OPBP: Call For Volunteer Researchers for project on the Right to Early Childhood Development
Oxford Pro Bono Publico (OPBP) is looking for volunteers researchers to assist with an advocacy brief for The Equality Collective on the right to Early Childhood Development (ECD) as a part of the Real Reform for ECD Campaign. The Equality Collective is an activist and community-centred law project based in rural Eastern Cape, which has been assisting the South African government with drafting the Second Children’s Amendment Bill.
The Real Reform for ECD Campaign is a broad-based alliance supported by over 200 organisations and led by an elected Steering Committee, of which The Equality Collective is a part. The right to ECD has largely arisen out of an extension of the Right to Education. ECD is essential for the growth and development of millions of young children in South Africa, which previous iterations of education rights have typically neglected because of their focus on children eligible to begin formal schooling. To that end, the Campaign is interested in creating the infrastructure to facilitate an enabling policy, legal and regulatory environment that guarantees that all children in South Africa can access the right to early childhood development. The legal sub-committee of the Real Reform for ECD is looking to put together an advocacy brief that could potentially serve as the foundation for South African legislation and litigation strategies surrounding the right to ECD.
OPBP has been enlisted to produce an advocacy brief regarding the content and form of the right to ECD, the extent of state obligations internationally and domestically as well as the policy considerations involved in being able to ensure effective access to ECD. The brief will be concerned with the current international law position on ECD as well as comparative domestic trends in its provision. In particular, we will be looking at the relevant situation in Portugal, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Estonia and Brazil.
The role is to be undertaken approximately between 28 March - 25 April 2022. Research for this project will require approximately 12-15 hours of your time. The position is open to University of Oxford graduate students either with a previous law degree or with previous experience in the subject area.
If you are interested in volunteering, please send your CV to opbp@law.ox.ac.uk as soon as possible, and no later than 25th March, Friday 5pm. Please also mention in your e-mail any specific experience you may have that may be relevant to the subject area and the jurisdictions under study. If you have any further queries regarding the project, do get in touch at opbp@law.ox.ac.uk.