Child participation was high on the agenda of our strategic work plan 2013-2016. A highlight in this area was our global project “Partnerships for Participation” in 2015, which strengthened our work on empowering young people to participate in external decision-making.

The project sent 10 global EVS volunteers from our member organisations to others across the world to work with teenagers in their local communities on the topic of child participation. They helped to promote the active participation of children in decision-making and showed that with safe and meaningful participation structures in place, teenagers can work effectively with decision-makers to have their opinions heard.

The group of EVS volunteers and young participants from their host organisations met twice during the year to learn more together and share their ideas for local projects.

Besides the important local results, we also produced a handbook on child participation to share the outcomes of the project. It raises awareness of the importance of participation and aims to support educators to empower children and young people to participate in decision-making. The handbook is split into three parts: Part 1 gives an overview over child participation approaches, part 2 contains tips and educational resources for educators, and part 3 includes lots of educational activities to run with children and young people. Whether you are a group leader, a facilitator, and teacher or simply interested in the topic, the handbook surely will be useful for you.

You can read the handbook online in English, Spanish, German and French or order a hard copy in English or Spanish for 3 Euro from our office (write to contact@ifm-sei.org).