This briefing document for practitioners provides findings from our work with children on participative rights. The briefing document places emphasis on the ‘Small and the Ordinary’ moments of participation and includes guidance for practitioners to implement in their settings.
Stemming from Action 37(d) of the UN Pact for the Future, this landmark global document outlines 11 non-binding core principles for embedding children and young people in agenda-setting, public policy design, and intergovernmental decision-making. It focuses heavily on rights-based co-governance, safety/safeguarding protocols, and removing barriers for underrepresented youth.
A practical self-evaluation toolkit mapping the practice for listening to the views, wishes, and experiences of all children within whole-establishment nurturing relationship approaches.
Children’s rights in digital spaces. Summarises consultations in Germany on social media age bans versus digital education, highlighting the need for young people to shape digital environment policies.
Evaluates the system-wide progress of the UN Youth2030 strategy, detailing efforts to ensure meaningful youth engagement is embedded in global decision-making.
The Lundy Model, Planning Checklist and Evaluation Checklist is all other 23 official EU languages.
From birth, children undergo rapid and far-reaching development. Their physical, cognitive, social, emotional and moral capacities expand as they learn to communicate, form relationships, make choices and assume growing responsibility (see Box 1). Though this process continues across the life course, childhood is universally recognized as a critical stage in the development of those capacities. In law, adults are generally presumed to have full competence to act on their own behalf. Children, by contrast, are generally considered to be reliant on adults to safeguard their interests and to support their involvement in decision-making while their competence is developing.
These examples may give you some ideas on how you could engage with children and young people in decision-making.
There are many practice examples available based on projects, programmes and policies in Scotland, where children and young people have participated in a meaningful way to inform decision-making and improve outcomes for themselves and others.
These examples may give you some ideas on how you could engage with children and young people in decision-making.
This research explores participative approaches for amplifying the voices of justice- involved youth, a marginalised group in criminological research. Using the SPIDER framework, this rapid evidence review examines engagement methods, such as photovoice and lyric writing. The findings show these techniques empower youth and promote self- expression but are constrained by the dominance of risk- focused approaches that prioritise adult- led decision- making. This raises critical questions about the compatibility of participatory methods with justice systems focused on risk management. The study highlights the need for more inclusive approaches that navigate systemic constraints while embedding meaningful youth participation in justice reform.
The ERIC Guidance takes ethics beyond procedural compliance with institutional review boards (IRBs) (where these exist). It provokes critical thinking around ethics, and supports reflexivity in ethical decision-making throughout the research process.