As Rwanda joins the rest of Africa in celebrating the Day of the African Child (DAC) 2025, parents and communities are encouraged to champion positive parenting and uphold children’s rights in raising happy, healthy, and responsible children.

This year’s DAC theme as approved by the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACERWC ) is “Planning and budgeting for children's rights: progress since 2010.” The theme aims to assess the progress made in mainstreaming children’s issues in planning and budgeting.                           

To align this theme with Rwanda’s current context, Rwanda celebrated DAC 2025  under the theme " Ndera neza; Nkure nemye”, through a mass campaign on positive parenting.  

Speaking during the national celebrations held in Rusizi District, Ingabire Assumpta, the Director General of the National Child Development Agency’s (NCDA), highlighted that parental responsibility is not a choice but an obligation. She called on both mothers and fathers to join hands in ensuring the holistic wellbeing of their children, stressing that shared commitment is key to nurturing a better future for the children.

She also emphasized on the achievements that have been accomplished, such as the establishment of laws and policies that promote child protection, health and nutrition as well as universal access to education.

Ingabire noted that the NCDA is collaborating with various institutions and partners to promote children’s right and their holistic wellbeing through awareness campaigns, promoting positive parenting, children’s rights  and  support  to vulnerable families among others.

This year, as part of the DAC celebrations, the month of June was designated as “The Month of Positive Parenting.” It featured nationwide community mobilisation efforts aimed at promoting positive parenting by reminding both parents and children of their vital roles and responsibilities in nurturing a healthy family environment.

The Day of African Child was established in 1991 by the Organisation of African Unity, the precursor to the African Union (AU), to honour South African school children killed in the Soweto Uprising of 1976. 

The DAC is a call to action for all State Parties of the African Union and the world to enhance efforts in safeguarding and promoting the rights of children, ensuring that robust measures are implemented to combat any form of violence inflicted on them.