The just-concluded 7th National Children’s Summit offered Rwandan children the perfect platform to air their views before adults and the country’s leaders on matters affecting them and how they want them solved. They cited child labour, insufficient feeding and lack of permanent homes among the challenges they face. The Prime Minister rightly described children as the backbone of the country’s socio-economic development, pledging continued government’s support to ensure a bright future for them. Well, political commitment is one thing and implementation is another. The Government has a reputation for devising strategies to help transform people’s lives and upholding their rights, including children’s, but there are times when progress has been slowed down due to gaps at the implementation level. To ensure that government policies are effectively translated into results on the ground, the commitment at the highest political level must permeate through to the grassroots, with active support from the civil society, private sector and ordinary citizens. With the right nurturing and constant guidance, children can ably take up the mantle in the future and take the country to new heights. Indeed, engaging them in national development at a tender age does not only instill in them a sense of patriotism, but makes them responsible and ambitious citizens. The rest of society should support children and ensure they make the right decisions. We should not only give them the freedom to pour out their hearts to us, but provide them with all we can to help them realise their dreams. For instance, no child should be out of school and left to despair and end up either on the street or orphanages. Above all, every adult should endeavour to serve as a role model for youngsters to help shape them into productive citizens.
