Eurochild makes an impact

Thursday 30 April 2009

Eurochild is an international network of organisations and individuals working in and across Europe to improve the quality of life of children and young people. Its work is underpinned by the principles enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Under the UNCRC, the participation of children and young people in decisions that affect their lives is a basic right and as a result, listening to children and young people and feeding their opinions into policy debates at EU level is a key goal for Eurochild.

To explore how this can be done in a meaningful way, several Eurochild members are working together within the group Child and Youth Participation. Members of the group are working to define participation, understand how it works best, apply it to their organisations, and bring it into Eurochild's work.

An important step was made last October, when young people from the UK, Cyprus, Germany and Hungary gathered in Cardiff for a members' exchange seminar to lead workshops on participation. One month later, they met again at Eurochilds' annual conference where they led a panel discussion.

Asked to identify four issues of greatest importance to them, the young people highlighted: education, bullying, children's rights and social disadvantage. For each issue, they raised concerns and addressed questions to the panel.

As a result, the representative present from the Department of Work and Pensions committed to organising a "get heard for children" programme, to listen to children and young people experiencing poverty and social exclusion.

Peter, a young person from Hungary who attended said, "We could really contribute to the event. I realised that there are people working hard for our rights, and they treated us as partners. I had never experienced anything like this before."

More from NCB
NCB members now get 20% off Eurochild membership. For more information, contact James Cole on 020 7833 6832 or at membership@ncb.org.uk.

Visit the Eurochild website: http://www.eurochild.org/