SCREAM: Supporting Children's Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media

Young people are a driving force for change. The "Supporting Children’s Rights through Education, the Arts and the Media" (SCREAM) programme aims to promote awareness among young people about children’s rights, with a focus on child labour, so that they in turn can speak out and mobilise their communities to act. Ultimately, SCREAM seeks to change social attitudes to promote a culture of respect for children’s rights and to strengthen the worldwide movement against child labour.

SCREAM is delivered by educators using the SCREAM education pack. The methodology is based on the arts – drama, creative writing, music and the visual arts – and on the media. Through the arts, young people are empowered to convey their message to the wider community. SCREAM also seeks to channel the creative energies of children and youth in positive and constructive ways and encourages “peer-to-peer” education, with young people reaching out to other young people.

The SCREAM education pack consists of flexible “building blocks” in the form of activity modules. These modules are generic and can be tailored to any geographical or cultural context, and to any formal or non-formal setting, depending on the time and resources available. In a number of countries, SCREAM has been linked to or integrated into national curricula, often with the active involvement of teachers’ trade unions and public education authorities.

Since its launch in 2002, the SCREAM programme has been used by children in more than 70 countries as a means to join the campaign to end child labour, giving a voice to those who are not yet heard. SCREAM supports child participation and youth empowerment, providing children and young people the knowledge and means to act – through the arts and the media. It supports the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognizes the right of children to express their views freely in all matters that affect them. It is a tool to implement a key principle of Recommendation, 1999 (No. 190) of ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182) - that all programmes of action against child labour should take into consideration the views of children who are directly affected.