Child Participation – Eurochild’s achievements in 2024
Annual Report 2024.
- Eurochild Children’s Council
Children's voices are heard not only in Eurochild’s activities. They also participate actively in our governance as an child rights organisation. Eurochild involves members of the Eurochild Children’s Council (ECC) in the recruitment of staff. In 2024, ECC members interviewed 7 staff members. Our child participation team supports ECC members to create their own interview questions and define what makes a strong answer. They also receive training on key aspects of the recruitment process, such as confidentiality and equal opportunities.
On May 23, 2024, Eurochild’s annual General Assembly took place. At the start of the assembly, the 2023-2024 cohort of the ECC delivered a 20-minute activity report, presenting their work and achievements.
Eurochild, in collaboration with the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society, hosted the Handover of the Eurochild Children’s Council. The event brought together the outgoing and incoming groups of children for an enriching three-day gathering in Malta.
In addition to the handover, the Eurochild Convention 2024 was also taking place in Malta. During this event, both the incoming and outgoing Eurochild Children’s Councils facilitated a workshop on child participation, where they shared their experiences of influencing decision-makers at local, national, and European levels. This was achieved with the support of the Child Participation Team.
To celebrate World Children’s Day on November 20, 2024, Eurochild invited members of the Eurochild Children’s Council (ECC) to Brussels. During their time in Brussels, ECC members:
- Engaged in 12 meetings with decision-makers, including for example representatives of the European Commission’s Child Rights Coordinator, Members of the European Parliament, and the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.
- Took part in the World Children’s Day event, celebrating the 35th anniversary of the UNCRC. at the European Parliament. Together with children from other organisations across Europe, they urged key stakeholders to prioritise child rights and child participation.
On December 3, 2024, 5 members of the Eurochild Children’s Council (ECC) delivered a training on child participation as part of the Daphn-CHILD project. The ECC delivered the session to the National Focal Points of the 9 countries participating in the project. The session was supported by Advisory Board member Cath Larkins and the Eurochild child participation team. ECC members illustrated what meaningful child participation should and should not look like, sharing concrete examples from their past experiences. They also explained why child participation is important to them and how children can evaluate participation using the nine requirements of meaningful child participation from the General Comment No. 12 – A Child’s Right to Be Heard. The session concluded with an open discussion with the participants.
- National Eurochild Forums (NEFs)
In 2024, to later produce the Mental Health Report, Eurochild consulted 4 NEFs, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, and Malta. A total of 134 children aged 6-17 participated. Tailoring the approach to national and local contexts, 4 in-person focus groups were conducted, along with 1 online session.
- Projects
Eurochild’s DAY Project was coordinated with our member Albero Della Vita and implemented in Naples. The project created and embedded a model for children and youth participation in democratic life at local level in Italy. From the group of children involved at the local level (1350 children and young people aged 14-18), 6 delegates were democratically elected to travel to Brussels:
- Prior to going to Brussels, Eurochild organised 3 online peer exchanges for them with current and former Eurochild’s Children’s Council and National Eurochild Forums;
- In Brussels, Eurochild organised 5 meetings with EU officials for the 6 delegates. The EU officials involved included the European Commission’s (DG JUST Child Rights team), Italian Members of the European Parliament (Vice President Guiseppina Picierno, MEP Sandro Ruotolo, and MEP Cecilia Strada), and the Italian Permanent Representation to the EU. During these meetings, the 6 delegates presented the project, promoted the importance of child participation, and shared children and young people’s recommendations.
The VOICE project was conducted by Eurochild, ECPAT International, and Terre des Hommes Netherlands on behalf of the Down to Zero Alliance. The project aimed to listen, understand, and amplify the views of children and caregivers in discussions on safety standards and policies in digital environments. It highlighted the need for effective safety measures and children's participation in shaping online safety policies.
- A total of 483 children aged 11 to 17 and 6,618 caregivers across 15 countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, and South America were consulted. Their input was used to create the VOICE report, “Speaking Up For Change: Children's and Caregivers' Voices for Safer Online Experiences”.
- 7 children participated in the final conference to present the report.
- To make the report more accessible so that children could understand it, the Eurochild Children’s Council developed an accessible version of the original VOICE research. The process started with consultations with both current and former ECC members, followed by collaboration with the designer and current ECC members. Throughout the entire process, the Eurochild Child Participation Team provided support.
Eurochild, in collaboration with four other child rights organisations—ChildFund Alliance, Save the Children, SOS Children’s Villages, and UNICEF—developed the Europe Kids Want 2024 survey. The survey aimed to gather children’s views on the future of Europe and on the issues that matter most to them. The findings of the survey were collected in the report “Our Rights. Our Future. The Europe We Want”, which also provided recommendations for EU decision-makers ahead of the 2024 European elections and were presented at the European Parliament to the Child Rights Intergroup and representatives of the European Commission and CRAG representatives.
- A dedicated Child Advisory Board, composed of 10 children from 6 European countries (Germany, Greece, Croatia, Spain, Romania, and Serbia), guided the process. 2 children—Iva from Serbia and Lana from Croatia—were members of the Eurochild Children's Council. Additionally, 47 children took part in focus group discussions held in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Netherlands, and Malta.
- The online survey, available in 15 languages and consisting of 21 questions, was disseminated across Europe from November 2023 to January 2024. A total of 9,265 children and young people aged 10 to 18 responded to the survey.
The Child Citizens Project is coordinated by the municipality of Józsefváros, Budapest’s 8th district, in collaboration with Eurochild member “Family, Child, Youth Association” and other local partners. The project aims to develop and implement innovative child participation practices in Józsefváros.
- Eurochild’s provided capacity-building support to local partners on how to meaningfully engage children and young people in decision-making at the local level. This support led to the creation of a Children’s Forum and a Youth Forum, modelled on Eurochild’s ECC, and child-participation budgeting for more than €60,000 to improve the local community
- Eurochild amplified the project's visibility through 2 international events, highlighting practices developed in Budapest as inspiring examples of meaningful child participation:
- Eurochild Convention (Malta, July 2024): workshop led by Family, Child and Youth Association. The workshop presented the project, in a transnational exchange together with the DAY project.
- European Week of Regions and Cities (Brussels, October 2024) Eurochild, and Mór, a former Eurochild Children’s Council member, co-moderated a session on empowering Youth Voices and moving beyond pseudo-participation.
