Key elements of mainstreaming child participation include
Participation rights context analysis
Building greater understanding of the ways in which participation rights can be identified and monitored – and analysing the extent to which a national context is conducive to their realization – is an important starting point in establishing long-term and meaningful child participation. This can be done through a participation rights analysis. (presented on the following screen)
Child participation in programme implementation
Evaluating proposed participation to ensure that it meets the standards for meaningful, effective, ethical, systematic and sustainable participation is a critical concern
Evaluation of participation
There are three distinct dimensions to participation that require measurement if practice is to be monitored and evaluated:
Scope: In order to assess the scope of participation in which children are involved, it is necessary to address two perspectives:
Point of engagement. Children can be involved at different stages in the process of developing a programme – from the initial concept through to implementation and monitoring and evaluation. The earlier they are involved, the greater their degree of influence.
Level of engagement. At each stage, there are three potential levels of engagement for children – consultative, collaborative and child-led. The extent to which children are empowered to exercise agency within an initiative will be influenced by the level at which they are participating.
See Tool 3.2 for a matrix for measuring the scope of children’s participation.
Quality: Benchmarks have been elaborated for each of the nine requirements recognized as the foundation for effective, meaningful and ethical participation presented earlier in this module. These can be used to measure the quality of any participatory processes involving children.
See Tool 3.3 for a matrix containing details of the nine basic requirements and Annex 6 for matrices on benchmarks for measuring the quality of children’s participation.
Outcome: The outcomes associated with child participation should be assessed in accordance with the objectives for involving them (for example, to promote children’s self-esteem and build skills and confidence, to ensure that programmes reflect children’s expressed priorities, to enable children to participate in challenging neglect or violations of their rights, or to change a law or policy to strengthen child protection). These different objectives need to be clear at the outset of any programme and will influence what indicators are constructed for measuring effectiveness.
See Tool 3.4 for matrices on possible outcome indicators.