There are over 100 000 children under arms on the African continent alone. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, an organization under the umbrella of UNICEF, aims to prevent the recruitment of children into government armies and armed groups. South Africa is without doubt the most developed and most prosperous country on the continent, which puts South African parents in a strong position to take an active role in supporting the Coalition.

South Africans are no strangers to military drafts, with conscription to the South African Defence Force being a large part of life under the apartheid regime.

We created a series of “mock” call up papers, addressed to the parents of primary school children, informing them that their child was being recruited for military service. The papers were sent out in official government envelopes and printed on official stationery, and featured each individual child’s name and date of birth. A note at the end, in the form of an official government stamp, urges the respondents to join the Coalition by visiting the UNICEF website.

Beginning with four primary schools in Johannesburg, we received an extremely positive response, although it did arouse some strong emotions, with a few parents considering it an invasion of their privacy. Hits on the microsite that was designed for the project increased by 500% over the period of one month.

The success so far means that the project is currently being run out across South Africa.