African leaders' efforts to improve the lives of children across the continent are failing those in rural areas, according to children themselves.

In a study published today, children across rural Africa say things are getting worse not better as families face increased levels of poverty and parents struggle to cope with rising prices and high levels of unemployment.

The research, commissioned by Plan International, the leading children's NGO, asked 1,000 children across 30 African countries how their lives have changed as a result of the African Union's 2002 initiative to make Africa Fit for Children.

African Union ministers are meeting in Cairo this week for a mid-term review of the initiative. But while legislation intended to strengthen children's rights has been passed in most countries, children said this has so far had little impact on their lives.

In the study the children revealed an increasing divide between urban and rural areas: while urban children on the whole were relatively positive that there had been an improvement, rural children saw things getting worse not better. They talked of poorer health and education services as well as lower incomes. The children also spoke of their parents' apathy and of them "giving up" as a result of the increasing hardship.

Tom Miller, Plan's Chief Executive Officer said: "This is a wake up call for Africa - children tell us they are being left behind. Despite the efforts of African Union governments a large number of children have not seen any benefit in their lives. Worse still many feel things are going backwards. The message is clear, we can't expect to improve the lives of children if we don't involve the children themselves."

Rural children were particularly concerned that there were too few schools capable of educating disabled young people and that state schools were vastly inferior to private schools attended by children from well-off families. All the children surveyed identified the continents economic difficulties as a major cause of increased child labour and trafficking