For Every Child
At the heart of Project For Every Child are the tender, powerful drawings of Momcie/Merci Melchor — the 9 Pertinent Rights of the Child based on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Drawn with love, simplicity, and deep moral clarity, these illustrations make children’s rights visible, understandable, and deeply human.
Each drawing speaks to a child’s most basic truths:
the right to be born, to have a name and nationality, to belong to a family, to be cared for, to live in peace and safety, to be healthy, to learn, to play, to be protected, to be heard, and to grow with dignity.
These drawings have been explained and displayed in schools in the Philippines and abroad. They have also become the heart of art workshops. Facilitators have led these workshops by first helping children understand each of the 9 Pertinent Rights of the Child, together with the responsibilities that come with them. After the discussion, the students gather in groups to talk about each right — what it means, why it matters, and how it connects to their own lives. Only after this reflection are the children invited to look closely at the 9 rights, choose the one that speaks most deeply to them, and draw what that right means in their own experience. In these moments, children do more than create art. They listen. They think. They share. They remember. They express. And little by little, they begin to understand that their lives, voices, and choices matter.
Several of these workshops were held with renowned artist Robert Alejandro, artist Jerome Malic, members of the Saturday Group, and Momcie’s artist “buddies,” who helped children use art as a language of dignity, healing, and self-expression. They have also been part of the Art Competitions during the annual National Children’s Month. Learners have also participated in the Global Art Competition by Youth For Human Rights (Y4HR). We sent 183 entries and Y4HR were so moved that they gave acknowledged each child with a certificate.
This treasured book was given by Momcie to her daughter, Rayla, and later beautifully translated into Filipino as Para Sa Bawat Bata by Celine Hautea-Francisco. Through this translation, the words of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child became closer to Filipino children — words they could understand, speak, feel, and carry in their hearts.
The poem For Every Child / Para Sa Bawat Bata has been used in the build-up activities of National Children’s Month in the School Districts of Muntinlupa and Makati, especially through Speech Choir Competitions for Grades 5 and 6. Children stood together, raised their voices together, and declared the rights that belong not only to them, but to every child.
Project For Every Child is also inspired by the book For Every Child: The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in Words and Pictures, written by Caroline Castle, with a foreword by Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu. The book was created in celebration of the 25th Anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
Tunasan Elementary School Entry
But Project For Every Child does not stop at teaching rights.
It goes deeper.
It teaches the I AM S.A.M. Poem, so that every child learns not only, “I have rights,” but also, “I have worth.”
Through the I AM S.A.M. Poem, children are taught that they are Special, Unique, and Precious simply because they were born into this world. They do not have to be first, best, perfect, rich, powerful, or praised to matter. Their worth is not earned. Their worth is inherent.
A child must know:
I am Special.
I am Unique.
I am Precious.
I am a child.
I have rights.
I have a voice.
I have worth.
As Component 2 of the I AM S.A.M. Protocol — previously referred to as the I AM S.A.M. PEP / Prevent-to-Empower Protocol — Project For Every Child helps children understand that rights and self-worth belong together. A child who knows their rights can recognize when something is wrong. A child who knows their worth can find the courage to speak, seek help, and rise.
For parents, Project For Every Child is a reminder that children are not possessions to control, but persons to love, guide, protect, and honor.
For educators, it is a call to make schools places where children are not only taught to read and write, but also taught to understand their dignity, use their voice, respect others, and believe in their own potential.
For policy makers, it is a moral invitation to place children at the center of every decision — because every law, every program, every classroom, every community, and every nation is ultimately measured by how it treats its children.
Project For Every Child is I AM S.A.M.’s way of helping children see themselves not as small, silent, or powerless, but as human beings with dignity, rights, voice, responsibility, and meaning.
It is a call to every adult:
Put children at the heart of what we do.
Protect them.
Listen to them.
Teach them.
Believe in them.
And help them believe in themselves.
Because every child is not only the future.
Every child is already a person of worth today.
Para sa bawat bata.
For every child.