She emphasized that the detailed explanations of the clusters are found in the ACERWC’s Guidelines on Initial and Periodic Reports as well as the Forum Guide. These guidelines are available on the ACERWC’s website (www.acerwc.org) After the presentation, participants raised the issue on the limit on the number of words for a consolidated report (initial & periodic report) on the implementation of the Charter. The forum was informed that what needs to be reported on, is what the particular Country has achieved since the ratification of the Charter. This includes disaggregated data on age, gender, special groups etc. This shows how children in a particular State Party are being catered for. It was highlighted that a State Party report should emphasize on the content not the length. On issues of whether there are sanctions on State Parties that do not report, the participants were informed that the Committee does not have any mandate to do so. However, the Committee has been assisting Member States to ratify and report through lobbying and also building their capacity to understand the Charter and this Forum was one of the efforts to achieve full ratification and reporting. The Committee in 2013 requested UNICEF to approach State Parties who had not reported and assist them to undertake the process and in the subsequent years following the intervention of UNICEF, the Committee received 10 State Party reports. It was underlined that currently 36 State Parties have reported while 12 of those who have ratified have never reported. However, the Committee informed the Forum that there are guidelines on how to prepare and compile State Party reports, and up to date, the Committee has only rejected one report that did not adhere to the guidelines. 9. Process of the preparation and compilation of State Party reports This session started with group discussions on the process of preparation and compilation of State Party reports. The groups were organized around language with Anglophone and Francophone countries/speakers sitting separately in two groups each. The Facilitator provided the following questions to the participants to guide the group discussions: - Is there a responsible organ to prepare State Party reports in your respective countries? Is there sufficient and necessary budget allocated to the process of the preparation of State Party reports? How do you gather information and data for the report? Do you undertake consultations with children, CSOs and other stakeholders? Is there a deliberate coordination among various organs? 11 | P a g e