About the Child Rights Institute

For almost 15 years, Lund University, in collaboration with SIDA, organised the international training programme Child Rights, Classroom and School Management. The initiative focused on strengthening children's rights in the education sector in l7 countries: Cambodia, China, Colombia, Egypt, and Ethiopia. India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia. The network included change agents working for children's rights in their respective countries. The programme established comprehensive change processes, built professional networks, and disseminated knowledge about the CRC to a range of actors and institutions.

Following the successful implementation of the programme - with around 800 trained teachers from 25 countries - Lund University took the next step. The Child Rights Institute was established to secure and further develop the expertise and networks created. The Institute catalyses further research and training to promote child rights in policy and practice.

The Child Rights Institute at Lund University is a multidisciplinary network organisation active within the area of ”Child Rights”. It has two main tasks: research and cooperation with the surrounding community (including education).

Knowledge exchange and cross-border research applications

The Institute aims to gather researchers in this field of knowledge to stimulate and support new and continued research with a point of departure in the Convention of the Rights of the Child.

We promote national and international knowledge exchange and keep in touch with and support researchers, educators and networks at Lund University with our knowledge of ​​child rights and children's living conditions in society.

Another task is cooperation to promote and support research, recognising and visualising the child's perspective in family, health, and social process contexts. We bring together that perspective with our knowledge of child development to promote children's well-being.

The network also wants to stimulate and support cross-border education and research applications in this field.

National and international education

The Institute also works to develop education in Child Rights nationally and internationally. We offer online courses and aim to create a MOOC (massive open online course). In the future, education may include Minor Field Studies (MFS), initiatives for teacher and student exchange, master's courses focusing on children and child rights, and supporting contact between research, education and practice.

We aim to encourage teachers and researchers from Lund University's faculties to participate. Researchers from four faculties are active at the Institute (Faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Law, Faculties of Humanities & Theology, Faculty of Medicine). The encourages multidisciplinary activities based on social science perspectives.