The Children News Agency (C.N.A) project commenced by conducting a baseline study in urban, peri-urban and rural areas (Lusaka, Chipata and Mongu). Our market research focussed on the knowledge levels on child rights and how information would effectively change the way the public thinks about child rights. With the banner of ‘Information can change your world’, the project then identified children from the Media Monitoring Project (MMP) in the age bracket of 13 to 16 to be part of the project. This age bracket ensures that the children that are recruited would still be part of the project for some years before reaching the age of 18 year’s age limit while ensuring that mature children are part of the project. The initial number of children involved was approximately 100 throughout the country. The children went through Media and Child Rights training, budget tracking, media monitoring changes and successes in the work with Youth Media.

The children were also invited to attend the Child Discussion Forums to interview discussants, present papers and interacted with the media and other members of civil society and organisations that were invited. Children were also sent to attend refresher course trainings at various media workshops and seminars. They also connect with other civil society organisations and government officials through conferences and child rights workshops and make partnerships with media bodies in both electronic and print media and linkages with key ministries and civil society organisations and non-governmental local and international organisations that were the sources of information.

The project falls under the guidance of the Media institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia which is involved in the training and monitoring of the project during its implementation.
The children are also to organise meetings with key stakeholders like the parliamentarians, chiefs and their opinion leaders for effective interaction to bring about change.
During the process, they produce a quarterly publication composed of stories written by members and documentaries to be aired on radio and television stations to which they are affiliated, especially at community level with quarterly policy briefs published to raise key issues identified within a given quarter.
The children also spearhead planning and evaluation meetings by setting benchmarks, together with the Media Network, on how to quantify the impact of the their articles in society.
The project started with five children in Lusaka, which has 20 children recruited. Other provinces have 10 children each involved in the project.
The station managers and ZANIS officers, most of whom affiliate to the Media Network and MISA Zambia, stationed around the country assist in guiding the children in submitting articles and giving feedback during the project.
The children keep records of the articles they do every year for them to use them to ask further questions on the implementation, commitments and pledges made during the process.

Relationships
The Media Network, which hosts the project, is a member of the Zambia National Education Coalition (ZANEC), the Children in Need Network (CHIN), the Zambia National AIDS Network (ZNAN) and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia.
Membership to these institutions entails that they are to be presently available when the children want to get information and/or guidance on important matters. They are to also serve as sources of news.
The other partners like the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children – Sweden and Norway, World Vision and government ministries are toprovide materials, advise and guide the children in the project.
Media institutions are part of the project through the Editorial Committee that are the advisory board – with quarterly meetings – involving editors from the mainstream media institutions in Lusaka, and ZANIS and community radio stations in provinces.
The children are also present to participate in the Day of the African Child where they link up with a number of stakeholders who are vital in providing information.
The Media Network has strong links in partnership coalitions around children’s issues in Zambia. The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia also provide the leadership in checking how it is run and coordinated/organised activities like the Good Governance capacity building meetings and the launching of chapters at provincial level through its affiliates around the nation.