JCTR Bulletin 1st Quarter 2017

A warm welcome to our first quarterly bulletin in 2017. Once more, I am pleased to share with you articles on different subjects affecting communities at various levels. Francis Simui in his article on early childhood, encourages readers to revisit the forgotten early childhood and primary education: the policy and practice imperatives in Zambia. He argues that this could perhaps improve the compromised quality education. Mónica Gabriela Yerena Suárez reflects on the Integral approach from the Convention on the Rights of the Child and how it can be used in protecting boys, girls and teenagers from violence. Many places do not have facilities to enable Persons With Disability (PWDs) to access the buildings physically and also the services and information that may be offered. The JCTR conducted a research on the accessiblity of public places by PWDs, O’Brien Kaaba shares a summary of the findings. One of the objectives of the Church Social Teaching is to influence public and private sector activities that respond to human needs. Fr. Leonard Chiti, the JCTR’s Director, reflects on a new advocacy approach that could be used to evoke action on social justice issues. Recent occurrences in Zambia have cast a different light on GBV perspective, with women turning the tables on their male counterparts. Dominica Kabale discerns the concept of equality of men and women which stems from God the creator and how this has been compromised, she poses a challenging question, ‘is women killing men a reversal of fortunes’? In ‘the role and relevance of the judiciary in a democratic society: a tale from the village’, Kawanga Poniso reflects on the lost confidence in the judicial system of our country.