National Plans of Action for Children: involving children and young people in their development

How do governments form meaningful partnerships with children and young people?

This paper provides guidance on how to involve children and young people in the development of National Plans of Action (NPAs) for children. Drawing up these NPAs by the end of 2003 was a commitment made by all governments attending the 2002 UN General Assembly Special Session on Children. The guidance is provided by children and young people themselves interviewed by Save the Children, Canada in 14 countries around the world.

Previous NPAs for children that have failed have done so due to a lack of involvement of children and young people and the failure to link the goals of the NPAs to the human rights of children.

Common areas of agreement amongst the children and young people consulted in different parts of the world:

• they are the people directly targeted by the plans and the most important stakeholders
• they are the people with the most direct experience of the situation of children and they can help governments understand their problems better
• children are not all the same and governments need to hear the views of different groups of children
• they have a right (contained in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) to be consulted on all decisions which affect them
• children and young people can - and want to – play a part in supporting implementation of the plan
• they will improve the effectiveness and impact of the plan
• it helps to build democracy and encourages responsibility among children for their lives, communities and societies
• young people feel they have valuable resources to bring to the processes – new ideas and a future-oriented perspective

The children and young people also wanted to see improvements in the way governments work with them outside of the NPAs:

• Governments must consult with children and young people on their issues and problems – and not just when they are on election campaigns
• Children and young people need to know more about how governments work and how they can contact the right people
• Governments should set up mechanisms and channels to enable them to consider children and young people's views. They should ensure that all children and young people know about them
• Special provision may have to be made for groups of children and young people who find it more difficult to speak to government e.g. children in rural areas, in more remote provinces, children caught up in armed conflict and orphans
• Governments should consider setting up a place in government with particular responsibility for children and youth
• Governments should note that participation experiences only become positive if they are carried out within a framework of respect for the interests of children and young people, if they are based on real participation and no attempt is made to stigmatise them or manipulate the children and young people involved

The paper goes on to outline:

• obstacles to children and young people's involvement
• what children and young people themselves have to do
• how governments should involve children and young people in the development of NPAs
• how can civil society support children and young people's involvement

Click here for the paper in PDF format.