Over the years, respect of children rights has been one of the social issues that most people feel it should be addressed because irrespective of having government and non-governmental organizations that support the well-being of the young ones, their rights are sometimes overlooked. Undertaking service learning on this topic is important because it will help the students to gain proper insight concerning this social issue and also get a chance to serve the community. According to Kell (2012), understanding children rights is fundamental because it aids in realizing when these rights are abused. Conducting service learning in an organization that advocate for the wellbeing of children such as save the children will play a key role in making the students to realize how this social issue affect children and the society. It will also give them a chance to suggest different measures that can be implemented to ensure children rights are valued.
Save the child organization is an international non-governmental organization with the main aim of promoting children’s rights, and enhancing their wellbeing by providing support and protection from things that may negatively affect them. According to this organization, every child has a better future, and therefore it strives to ensure they are given a better start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection proper protection from things that may harm them. Some of the strategies used by save the children to enhance the well-being of young ones comprise of provision of better education, proper health healthcare, and economic opportunities. It also provides emergency aid for children caught in natural disasters, war and other conflicts.
To attain its goals, this organization has established a strong relationship with the community because it believes that all stakeholders must be involved in order to learn the importance of respecting the rights of the young ones (Bliss, 2013). This indicates that undertaking service learning in this organization will be fundamental because it will provide a good opportunity for them to learn and also to serve the community.
Addressing issues that affect children does not come without challenges. Over the years, save the children has been facing various cross-cultural barriers that make it hard for its staff members to effectively serve the children (Kell, 2012). For instance, some communities have strong cultural believes that lead to abuse of children rights, like for example, female genital mutilation, early or forced marriages, child labor among others. Such believes make this organization to experience difficulties in making them to understand why children should grow in a society that allows them to endeavor for their future without challenges. This indicates that for the students to undertake service learning in this organization, they must be prepared to encounter such challenges.
Over the years, this organization has been striving to promote and save children in some of the incidences that may put their lives at risk, or impact their well-being, such as draught, war and conflicts, among others. This indicates that for the students to successfully conduct service learning in this organization, they should consider playing a role undertaking some of these activities. According to Maya (2015), service learning entails combining learning objectives with community service. This means undertaking this activity in save the children will provide a great opportunity for the students to gain proper insight concerning children rights and also assist it in executing its emergency program.
Save the children is a non-profit making organization, indicating that it depends on volunteers to provide funds and other things required to deliver the services it offers. According to Bliss (2013), its management invites interested volunteers for opportunities that range from short to long term. Volunteers in this organization are an integral part, and work in diverse ways to contribute to its cause. Based on the fact that the students will undertake this activity on volunteering basis, it will play a key role in in assisting this organization to have enough workforce.
Although save the children has been striving to carry out its duties, there are various roadblocks that it experiences in ensuring children rights are protected. For instance, being a non-profit making organization, it sometimes lacks enough funds that can make it to deliver some of the services. According to Maya (2015), this organization also faces lack of government support in terms of enacting laws that may aid in addressing issues that affect the well-being of children. Having the emergency program that is aimed in protecting the young ones from harm, sometimes its staff members find themselves in scenarios that are risky to their lives such as war zones, or life-threating natural calamities.
Save the children has a vision of striving to ensure people live in a world where every child is given a chance to attain the right to survival, protection, development and participation. Understanding this vision will be fundamental for the students because it will assist them to know how to incorporate their learning objecting in assisting this organization to serve the community appropriately.
Some of the challenges that save the children experience comprise of cultural barriers, political instability in some countries, lack of enough funds to undertake some of the activities and language barriers (Bliss, 2013). This organization also experience the challenge of being rejected in some of the communities because of various reasons such as wrong perception towards its services.
To facilitate better provision of its services, save the children has been undertaking various improvements. For instance, it has been collaborating with governments to ensure rules that protect children rights are implemented. It has also been seeking for volunteers to provide funds that can assist it to undertake its duties (Kell, 2012). The organization has also partnered with other stakeholders to ensure some of the challenges that affect proper discharge of its services such as cultural differences and language barriers are addressed.
In conclusion, visiting this organization will be fundamental because it will assist the students to learn about children rights and also to serve the society. Save the children work with the community in undertaking its services and therefore undertaking this activity will be a great opportunity for the student to learn about this social issue. While undertaking its duties, this organization faces various challenges such as cross cultural differences, lack of enough funds, and lack of government support to implement laws that protect children rights. Understanding various aspects concerning this organization such as challenges, improvements, future visions, humanitarian and considerations will be fundamental because it will assist the school management and the students to understand what to expect, and the role they can play during the exercise.
References
Bliss, B. (2013). The Homework Trap: How to Save the Sanity of Parents, Students " Teachers. Canadian Journal of Education, 36(4), 145-156.
Kelli, M. M. (2012). Waiting for the Justice League: Motivating Child Welfare Agencies to Save Children. Notre Dame Law Review, 88(1), 58-90.
Maya, S. (2015). Reconceptualizing Children's Rights in International Development: Living Rights, Social Justice, Translations. Law " Society Review, 49(1), 54-90.
Mokhethi, A. G. (2013). Service Learning as a Response to Community/school Engagement: Towards a Pedagogy of Engagement. Perspectives in Education, 31(2), 245-265.
