International Children’s Center (ICC)

International Children’s Center (ICC) is an international non-governmental organisation based in Ankara, Turkey. The International Children’s Center was established in 1949 in Paris through the joint efforts of the French authorities and UNICEF.  For 50 years it carried out work on behalf of child health and welfare, principally in Latin America and Africa, and operated a documentation center, ran seminars and produced publications.  In 1999 activities in the ICC Paris headquarters came to a halt.  At that time, with the leadership of Prof. İhsan Doğramaci and in consultation with the last ICC Executive Director in Paris and representatives of international organizations, it was agreed to re-establish the Center in Ankara, Turkey.  At first it was affiliated with an already-existing foundation, the activities of which included establishment of international centers.  In 2004 the International Children’s Center became an autonomous association in Turkey.  During the years since 1999, following in the footsteps of its predecessor in Paris, the Ankara-based ICC has concentrated on the health and problems of adolescence, especially reproductive health, child rights, and disaster preparedness.  It established two branch offices (Azerbaijan and Iraq) and has signed agreements of affiliation with similarly-minded centers in a number of other countries.

International Children’s Center (ICC) and Child Rights Education for Professionals (CRED-PRO) have formed a partnership in order to undertake a process of development, adaptation, implementation and monitoring of the child rights and health curriculum for the SEE/CIS region, based on Child Rights Curriculum for Health Professionals developed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). The Curriculum is designed to provide paediatricians with an understanding of how to respect and promote children’s rights in their practice. The aim is to develop a curriculum which can ultimately be fully incorporated into the basic training of all health professionals.  CRED-PRO is working on a comparable process in a number of other regions, including South and Central America, South Africa and South East Asia. The initiative has widespread and active support, including from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, WHO, UNICEF and a number of academic institutions.

In the cooperation with the AAP, RCPCH, the European Society for Social Paediatrics (ESSOP) and a regional advisory group, ICC and CRED-PRO have worked to bring this curriculum to cultural fit for the SEE/CIS region and have designed a course for health professionals in the region from 2 – 5 December 2008.

CRED-PRO and ICC is now working to strengthen efforts in Turkey and Azerbaijan