Child Welfare News in West Africa
A curated and contextualized watch of the institutions, agencies, and media documenting, protecting, and supporting children across West Africa — Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, and beyond.
Evaluating the Implementation of the ECOWAS Child Policy by Member States
Un bilan institutionnel qui interroge la capacité réelle des États ouest-africains à traduire un cadre régional en politiques nationales effectives.
Read the full article →Strengthening Child Protection Systems in West Africa
A project by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights focused on children in street situations, before family rupture becomes irreversible.
Read the full article →UNICEF Calls for the Protection of Children, Schools, and Health Facilities Following Deadly Attacks in Mali
A reminder that insecurity continues to directly undermine Malian children's access to education and healthcare.
Read the full article →Protecting Children on the Move from Trafficking in West Africa
The Standing Conference of African and Francophone Consular Chambers takes up an issue long confined to humanitarian actors alone.
Read the full article →Mali: A Plan Against Begging Enters Its Implementation Phase
The shift of a government plan from intention to concrete execution — a signal worth following closely on the ground.
Read the full article →Accelerating Early Childhood Education and Development: From Expertise to Action in West and Central Africa
An appeal to turn already well-known diagnoses into programs genuinely deployed on the ground.
Read the full article →Child Protection: A New Life Begins After the Street
The follow-up of individual trajectories after removal from the street — an angle rarely documented by official communications.
Read the full article →Protection of Children and Vulnerable Persons: 1,911 People Removed from the Street in Ten Days
A large-scale operation that quietly raises the question of long-term follow-up after a massive and rapid removal.
Read the full article →Abidjan: 54 Children Removed from the Street, Government Strengthens Protection for the Most Vulnerable
An Ivorian example that echoes dynamics observed elsewhere in the subregion, backed by a precise and verifiable figure.
Read the full article →Child Protection: National Actors Gather in Yamoussoukro to Strengthen Coordination of Interventions
A meeting that once again raises the central question of coordination among the many actors involved in child protection.
Read the full article →Child Protection: Strategic Documents Approved
The adoption of a 2026-2035 national policy marks a long-term commitment, to be measured over time rather than in the announcement itself.
Read the full article →Child Protection Response Monitoring in Mali 2025
Un tableau de bord humanitaire qui documente, chiffre à l'appui, l'évolution de la réponse coordonnée sur le terrain malien.
Read the full article →Mali: Education Cluster Meeting Minutes, July 2026
The minutes of a sectoral coordination effort too often overlooked by the general public, even though it structures most of the humanitarian education response.
Read the full article →Mali: Children's Education Under Threat
A reminder that security instability continues to directly weigh on schooling, far beyond mere access statistics.
Read the full article →Mali's Children Call for Budgets Sensitive to Their Rights
A direct statement from the children themselves on the still-rare issue of public funding for their rights.
Read the full article →Child Protection: Creating Change for Mali's Most Vulnerable Children
An institutional overview that lays the groundwork for UN engagement on child protection in Mali.
Read the full article →Primero / CPIMS+: The Child Protection Information Management System
The technical tool that structures, behind the scenes, the individualized case tracking of child protection in Mali.
Read the full article →4th Edition of Mali's National Day of Traditional Authorities and Legitimacies
An institutional recognition that directly echoes the Network's research on customary legitimacy.
Read the full article →Religious and Traditional Legitimacies Discover Ancient Manuscripts
An unexpected bridge between ancient documentary heritage and the contemporary social legitimacy of traditional authorities.
Read the full article →Protecting Children in Street Situations in West Africa
A UN framing that directly aligns with the field findings published by the Network on this same topic.
Read the full article →Children in Street Situations: OHCHR and Children
An institutional reference page on the rights of children in street situations worldwide.
Read the full article →One in Five Children Works: Africa Faces Massive Violation of Children's Rights
A continental figure that places the local realities documented by the Network within a pan-African perspective.
Read the full article →Street Children: In Mali as in Senegal, the Rupture Begins the Day the Child Is Entrusted
A journalistic investigation that extends and broadens the Network's work at the regional level, with solid legal grounding on the Senegalese case.
Read the full article →West Africa: Study Sheds Light on the Harsh Reality of Child Migrant Workers
A survey conducted in four countries of the region (2023-2025) makes visible a form of child mobility often missing from statistics, and calls for civil registration systems that guarantee these children's rights.
Read the full article →Niger: Opening of the Technical Committee on Child Protection and Sector Consultation
With UNICEF's support, Niger reviews progress, persistent challenges and priorities in child protection, from the national level down to village committees.
Read the full article →In West Africa, Children Account for More Than 60% of Trafficking Victims
In Dakar, UNODC calls for leaving no child behind, noting that begging is the most widespread form of exploitation among victims detected in the region.
Read the full article →In Côte d'Ivoire, One in Five Children Reportedly Lives on the Street
A DW report from a reception center: the phenomenon is reportedly declining, thanks to programs set up by the authorities and local associations.
Read the full article →Ghana Hosts West African Conference on Education in Emergencies
Scheduled for September 29 and 30, 2026 in Accra, this high-level conference brings together decision-makers, researchers and partners to keep children in school during crises: conflicts, floods or pandemics.
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