World Day of Prayer and Action for Children

15 November 2010

We members of Shanti Sewa Ashram (SSA) and Youth Society for Peace (YSP) - Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) would like to hearty request you all to join the World Day of Prayer and Action for Children (WDPAC) 2010 November 20th. Celebrated on Universal Children’s Day-20 November of each year – the WDPAC connects people and organizations to protect children. Improving the welfare of children is an urgent global challenge. By working with the world’s diverse faith communities, governments, civil society and UNICEF-Nepal we can accelerate and magnify their efforts to help children worldwide.

Let us act together for child education, community mobilization and advocacy initiatives to reduce child mortality (MDG4) and improve maternal health (MDG5) in our own vicinity as a theme for this year. For this noble cause we SSA, YSP, GNRC-Nepal, UNICEF-Nepal are promoting perpetuating and propagating WDPAC 2010 doing following activities: Your wise suggestions and unconditional participation are highly appreciated. Thanks

A. Poetry and art competition

Issues: education, community mobilization & advocacy initiatives to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.
Date : Thursday, November 18, 2010
Participants: Children’s Peace Home (Dang), Children Study Centre (Kathmandu), Hindu Vidyapeeth – Schools
(Lalitpur) and Orphanages (from Chitwan, Godavari etc.)

B. Inter-religious Prayer

Issues: education, community mobilization and advocacy initiatives to reduce child mortality and improve maternal
health and learning to appreciate and respect each other through prayer.
Date: Friday, November 19, 2010
Time: 3: 30 PM
Program: interfaith prayers, lighting lamps by all the religious leaders, touching hearts, talks, interaction, children’s expression, etc (around 2 hours)
Participants: Representatives from various religions, adult and youths and kids from various backgrounds
Venue: Shanti Sewa Ashram, Koteshwar, Kathmandu
No. of participants: Around 150
Chief Guest: Mr. Kul Chandra Gautam (TBC)

C. Children’s Workshop

Issues: education, community mobilization & advocacy initiatives to reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.
Date : Saturday, November 20, 2010
Time: 10: 00 AM – 4: 00 PM
Program : Prayers, Songs, Talks, Interaction, Visual show, Group activity, Peaceful friendship games(around 5 hours)
Participants: 15 schools from Bhaktapur, Street Children Food Program, Hindu Vidyapeeth-Nepal, Shanti Sewa Ashram
Age: From 13-15
Venue: Gandhi Ashram, Manohara, Kathmandu (TBC)
No. of Participants: Around 150 (5 from each school) from different faiths and backgrounds
Chief Guest: Head of UNICEF-Nepal (TBC)

D. Other Programs

- Organizing Talk programs in various schools / colleges
- Organizing prayers in various schools with the help of PABSON and Ministry of Education / Health etc.
- Appealing various religious, social, educational organizations to celebrate DPAC on national level
- Spreading message of DPAC through media.
- Awareness program of DPAC in rural areas (Parbat, Baglung, Chitwan, Hetauda, etc.)

Miscellaneous

- Publication of poems and arts in Kids Era magazine of USA
- Budget's planning
- Collaboration with other organizations.
- Preparing /publishing proper documents

To learn more about WDPAC please log on to: http://www.dayofprayerandaction.org/