Child Participation in Education Initiatives: How-to Guide

This publication is part of a “How-to” guide series produced by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to help their country programmes and their local implementing partners to highlight and share aspects of their work that have been particularly successful. The focus of the guides is on the practical steps that can be taken to adopt similar activities. According to the publication, the recommendations provided will need to be adapted for different contexts, but the topics addressed in each guide are ones that would strengthen and improve any existing programme: how to reduce the number of school drop outs; how to get disabled children into school; how to use adult literacy to improve rural development, etc.

The Child Participation in Education Initiatives Guide provides an overview of the concept and importance of child participation and six illustrative examples of how child participation has been facilitated in Zimbabwean educational initiatives. The six examples provided explore the issues of child participation in decision-making processes, the participation of very young children, and the participation of children in non-formal education initiatives. Each example is followed by concrete steps that were taken and a specific activity that can be replicated by other organisations.

The Guide also provides practical advice on how to assess the scope and level of child participation, discusses other models for facilitating child participation, addresses social and cultural barriers to child participation, and outlines some of the potential negative effects of child participation. Conclusions that cover some of the common themes and approaches emerging from CRS/Zimbabwe’s work on child participation are also included.