discrimination against the girl child who would stay home to look after younger siblings while the rest go to school. ECD centres absorb the younger children during the peak hours of work providing more time to family members to engage in other development activities. 4.2 Child Participation Participation is one of the rights that has not been adequately understood and applied in Uganda. The Constitution provides for people‟s participation in decision making. This is equally echoed in the Local Government Act though there is no specific mention of children as part of the people. It is assumed that these provisions apply to every body. The Children Act, in addition to articulating the principle of the best interest of the child also stipulates that children views should be sought in matters of juvenile justice, fostering and care orders. This is a sign of efforts towards getting children to engage more and more on issues that affect their survival and development. The most common practice in schools and indeed other places is giving opportunities to children to express their views through songs, drama, debate, child rights clubs and story telling. While some of these songs and dramas are adult initiated, it opens the children‟s minds to presenting before adults. However, depending on the age and types of significant adults they relate with, child participation can be limited. In practice many adults including parents expect that children will listen and obey; “children should be seen, not heard”. Children‟s upbringing emphasises parental power, obedience and long hours of work (FIDA, 1997). A major IEC campaign, the Sara Initiative, is being implemented to promote the development of the girl child. The GEM clubs also offer practical participation approaches for children while contributing to keeping children in school and motivating those who have dropped out to return. In a more recent development, the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development in collaboration with UNICEF and Uganda Child rights NGO Network have drafted a Child Participation Guideline aimed at promoting child participation in a none exploitative and meaningful manner in line with Article 6 of the ACRWC. 4.3 Child Survival and Development (Article 5 ACRWC) The above guiding principles of child rights are reflected in the Uganda National Plan of Action for Children, whose goal is to establish and achieve survival, protection and development targets related to children and women that build on existing government policies, structures and sectoral plans. To ensure child survival, measures have been taken to improve the quality of, and accessibility to health care services. Health units have been rehabilitated and new ones have been constructed. There is an improvement in supply of drugs and medial equipment to health units. Government has set the following targets in relation to the health and well-being of children, to ensure their survival: Maintenance of high levels of immunisation coverage (at least 85% of infants under one year) against 6 immunisable diseases and against tetanus for women of child-bearing age; elimination of neo-natal tetanus cases; elimination of poliomyelitis cases; reduction of 95% of mortality due to measles; reduction by 30% of the deaths caused by Acute Respiratory infections in children under five years and reduction of malaria caused mortality in under-5 years from 20% to 10% and morbidity by 30%; Other targets are: reduction of malaria in pregnant mothers by 60%; reduction of deaths due to diarrhoea by 50%; and reduce the incidence of diarrhoea by 20% in children under five years; reduction of mother-to-child transmissions of HIV by reducing conception of HIV positive women; reduction of transmission of HIV in the health care setting and through socio-cultural practices; and reduction of the socio-economic impact of HIV- 14