In June 2022, heads of government and ministers from across the Commonwealth met in the Rwandan capital Kigali for their first summit in 4 years. Hosting this prestigious Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) was a proud moment for Rwanda, one of the newest members in the Commonwealth of Nations. To achieve our aim of a world without orphanages, governments and world leaders must first speak up and commit to reform. Rwanda is a country we’ve worked in for many years. With our support, it’s making significant progress towards becoming Africa’s first orphanage-free nation. We’d long earmarked this summit as a unique opportunity to put a spotlight on the needs and rights of some of the world’s most vulnerable children: those living in orphanages. So, as Rwanda prepared to host this event (twice postponed due to the pandemic), we worked diligently and ceaselessly to raise the case for care reform for children and the elimination of orphanages up the agenda of topics for discussion. 

The Kigali Declaration

What the Kigali CHOGM achieved went beyond our hopes and aspirations. On Saturday 25th June, the final day of the summit, the Commonwealth made a vital announcement. The Kigali Declaration on Child Care and Protection Reform, a new and far-reaching commitment had been unanimously agreed by the 54 member countries of the Commonwealth. 

Our team in Kigali immediately pored through to see what it contained. We were delighted to read that the Declaration contained clear recognition of the harm caused to children by institutionalisation and a clear commitment to progressively eliminate orphanages around the world. The Kigali Declaration also advocates expanding social protection coverage to reduce poverty, strengthen health systems to respond to future pandemics, and tackle underlying causes that lead to children becoming separated from their families in the first place. This speaks directly to the factors we know are necessary to end the incarceration of children – and is a stark reminder of why deinstitutionalisation is such an important component of progress on these global goals. 

In recent years, we’ve seen increasing international recognition around the harm of orphanages. The UN, UK, EU and Australia have all made commitments to tackle the scourge of institutionalisation. The Kigali Declaration is another milestone moment in our fight against orphanages. There, in black and white, was a clear recognition of the need to take action. 

At Hope and Homes for Children, our thoughts immediately turned to making sure these words don’t just remain nice ideas on paper. We need to see action. We need to see progress. We need to hold countries to account for the promises they’ve made. And that’s where the rest of our hard work is paying off: Rwanda is marshalling African countries to make that difference. It’s leading the way, by investing directly in families and communities to protect and care for children. It’s only a few years away from closing its last orphanage. As Chair of the Commonwealth, Rwanda’s in a position to convene and lead those nations that are already making commitments to eliminate orphanages, by showcasing progress and sharing learning. 

And we – together with you, our supporters – will draw on everything we’ve learned over the past 30 years to support this.

Change is already happening

Around the Commonwealth, governments are already taking steps to change the way their most vulnerable children are cared for. Earlier this year Kenya launched a far-reaching Care Reform strategy that lays down a plan for the country to move away from orphanages and to better support vulnerable children and their families. Similar progress can be seen in countries on every continent with promising signs in Uganda, India, South Africa and beyond. The Kigali Declaration is a reflection of this growing momentum. We hope that it will sow the seeds for greater co-operation between countries. After all, what better way to accelerate progress than by us all walking forward together to the beat of the same drum? 

Find out more our our recent Rwanda-Kenya learning exchange

It’s a truly significant moment. And one we could only have achieved with the unflinching support of backers like Kate Hobhouse, St. James’s Place Charitable Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation and Players of People’s Postcode Lottery, who stayed the course with us through delays, never ceasing to believe that our shared plan, to build a better world, would come good. 

The modern Commonwealth prides itself on encouraging its member states to innovate, by sharing their approaches to common challenges. This fits neatly with our approach at Hope and Homes for Children. Over 30 years, we’ve learned that by working alongside governments we can help them overcome any challenges or difficulties they have in transforming their care systems. This is one of the reasons we regularly organise learning visits for government officials from one country to learn about the approach of other countries. We now need to take the Kigali Declaration out of the summit conference room and into the ministries of governments around the world. They have to come up with innovative plans to deliver on these commitments – and we will be making sure that they report back on this progress. 

As partner after partner, country after country, joins our movement towards the tipping point where orphanages are unacceptable, so our role ensuring commitment turns to action, becomes ever more important. These first green shoots of our strategy appearing indicates that we must redouble our efforts to nurture them; for this, we’ll need every ounce of your support in the year to come.

– Nolan Quigley, Director of Global Advocacy, Hope and Homes for Children

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Today the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) has made an historic commitment to the elimination of orphanages, agreed by all 54 Commonwealth nations: The Kigali Declaration.

Over the last four years, we’ve been working behind the scenes with the Government of Rwanda, hosts of CHOGM 2022 and Chair of the Commonwealth for the next two years, on a declaration that will liberate millions of children confined in harmful orphanages across its member states.

Over one third of world’s children live in the 54 nations of the commonwealth.

On Saturday 25th June, the Commonwealth announced that this declaration has been unanimously agreed. It is one of only four unanimous declarations at the summit.

A milestone moment in the fight against orphanages

This agreement is a milestone moment in the movement to rid the world of harmful and unnecessary orphanages. Orphanages that deprive children of a family and expose them to neglect and abuse. Over 80% of children in orphanages have living parents but are confined to orphanages because of disability, discrimination and poverty.

Over 30 years, we’ve shown it is always possible for children to grow up in loving families: keeping families together, reuniting families and, when needed, building new families. Working with governments to reform systems and provide support services to keep families together.

Our work in Rwanda has transformed child protection and care. Rwanda is on the brink of becoming Africa’s first orphanage-free nation.

The ‘Starlight Declaration’

CHOGM delegates have already declared this the ‘Starlight Declaration’ of the summit, because of the hope it will bring to millions of children suffering in the shadows, incarcerated in harmful orphanages.

The Kigali Declaration is particularly important right now, as:

• Eliminating orphanages is a precondition of developing effective child protection and care systems. And we’ve demonstrated it’s a winnable mission.
• Within the next few decades the UN estimates that half of the world’s children will be African. In due course, half of humanity will be African. Getting child protection and care policy, practice and resourcing right in Africa will give humanity its greatest hope.
• Rwanda is marshalling African countries to make that difference. It’s leading the way, by investing directly in families and the capabilities of communities to protect and care for children. It’s only a few years away from closing its last orphanage. As Chair of the Commonwealth, Rwanda’s in a position to convene and lead those nations that are already making commitments to eliminate orphanages.
• The Commonwealth has a unique approach to convening discussions among countries. It incubates innovation and technical collaboration, and develops home-grown, culturally rooted and highly effective approaches to common challenges. This makes the probability of successful implementation of this declaration all the more likely.

The Kigali Declaration states that:

“Children in most marginalised and vulnerable situations have been disproportionally affected by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including … children in institutions.

Building on the CHOGM 2018 Commonwealth Youth Forum Declaration, requesting us to “renew our commitment to ‘Leave No One Behind,’” recognising that millions of children and young people still live in care institutions, including many children and young people with disabilities;

Recognising the potential negative effects of institutionalisation on children’s physical, emotional and psychological well-being and the collective role of care and protection reform, donors, and governments in tackling this issue through the provision of quality, integrated, community-based mental health and psycho-social support

We, as Commonwealth Heads of Government, commit to:

Positioning the Commonwealth as a leading advocate on child care and protection reform by implementing the UN Resolution on Children Without Parental Care;

Recognising the importance of providing a range of quality alternative care options, including…family and community-based care and, where relevant, redirecting resources to family and community-based care services, with adequate training and support for caregivers and robust screening and oversight mechanisms, and progressively replacing institutionalisation accordingly, we undertake to take appropriate measures to:

1. Strengthen health systems for future pandemics and ensure adequate response to the needs of all children and young people;
2. Expand social protection coverage to reduce poverty and promote human capital for all children and young people, and strengthen social protection systems to better respond to future shocks;
3. Tackle the underlying causes that lead to children requiring care and protection;
4. Tackle the underlying causes of the separation of children from their families and communities, including by progressively replacing institutionalisation with quality alternative care across the Commonwealth;
5. Put in place the necessary frameworks and resources to ensure sustainable and effective child protection and safeguarding systems for care and protection of all children, including the elimination of child labour in all its forms, forced labour, trafficking and sexual exploitation.
6. Implement a policy of zero tolerance for violence, harassment, abuse, stigma, or discrimination, paying particular attention to the most marginalised and excluded children and those in a situation of vulnerability.
7. Encourage development agencies by 2025 to:

• Support staff, as well as applicants and recipients of aid, development assistance and investment, to prioritise quality care arrangements at the community level, over institutionalisation, including for children with disabilities;
• Support projects which take a holistic and inclusive approach to child protection systems development and family strengthening;
• Provide clear information on how funding supports families and family-based systems of care.
• Amplify and support the voices of children and their families, including the under- represented voices of girls, children with disabilities and other marginalised groups, and support the meaningful participation in society of children, young people, their families and their representative groups;
• Support inclusive, accessible, quality community services, including all aspects of education, health and social services, that meet the diverse requirements of children and their families, and support the choice, dignity, autonomy and full participation of all children and their families in society, including the most marginalised

8. Recognise the role of evidence-based research and data disaggregation in providing a clear picture of the challenges facing child protection across the Commonwealth
9. Recognise that well-meaning support for institutions through international aid, donations, orphanage volunteering, mission trips or tourist visits, can in some cases lead to unnecessary family-child separation and undermine care reform efforts;
10. Undertake to improve data collection, information management and reporting systems related to children without parental care in all settings and situations to close existing data gaps and develop global and national baselines.

Read the communiqué, leaders statement and all declarations here

Hope and Homes for Children CEO, Mark Waddington CBE, says:

“There are not many moments when we have the opportunity to tilt the axis of the human planet in the favour children. But that has just happened. Millions of children, who have mums and dads, are denied the love and protection of a family across the Commonwealth because they are unnecessarily incarcerated in orphanages. Today that ends.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting has unanimously agreed a declaration which commits the Commonwealth to liberating children from harmful orphanages and to investment in families and community capabilities to provide the love and protection all children have a right to. The Starlight Declaration.

Declarations are of course just pieces of paper. But this is different. The Rwandan Government, which will lead the Commonwealth for the next two years, is already taking action to convene like-minded countries to commit to action. They are showing the way by closing every, last orphanage.

And here’s a great thing: they will not leave a single child behind. So all those children with disabilities, who are so often overlooked, are being placed back with their families or in alternative forms of family care. Each one with the support they need to be cared for like any other child. Because anything less would be wrong.

Celebrate life and love today more than you might otherwise have.”

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