeffrey Keenan.

Study Africa’s Children: A Church Response to Children’s Issues in Sub-Saharan Africa
In sub-Saharan Africa the number of orphaned and vulnerable children is growing as a result of issues such as the AIDS pandemic, poverty, lack of education and countries in conflict. This free book and study guide reviews the models of care existing in sub-Saharan Africa and evaluates them in the context of the African culture and the realities of limited resources. Additionally, this book includes discernment questions for congregation or individuals that want to help.

World Day of Prayer and Action
Find a planning guide for religious leaders with action suggestions and resources for children and youth in areas of learning about human rights and effort to ending violence.

Thanks to Sera Chung for working on this post.