Chapter 7 probes deeper into policy and advocacy approaches, drawing out the strategies and techniques utilised by UNICEF Rwanda when seeking to enhance Rwanda’s implementation of, and compliance with, international standards. Drawing on themes that emerged from the empirical data, the strategies and techniques can broadly be categorised as capacity building; sensitising the community; using the existing domestic legal framework; the use of legal and non-legal discourse; capitalising on political will and developing relationships; and offering incentives but making compromises. Drawing on international law, international relations and anthropology to theorise the empirical findings, the chapter argues that UNICEF Rwanda was very flexible and pragmatic in its approach, adopting a range of strategies and techniques that were considered necessary and appropriate in the given context, and which can broadly be categorised as collaborative and constructive rather than coercive.

Chapter 8 evaluates in detail UNICEF Rwanda’s approach, exploring risks, criticisms and limitations: did interpreting the standards in a context-specific way (which included prioritisation and progressively working towards implementation and compliance) weaken the normative content of the standards? Did UNICEF Rwanda’s broadly collaborative and constructive (rather than coercive) approach risk usurpation, co-option and compromised independence? Responding to these challenges, the chapter finds that UNICEF Rwanda, whilst pragmatic, remained true to child rights principles and retained its independence. The chapter then presents examples of where the empirical data (using process tracing) suggest that UNICEF Rwanda exerted a positive influence on Rwanda’s implementation of, or compliance with, international standards. It also analyses the factors that influenced UNICEF Rwanda (the Rwandan context itself, the nature of the CRC and UNICEF’s institutional particularities) so as to situate its approach in the broader context. The chapter concludes that UNICEF Rwanda’s pragmatic yet principled approach was overall appropriate and achieved some positive results, although there were shortcomings, and that this approach may be an appropriate means of operationalising international juvenile justice standards (or human rights standards more generally) in a post-conflict society.