Wales programme: Participation

Children have a right to participate in issues that directly affect their lives. By involving them in our research, policy and campaigning work, we can ensure that our activities truly reflect the day-to-day reality of their lives and make a difference.

 

 

Save the Children hosts a Participation Unit on behalf of the Children and Young People's Participation Consortium for Wales.

What is the Participation Unit?

The Participation Unit aims to increase and promote the full and active participation of children and young people in decision-making through building capacity with organisations and services that impact on their lives. Read the Participation Unit and Consortium leaflet (PDF 849KB)

Who are the Participation Unit?

The Unit is compromised of 6 members of staff and is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government Children and Families Organisational Grant, European Social Fund and Millennium Volunteers. Contact: participationunit@savethechildren.org.uk

What does the Participation Unit do?

The Participation Unit’s areas of Work fall into 6 Themes

1. Standards and Kitemarking (Quality Assurance)
2. Training
3. Information and Good Practice
4. Involving Children and Young People
5. Promoting Inclusion
6. Monitoring, Evaluation and Assessment

Standards
  • From commonly agreed 'core principles' of participation, the Children and Young People's Participation Consortium for Wales and the Participation Unit have been working on developing National Standards (PDF 127KB) for children and young people's participation i.e. quality standards that can be used to determine benchmarks and provide a means for inspecting and assessing participatory practice.
  • The Participation Unit has developed a self-assessment pack (PDF 1080KB) and workshops to accompany the National Standards, which emphasises the importance of good practice and organisations beginning to measure their own performance against the National Standards.
Training
  • The Unit has mapped participation training across Wales and has a Participation Trainers' list. It has agreed on core principles of participation training and is developing a train the trainers course. It has also developed a young people led training team called Young People Say which is funded to deliver training to adults across Wales. 
  • The Unit has assisted the Welsh Assembly Government to develop and pilot training on school councils and participation in education.
Information and Good Practice
  • The Unit conducted a Wales-wide mapping of the participation of children and young people with agencies by questionnaire and children and young people through workshops. These mapping Exercises were completed with Public bodies (see Mapping Participation report (PDF 805KB) , the Welsh Assembly Government Divisions (see Mapping Participation: WAG Divisions (PDF 9KB) and with children and young people (see Young People's Mapping Report).
  • The Unit has produced Good Practice Guides to children and young people's participation and is currently working on developing new guides. 
  • The Unit hosts the Participation Workers' Network for Wales, (PWNW) which is a service for workers and organisations that are interested in or actively promote participation in their work with children and young people.
Involving Children and Young People
  • The Unit has completed direct work with young people in further education colleges, and other young people's organisations to inform its work and identify opportunities for young people to be actively involved in future projects.
  • The Unit has also established links and supported the setting up of a young people's radio station in Port Talbot, called, Afan FM.  
Inclusion
  • The Unit is addressing the need for the inclusion of particular groups of children and young people in Wales in decision-making, and is working in partnership with a number of groups to focus on this. The Unit has been working in particular with a National Welsh language organisation called the 'Urdd', and has produced a DVD ('Yn Blwmp ac yn Blaen'). The Unit has also been supporting the development of 0-10's participation in decision-making, and strives to ensure that resources, internally and externally, are more inclusive.
Monitoring, Evaluation and Assessment
  • The Unit is working in partnership with the Welsh Assembly Government to develop an Impact Assessment tool, which will measure the impact and benefits of children and young people’s participation across Wales.

For more information on the Participation Unit and its work contact- participationunit@savethechildren.org.uk