Childhood and Participation. Diagnosis and Proposals for Active and Inclusive Citizenship in the Community, Institutions and Governance
Child participation, that is, the inclusion of children and adolescents in decision-making, is one of the great challenges of consolidated democratic societies. The social representations under which girls, boys and adolescents are considered to be ‘future citizens’, ‘incapable’ or ‘semi-citizens’ must be overcome in order to be recognized as active citizens in the present and the here of our society. This project aims to approach the components and strategies that enable the promotion of children’s participation. It has been awarded in the 2018 call “Research Challenges: A Way to Make Europe”, and funded, from 2019 to 2022, by the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the European Regional Development Fund (European Union). It is developed by the ChildCity research team that includes researchers from the University of Barcelona, the National University of Distance Education, the University of Seville and the University of A Coruña. This team cannot do without the voice of its true protagonists: children, children and adolescents, technical figures and elected officials at the local level with direct involvement in the participation policies of children and adolescents. It also has the invaluable support of the International Association of Educating Cities (IAEC) and UNICEF Child-Friendly Cities (CAI.UNICEF), both consolidated and recognized networks for their contributions in this field and with an impact on Spanish territory. .
The general objectives to achieve the advances set out in the previous section are:
Methodology
The project aims to help provide answers “with” and “for” society in the social challenge of advancing in the forms of child participation. To this end, there are very diverse groups of informants: girls and boys, between 10 and 14 years old, members of a children’s council or an ad hoc group, municipal techniques that energize the council. children or another group of children; policy makers linked to participatory policies with children and experts from the Children’s Observatory, UNICEF-Child-Friendly Cities, Educating Cities.
Information gathering techniques respond to a participatory and inclusive research approach for the construction of knowledge in a shared way: documentary analysis techniques, collection of biographical and narrative data through video stories and digital stories, in-depth interviews with groups of discussion, participatory workshops, analytical seminar of present and future scenarios. co-design workshops.
The project combines the academic value and scientific rigor with the social impact value of the results obtained. In summary, the following are some of the most relevant contributions:
From the descriptive study on the state of child participation in the municipalities that form part of the State Network of Educating Cities (AICE) and Child-Friendly Cities (CAI), through a survey survey has published an open access report to interested people and promote citizen science.
On the project’s website there are also several sections that allow the visibility of initiatives in the field of children’s participation from the municipalities collaborating in the project:
The project team is working on the Responsive Research and Innovation (RRI) processes. This search for new strategies to promote children’s participation has found a fundamental scenario: the coffee spaces that have been periodically convened to work on the themes of the project in the municipalities to advance in the awareness of active citizens of childhood and increase their opportunities for community participation
Other relevant contributions for the transfer of results:
Lead researcher
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Albert
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Albert2020-01-13 12:30:482022-06-07 12:28:59Marta Sabariego Puig
@GREDI_UB