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Children's participation in public decision-making - Why should I involve children?

Observatoire de l’Enfance (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles): Children’s participation in public decision-making - Why should I involve children?

Children’s participation is a hot topic, but Children and young people still patronised, left out of public decisions which are important for them and their lives and they often feel excluded or not well informed. Even when there is a legal right for them to be involved in decision-making they often still feel that they are not taken seriously or are only involved in a tokenistic way.

The purpose of this Vade mecum is to be a guide on how to implement children’s participation in public decision-making. It is intended for persons working in public decision making, including, local, regional and national level authorities, but also for NGOs (aisbl).

The vade mecum explains how to engage with children in public decision-making processes and what criteria to take into account. It is guided by Gerison Lansdown’s ‘Framework for Monitoring and Evaluating Children’s Participation: A preparatory draft for piloting’ (July 2011), and builds on the experience of a variety of global case studies /1. It also includes some practical exercises and guidance or references to these case studies.

  • Editor : Mieke Schuurman, Eurochild
  • Coordination de la version française : Dominique Rossion, Anne Swaluë
  • Vade-mecum basé sur une recherche pilotée par l’Observatoire de l’Enfance, de la Jeunesse et de l’Aide à la Jeunesse de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (www.oejaj.cfwb.be)
  • Coordination : Mafalda Leal, Eurochild
  • Dépôt légal : 2014/8651/2 — Bruxelles, 2014


Download the Vade mecum here.

Download the French version here.




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