Child empowerment is on the policy agenda of countries around the world (Gottschalk, 2020[1]). Policy makers are exploring ways in which children1 can be involved in decision making processes, and governments are increasingly recognising the importance of supporting children to participate across a wide range of policy domains. This has been an important point in particular in education systems in OECD countries and has been recognised in different ways. For example, the Declaration on Building Equitable Societies Through Education, adopted on 8 December 2022 on the occasion of the Ministerial meeting of the Education Policy Committee, called on the OECD to support countries to “give learners a voice in what they learn, how they learn, where they learn and when they learn” (OECD, 2022[2]). Including children in decision making and policy-making processes has also emerged as a transversal and system-wide challenge in the OECD’s Centre for Educational Research and Innovation work, namely its 21st Century Children project (Burns and Gottschalk, 2019[3]; Burns and Gottschalk, 2020[4]).

In scholarly, political and societal discourse, there is growing recognition that encouraging the meaningful participation of children in decision making can contribute to better social cohesion, communities that are more egalitarian, and can help young people make healthier and more empowered transitions to adulthood (Patton et al., 2016[5]). The United Nations (UN) has defined youth participation as “the active and meaningful involvement of young people in all aspects of their own, and their communities’ development, including their empowerment to contribute to decisions about their personal, family, social, economic, and political development” (United Nations (DESA), 2007[6]). Similarly, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has described youth participation as a process whereby “adolescent girls and boys (individually and/or collectively) form and express their views and influence matters that concern them directly and indirectly” (Lansdown, 2018, p. 3[7]).

Involving children and young people in decision making processes is crucial, as they constitute a significant demographic across OECD countries. As of 2021, 17.6% of the population on average in OECD countries was below the age of 15, varying from 11.8% in Japan to 28% in Israel (see Figure 1). The OECD’s Youth Advisory Board (Youthwise) aptly acknowledges that at the global level “young people are a third of the population but 100% of the future” (OECD, 2022[8]). Extensive data suggests that by engaging with young people and empowering them, societies can benefit from being more cohesive and resilient, and it can strengthen democracies (OECD, 2018[9]).

Despite the significance of this demographic in OECD countries, evidence suggests that young people tend to have less trust in government than their parents’ generation and are more disengaged with traditional forms of participation (OECD, 2018[9]). This underscores that they may be frustrated with the available channels for them to participate meaningfully in decision making (ibid.). Global trends in democracies such as declining civic participation, deteriorating trust and increasing polarisation (OECD, 2021[10]) highlight the importance of investing efforts to include children and young people in decision making, to empower them today and for their futures.