Sudan. It was however explained that the application for the ratification of the ACRWC is at the Council of Ministers for South Sudan and hasn’t reached the Parliament yet. This may partly be because of poor coordination of the ACERWC with South Sudan about this. The issue of ratification can for example be brought to the council of Ministers so that South Sudan can be held accountable. Can the EAC also help with following up member states not just for ratification but also to abide by recommendations that are made by ACERWC? Even with reporting we can ask the RECs to monitor and encourage countries to report every 3 years so that more Countries submit reports. We need to ensure we abide by commitments that are made and also play an active role in for example the annual child rights summit so that we can affect change. The ACERWC representative mentioned that they do recognize the efforts of technical colleagues in South Sudan to push for ratification of ACRWC. It was suggested that the ACERWC work with UNICEF to push for ratification in South Sudan. Given that UNICEF’s presence in member states is strong and the mandate of the UN, we can see how we can push South Sudan ratification forward. b. Another participant reflected on how many stakeholders are needed to implement the aspirations in Agenda 2040 and expressed the need to create more awareness about the Agenda so that they can come on board to help implement this. The need to also bring the Agenda to the Country level is important. An example was shared from Rwanda where the ACERWC came to Rwanda for a monitoring visit last year and during this visit spoke to CSOs and the Government. After the ACERWC left, the Government wanted to engage more on these issues and started to put pressure on actors to implement. Reports from visits like these should be shared not just with the Government but also with other stakeholders so that they can help to follow up that action is taken. The ACERWC agreed to do this going forward and also agreed that they will share the report from the most recent monitoring visit in Ethiopia. The ACERWC will be developing a communication strategy on how to create more awareness on the Agenda but also requested that participants promote it in their work and also create awareness. 4.0. Presentations and Discussions on the EAC Child Policy 4.1. Presentation on implementation of the EAC Child Policy and Agenda 2040 – EAC Secretariat Mrs. Generose Minani, the Principal Gender and Community Development Officer, EAC Secretariat made the presentation. She informed the meeting that the EAC Policy, passed in 2016, is a regional child policy that was developed based on policies that Partner States have on child issues. Given the disparities in how partner states address children’s issues, the EAC policy harmonizes regional approaches relating to child rights. The policy also talks about how partner states should adopt this policy. The EAC would like to use this framework to coordinate national efforts to help realize child rights. The EAC has an action plan that has not been adopted yet but will be soon. The role of EAC partner states