Issue

Over the last decades, civil society organisations and UN agencies have made significant advancements around children’s participation by enhancing opportunities for children and young people to participate, and by strengthening standards, policies and guidelines to ensure empowering, safe and sustainable participation of all children.

The child rights approach is the basis for the mainstreaming of child rights and child participation pursued by Child Rights Connect at all levels, including within the Network and the UN. Child Rights Connect and the child rights movement are called on to advance and lead on the child participation and child human rights defenders agenda and to support and institutionalise inclusive and diverse spaces and opportunities for all children and young people to participate, form opinions, take action as human rights defenders and have their voices heard, respected and taken into account in all matters affecting them.

Objectives

• The overall objective of this Working Group is to provide strategic advice and support to the CRCnct Network and partners on children and young people’s participation by harnessing the strong, collective, and influential voice of the Network in empowering children to exercise their rights to participate under the UNCRC.
• This objective directly overlaps with the first and cross-cutting strategic priority of CRCnct under its Strategic Plan for 2020-2024, namely to advance child participation at national, regional and international levels.
• The Working Group’s specific objectives are to:
  • Provide advice and expertise to CRCnct members on the operationalisation of child participation and empowerment;
  • Provide and facilitate capacity building, learning, knowledge exchange and collaboration on child participation and empowerment;
  • Empower children, primarily through CRCnct Children’s Advisory Team (CAT), to participate in the Working Group; and
  • Coordinate and undertake external advocacy for child participation and empowerment, including in reporting to the CRC Committee and in other UN processes.