By Patricio Cuevas-Parra, Director, Child Participation & Rights, World Vision International
Weeks ago, I met with the World Vision’s Children’s Advisory Group and asked them if they would be interested in engaging in a workshop to discuss hunger and malnutrition. Not surprisingly, they all enthusiastically debated these topics. The second question I asked them was why they wanted to participate, as I initially assumed that these themes may fall outside their interests. Overwhelmingly, they said that hunger and malnutrition are critical concerns to them as they have experienced these issues or witnessed them in their communities.
Do we really need to engage children in debating these issues? My clear and loud answer is yes. Since the ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1990, children under 18 have been granted participation, protection and provision rights, which are equivalent to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Thus, ratifying countries have an obligation to realise these rights and support organisations to promote and implement the UNCRC. However, despite enormous developments, children are not yet fully participating in society due to multiple factors, including limited political will to make it happen, lack of resources and inadequate methodologies to support children’s participation.
Based on a robust commitment to implementing the UNCRC, the Nutrition Dialogues are built on the premise that children’s participation is vital for the realisation of all their rights; thus, spaces for children’s engagement in public decision-making must be created, and these need to be accessible and comprehensible for children, and inclusive. Hence, to realise this commitment, the Nutrition Dialogues include two types of events: Stakeholder Dialogues and Children’s Workshops. In the latter, children are encouraged to participate, bringing their own experiences and perspectives to the forefront of the global debate, and propose solutions based on their lived knowledge and expertise. We are confident that the outcomes of the Children’s Workshops will provide a clear picture of children’s concerns, gather their collective insights, and, above all, offer a channel to carry their messages to global decision-makers and stimulate accountable action.
Are children prepared to engage in this type of debate?
I certainly believe so. Children have mobilised themselves throughout history to call for action on issues relevant to them and society at large. For instance, in the USA, a group of girls used blogging as a form of activism to understand and embrace their own sub-culture shaped by their identities as black girls. In Brazil, children organised themselves to raise awareness about violence rooted in racism and racial stereotyping. In Bangladesh, children mobilised to challenge child marriage and contest traditional norms that perpetuate this practice. As seen from these examples, children’s desire to participate in public life is often driven by their own struggles that prevent them from having equal access to opportunities, resources and the freedom to contribute to decision-making.
How to do it? Using a child-friendly methodology, the Children’s Workshops are organised around two questions: What is children’s appreciation or understanding of good nourishment? What are children’s ideas for improving nourishment? This 90-minute interactive workshop seeks to elicit their authentic views and create a meaningful space for debate. Through this, children can use their collective voices to bring about change and raise their challenges and ideas for solutions with representatives from the highest levels of national and global decision-making, especially amplifying the voices of the most marginalised groups in society.
Learn more about Children’s Workshops: https://nutritiondialogues.org/guidance/childrens-workshops/
