Engaging Young People as Partners for Change: The Community Project
Recorded in 2019
Contributors
Author: Anthony Charles, Kevin Haines
Publisher: The International Journal of Children’s Rights
Date: 2019
Geographic Coverage: Worldwide
Type of Resource: Academic
Sector/setting: Academic
Vulnerable groups: Children, Young People
Developed with children and young people? Not specified
Type of participation: Consultation With Children
Availability: Restricted Access
Keywords: Children’s Voices, Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNCRC, Young People
Introduction
Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) declares that young people have the right to express views and to have these taken into account when decisions are made that affect them. Yet, children’s voices are still not universally heard in policy and operational discourses. In many areas of service delivery in particular, young people remain disenfranchised, in spite of evidence which attests to their desire positively to engage with adult decision makers. Challenging the apparent discordance between the rhetoric relating to young people’s decision making and reality (as perceived by children), this article offers a new and innovative template for researching with young people as partners for change in the specific context of research dissemination. Seeking to enhance understanding and influence practice, the article sheds some much-needed light on how participation rights can be made “real” at a local level.