Fostering the right to participation

Challenge

Adolescence is a time of discovery, ambition and transformation – a stage where young people step into new opportunities, take on greater responsibilities and claim their rights. Among these rights is the fundamental right to be heard. Adolescents have the right to express their opinions and influence decisions that shape their lives, whether within the family, school or community. Their participation in public life improves policies and ensures that important services reflect their needs. Through girl-focused and youth-led networks and platforms, and digital engagement tools, adolescents are contributing meaningfully to strategies on education, mental health, climate action, and gender equality.

138 million adolescents —44 per cent of the region’s youth— live in countries where civic spaces are closed, repressed, or obstructed, restricting their ability to speak out and participate.

Across East Asia and the Pacific, many young people – especially girls and young women – are left out of decision-making. Social norms, traditions and power structures often prevent them from having a say in matters that affect them. With fewer and narrower civic spaces, restrictive policies, age bias and deep-rooted gender norms, adolescents have fewer opportunities to safely voice their opinions and engage meaningfully.

For adolescents and young people, meaningful participation is the foundation for fully exercising their rights, from education and health to protection and well-being. When denied opportunities for participation and civic engagement, young people struggle to develop essential skills and networks for active citizenship. This not only hinders their transition to adulthood, reinforcing cycles of exclusion and disempowerment, but also deprives societies of their insights, ideas and leadership. The absence of adolescent voices in decision-making weakens accountability, slows social progress and erodes their trust in institutions.

Solution

Adolescent participation is about more than just having a voice – it is about being informed, engaged and able to influence decisions in meaningful ways.

UNICEF works to create safe and inclusive spaces where all young people can express their views and take action in their communities, schools and online spaces. Participation builds adolescents’ confidence, agency and critical thinking skills, preparing them for adulthood and strengthening social cohesion. It also ensures that policies, programmes and services reflect their needs and experiences, leading to better outcomes in education, health, protection and well-being.

Ensuring meaningful participation requires an enabling environment where adolescents can engage freely and safely. Getting there requires policies that institutionalize participation, adults who respect and support young people’s agency and platforms that amplify adolescent voices. UNICEF collaborates with governments, civil society and young people themselves to uphold this right, ensuring participation is not just symbolic but truly impactful.

Resource

Here, list the 4 resources you would like to highlight at the bottom of the subpage. These can also be compelling human-interest stories and blog posts.

Share the links of the reports, HIS, blogs or the publications themselves (if not yet published externally) with the C&A team.

WHAT UNICEF DOES

UNICEF takes a multi-faceted approach to fostering meaningful adolescent participation, focusing on supporting youth-led action, capacity building and platform creation:

Advocating for inclusive policies and budgets: UNICEF works with governments to institutionalize adolescent participation in decision-making processes, ensuring young people’s voices are heard in areas that affect them like education, health, violence prevention and climate action. For example, 31 young people participated in the ASEAN Regional Dialogue on Young People’s Skills, Employability and Transition to Decent Work alongside representatives from governments, UN agencies, the private sector and workers and employers’ organisations.
Challenging harmful norms: Through awareness campaigns and community engagement, UNICEF promotes positive attitudes towards adolescent participation, particularly for girls and marginalized youth.
Building skills and awareness: UNICEF provides training for adolescents on civic engagement, leadership and advocacy. At the same time, it equips adults – parents, teachers and policymakers – with the knowledge and skills to support and respect young people’s right to participate.
Strengthening and supporting platforms for engagement: UNICEF partners with youth networks and girl-led movements and supports digital spaces where young people can safely express their views, mobilize their peers, and influence change. The Girls Go Green Summit created a platform for girls and young women climate activists to shape Joint Recommendations on Green Skills for faster, gender-transformative climate action in Asia and the Pacific.
Championing youth-led climate action: UNICEF engages young people in environmental advocacy and decision-making, ensuring their voices shape climate policies and actions to protect their future. Young climate changemakers like Khongorzul from Mongolia are taking action and driving change at the national level with support from the Youth-Led Action Initiative and UNICEF-supported youth-led networks.
Partnering with girl- and youth-led networks: The Regional Young People’s Action Team (YPAT) is just one example of how UNICEF is working to integrate systematic and meaningful participation of adolescents and youth within regional and global advocacy and policy-making platforms. YPAT members from across the region are engaged in UNICEF strategies and programmes at all levels, ensuring that the voices of young people, especially the most vulnerable and marginalized, are heard by UNICEF and its partners, and taken into consideration in the planning, implementation and monitoring of UNICEF’s strategies, programmes, and initiatives.

By fostering meaningful participation, UNICEF empowers adolescents to be active changemakers and helps create societies that value and respect the voices of young people.