Questions to think about when start
Are you in the initial phase of involving children? Think about the following questions.
Why do you want to involve children?
- Why do you want to involve children in your work?
- What do you want to achieve by having children participate?
- What impact would you like to see?
What is child led participation?
- How can children make decisions or take part in the decision-making process?
- How can children have a say in the topics they would like to be involved in?
- How can children co-create the activities? (Co-creation is key for meaningful participation!)
- How will children benefit from taking part in the activities?
- When children are looking back at their participation, what would you like them to remember?
Remember, there is a whole spectrum of child-led participation. On the one end, fully child-led, child-initiated participation might not (always) be feasible in your work. But ensuring that you do not end up on the opposite end of the spectrum is always possible
Which target group?
- Which group of children can benefit most from participation in your work?
- Which children (age, location,…) can help you achieve your aim?
- To the best of your ability, how can you ensure an inclusive group of children (different gender, age, education, disability or culture)?
- Who else, including other experts and organisations, is working with these groups of children? Are there existing organizations or individuals with expertise in child participation that you can reach out to?