Engaged and Heard! Tip Sheets
Tip sheets for adults, adolescents and youth on adolescent and youth participation in different settings
About
This tip sheet provides suggestions for adults to support safe and meaningful participation of adolescents and youth in conferences, focusing on what staff should do before, during and after a conference.
This tip sheet is one of a series designed in collaboration with adolescents and youth to support their meaningful participation in specific activities. The tip sheets build upon UNICEF’s ‘Engaged and Heard!’ guidelines for adolescent participation and civic engagement to ensure adolescents have space (opportunity and information) to freely voice their opinions to relevant adults (audience) who seriously consider and act upon their views (influence) [Lundy’s model].
Suggestions are guided by nine basic requirements developed by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2009) to ensure ethical and effective participation of adolescents that is: i) transparent and informative, ii) voluntary, iii) respectful, iv) relevant, v) adolescentfriendly, vi) inclusive, vii) supported by training, viii) safe and sensitive to risk, and iv) accountable.
This document was written by Claire O’Kane, drawing upon advice from youth representatives: Sara Cognuck González, Camila González, Breanna Hyde and Rasheem Martin; as well as findings from a study with children, young people and staff on child participation in organisational decision-making in World Vision. Thanks to Annabel Trapp, Paul Stephenson and all those involved in and beyond World Vision Ghana, Romania, Peru, and the Philippines. Thank you to UNICEF staff Marcy Levy, Fabio Friscia, Ana Teodora Rizescu, Ticiana Garcia-Tapia, Angga Dwi Martha, Vania Santoso, Febryanthie Shelia M Apituley, Jumana Haj-Ahmad, Kristine Hansen, Miles Hastie, Tanvi Jain, Marina Komarecki, Joanna Lai, Chantelle Booysen, Maria Emilia Numer, Massimiliano Sani, and Amy Wickham.
