26^TH NATIONAL CHILDREN MONTH
NOVEMBER 2018

1. National Children’s Month (NCM)

An annual event for the Filipino Children to celebrate and recognize them as the most valuable assets of the nation and to emphasize the importance of their role within the Filipino family and the Philippine society.

Republic Act No. 10661 declares every November as the National Children’s Month with the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the National Youth Commission (NYC) as lead agencies. This declaration commemorates the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations General Assembly on 20 November 1989 and seeks to instill its significance in the Filipino consciousness.

2. Focus and Theme of the 2018 National Children’s Month

This 2018 marks the 26^th year of the National Children’s Month celebration in the Philippines and the recent launch of the Philippine Plan of Action to End Violence Against Children (PPAEVAC), 2017-2022 which translates the findings of the 2015 Philippine National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children (NBS-VAC) into specific action.

The focus and theme of this year’s celebration are aligned with the key strategies of PPAEVAC to end violence against children in the Philippines. As approved by the Council Board in its Special Meeting conducted on 07 June 2018, the 2018 NCM focuses on positive parenting, with the theme “ISULONG: TAMANG PAG-AARUGA PARA SA LAHAT NG BATA.”

3. Objective of the 2018 National Children’s Month

The year’s celebration aims to advocate building a safe, nurturing and protective environment for children through positive parenting among parents, guardians, caregivers and teachers. Specifically, it aims to:

• increase awareness on the importance of positive parenting and positive discipline;
• increase knowledge of parents/caregivers on how to handle or educate their children while in the cyberspace;
• intensify the advocacy of Positive Discipline in Classrooms responsive to the needs of the learners;
• strengthen the integration of appropriate classroom dynamics in daily teaching;
• provide space for children’s participation in legislative advocacy;
• push for the passage of the Positive Discipline Bill; and
• celebrate gains and successes on child rights promotion and protection of the country 
  
  

4. Key Messages

• Violence Against Children (VAC) is universal and it occurs across socio-economic status.
• VAC prevalence survey in the Philippines shows a high overall prevalence of 80% with:
  - 3 in 5 children experience physical violence, with more than half of this happening at home;
  - Most common cases of violence at home are corporal punishment committed by parents and siblings;
  - 3 in 5 children experience psychological violence; in the forms of verbal abuse, threats, or neglect.
  - 1 in 5 children below age 18 have experienced sexual violence while growing up.
  - Common perpetrators of sexual violence are brothers or cousins.
  - 2 in 5 children experience violence online, whether sexual violence or cyberbullying.
  - prevalence of violence in schools is almost equally disturbing
  - More than half experienced at least 2 types of abuse

• The Systematic Literature Review of the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children in the Philippines showed that:
  - Violent discipline is the most frequent form of violence against children in the home, driven by factors including social norms around the use of and effectiveness of discipline, authoritarian parenting, and parents’ level of education;
  - The lack of supervision, single headed household and absent parents increases the vulnerability of children to sexual violence at home;
  - Emotional violence from parents increases children’s negative behavior, which increases their risk of experiencing violent discipline and perpetrating aggressive behavior towards others;
  - Parenting practices that include the use of coercion, threats, insults, and a frightening tone increase the risk of child maltreatment and set the state for similar patterns of behavior in parent/child and other relationship;
  - Experiencing childhood or familial sexual violence is also a driver of all forms of intimate partner violence victimization for females;
  - Experiencing or being exposed to violence in the home also increases the risk that children will use or experience violence against partners, peers and family members.

• Proven strategies to prevent children violence includes: (i) enhancing individual capabilities of parents, caregivers and children, (ii) embedding violence prevention in institutions and services, (iii) eliminating root causes of violence.

• Efforts towards ending VAC should be well promoted and accelerated such as:
  - Promoting positive parenting and positive discipline
  - Changing cultural practices that contribute to VAC, including the elimination of corporal punishment
  - Promoting non-violent values, communication and relationship with children
  - Building the skills of parents and caregivers in non-violent discipline, problem-solving and conflict resolution
  - Respecting the whole child and their family, their dignity, and their development needs
  - Increasing awareness of children’s rights

• “No VIOLENCE against children is JUSTIFIABLE; and ALL VIOLENCE against children is PREVENTABLE” 

• “Children are tired of being called the future. They want to enjoy their childhood, free of violence, now!”

5. Current efforts of the Philippines to promote and build a safe, nurturing and protective environment for children:

1. Philippine Plan of Action to End Violence Against Children (PPAEVAC)
2. 3^rd National Plan of Action for Children (3rd NPAC)
3. Sustainable Development Goals
4. Child Protection Policy in Schools and Institutions

 
6. 2018 Major Activities

• NCM Kick-Off Celebration: MOVEmber for Positive Parenting!: 05 November
• Conference on Digital Parenting: 17 November
• Ako Para Sa Bata International Conference: 19-20 November
• Awarding Ceremony; Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Municipalities and Cities: 20 November (TBC)
• Children’s Lobby Day for Positive Discipline: 21-22 November
• Positive Discipline in Daily Teaching School Caravan.:27 and 29 November
  
  

7. Ways to Celebrate the 2018 National Children Month

• Hanging of tarpaulins/ streamers about the Children’s Month Celebration
• Recitation of “Panatang Makabata during flag ceremony every Mondays of November
• Participation in the Signature Campaign for the Passage of the Positive Discipline of Children Act
• Development, production and distribution of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials and other collaterals to include those developed by CWC;
• Posting of the NCM official logo and the 2018 Theme, audio visual presentation, and other NCM advocacy materials on the websites and its official social media accounts;
• Conduct of organizational activity related to the focus and theme of the 2018 NCM and submission of activity details by encoding it through the link: bit.ly/2018NCM or emailing at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for inclusion in the official 26^th NCM Calendar of Activities;
• Participation in all NCM major activities and NCM-related activities nationwide.
• Support the "Pito, Bata, Pito": A Call for Help Campaign - Collect and distribute whistles to children and do a whistle barrage

¹ Council for the Welfare of Children. (2015). National baseline study on violence against children.

² UNICEF Philippines. (2016). Systematic literature review of the drivers of violence affecting children in the Philippines.

³ Know Violence in Childhood. (2017). Ending Violence in Childhood: Overview. Global Report 2017. Know Violence in Childhood. New Delhi, India.

⁴ Durrant, J.E. (2007). Positive discipline: What it is and how to do it. Save the Children Sweden.

⁵ Pinheiro, P.S., (2006). World Report on Violence against Children. Geneva: United Nations Secretary-General’s Study on Violence Against Children.

⁶ Ibid.