Building Child And Youth Agency

BUILDING CHILD AND YOUTH AGENCY

Child and Youth Agency PURPOSE OF THE MANUAL

Provide key information Provide practical guidance Improve knowledge and skills

Child and Youth Agency AUDIENCE

CCF Staff Community Leaders and Adults Children and Youth

Child and Youth Agency OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION I.

The Importance of Child and Youth Agency

II.

Creating an Enabling Environment for Child and Youth Agency

III. Enabling Children and Youth Reflections on Child Poverty IV. Translating Children’s Ideas into Program Design V.

Developing Budgets with Children and Youth

VI. The Child’s Role in Implementing and Monitoring

Child and Youth Agency The Importance of Child and Youth Agency

Deprivation

Vulnerability

Exclusion

CCF’s Children and Poverty Study

Child and Youth Agency LEADING ROLE OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH FROM  Risks or deficits  Youth as objects of programs  Focus on a specialized groups of youth  Concentration on early childhood  Services for young people  Programs  Controlling or directing

TO  

 

  

Strengths Youth as actors in building their own assets Recognizing all youth Development across the first 2 decades of life Engagement with young people Programs + Relationships Unleashing

Child and Youth Agency AGENCY focuses on the ‘capacity, condition or state of acting or of exerting power’ refers to process in which infant, child or youth is an initiating or willful force that drives experience and his/her own development

Child and Youth Agency UNCRC: Children’s Rights to Participation All children under the age of 18 years have equal rights to:       

express their opinion and participate in decisions affecting them (article 12) express their views through a medium of their choice (article 13) freedom of thought, conscience and religion (article 14) form their own associations (article 15) access information (article 17) education for responsible life (article 29) play (article 31)

Child and Youth Agency DEVELOPMENTAL DOMAINS

Cognitive

Social

EPOCHS

Physical

Emotional

Child and Youth Agency WHAT’S A QUALITY PROGRAM? 

Engaging—its fun



There are choices in terms of what to get involved in



Age appropriate



Allows young people to stay involved as they get older



Allows for contributions and decision making



Caring and trusting relationships in safe and secure environment



High expectations

Child and Youth Agency ELEMENTS OF HIGH QUALITY PROGRAMMING

Voice

Child Development

Participation

Relationships

Child and Youth Agency IMPLICATIONS FOR CCF 

Ensuring that children and youth are listened to, and have meaningful and regular opportunities to contribute



Institutionalizing the voice of young people through the formation of Child & Youth Associations



Providing opportunities for children and youth to be directly responsible for implementing programs they care about



Organizing child centered spaces, children’s clubs, and other type of like-minded programs

Child and Youth Agency Creating an Enabling Environment for Child and Youth Agency

Children and youth provided with both a child and youth friendly environment and positive adult support

Major shift in how adults view young people

ROAD TO TRUE PARTNERSHIP…

Child and Youth Agency

What are common things adults say or do to young people, which may discourage, or make it difficult for them to participate in activities or decisions? When is a time you have felt discouraged by an adult to participate (e.g., share your ideas, raise your voice or take part in an activity or decision)? What did they do or say to make you feel this way?

Child and Youth Agency Bobo! Tanga! Tumahimik ka na lang

Ewan ko lang Wala kung kang nagawa magagawa mo yan

Teen Purged ka na, Bakit officer ka pa? Pang matanda lang ito, Terminated ka na ha Wag kayong makikialam

Child and Youth Agency

Bata ka lang, sure ba na Ikaw ang gumawa nyan? Mali yan!ka Saka Bata langnawala kang Yan! Ganun ba sa usapan Karapatan sumali Buhay ka ngayong Yan! May DFC ka? Tumahimik ka Pupunta ka lang Disabled ka naman Hindi kaya Ditomo pag mayyan DFC ka? Dahil bata ka pa

Child and Youth Agency KEY CHALLENGES collecting information

ensuring that the ‘VOICE’ of children remains a central part of a community development program

Child and Youth Agency KEY CHALLENGES

How can we be more sensitive to the evolving needs of children? Through the prioritization of responses based on frequency of responses there is a risk that information about the evolving needs of children will be lumped together and this specificity essential for understanding appropriate interventions for various age-groups will be lost.

Child and Youth Agency KEY CHALLENGES

How can children’s ideas be better represented in the ASP/DIP?

Information gathered is not carefully documented and is lost during discussions of ideas from many groups – with the more numerous opinions from adults winning out and children’s ideas synthesized out of the discussion.

Child and Youth Agency

KEY CHALLENGES How can methods need to better identify the needs of the “invisible” children?

Because there is a tendency to search for the greatest need, nuanced differences between children are missed.

Child and Youth Agency PREPARING FOR MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH Listen to girls and boys of different ages and abilities Understand their experiences and understanding of child poverty, and their ideas to improve their own well-being and the situation of their communities Value and build upon children’s perspectives when developing strategies to address child poverty

Child and Youth Agency ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIES FOR ENSURING MEANINGFUL PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN AND YOUTH Involve young people at all stages of program development, including planning, implementation and evaluation Ensure young people have clear roles and responsibilities within the organization Give young people opportunities to represent the organization externally Honor young people’s decision to say no to projects, opportunities, or responsibilities for which they do not feel prepared, and work in partnership with them to identify what skills and support they need to take on new responsibilities

Child and Youth Agency

Involving young people may mean adjusting expectations and guidelines in order to meet the needs of children and youth. Projects that are of interest to children should be designed with much shorter timeframes in mind.

Child and Youth Agency

Children’s capacity to make and understand decisions develops as they grow up. Children must have the opportunity to express views and make choices in a way that is appropriate to their understanding.

Child and Youth Agency

Some groups of children who may require special outreach include:    

 

Disabled children Out of school children Orphans Girls who have many household responsibilities and are not given much time away from the home Minority children Children from very poor families

Child and Youth Agency Creating an Enabling Environment for Children and Youth

Children and Youth Associations and building competencies

Child and Youth Agency What has been the purpose of C/Y involvement? • To voice out issues and concerns • To strengthen children and youth participation in social reform • To hear children’s voice • To build capacity of children and youth • To get the children’s/youth’s perspective in community development programs and involve their ideas in decision making processes • To develop talents and skills • To assess children/youth needs and plans • To develop leaders for social transformation • To uphold children’s right to participate • To promote camaraderie • For children and youth’s holistic development

Child and Youth Agency CHILDREN AND YOUTH ASSOCIATIONS -

provide an opportunity to build ‘agency’ through the variety of roles that these structures play

-

engage in community consultation, planning, program design, monitoring, implementation and evaluation

As a result they have the opportunity to develop the following skills:  ability to communicate with their peers, younger children, adults, government representatives, youth organizations and other agencies  active listening  reporting and recording  community research  project planning

Child and Youth Agency SPIDER TOOL ASSESSMENT -



to help children assess their own initiatives and organizations according to a number of core dimensions (Key Quality Elements)



to assess what they are trying to achieve, what they feel they are good at and areas they feel should be improved



to reflect upon the learning process that children, young people and adults go through as they work together on collective initiatives



use their assessments to plan changes and action to improve their organization and their collective efforts

Child and Youth Agency REFLECTION FOR ADULTS 

To see and assess whether they have (or are asserting) more control



To reflect on why some groups function better than others and the criteria used to assess this



To reflect on the conditions and processes needed to develop and strengthen child led initiatives and organizations



To identify, record and act upon the support, capacity building and other needs that emerge from children’s assessment of their organizations

Child and Youth Agency PROCESS 

Involves participants working together to assess the strength of the organization according to a number of core dimensions (Key Quality Elements).



The results of the assessment are transferred to a spider web diagram that illustrates how the participants see the organization. This helps to focus the participants on the areas that need to be addressed.



The assessment sets the ground for organizational change.

Child and Youth Agency KEY QUALITY ELEMENTS Adults and the External World Relationships with Young People

INDIVIDUALS

Child and Youth Agency ADULTS AND THE EXTERNAL WORLD 

Agenda setting: child/youth led (rather than adult driven)



Access to information and open communication



Supportive adults



Partnerships and influence



Networks with other CA/YA

Child and Youth Agency RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUNG PEOPLE



Dynamic membership and regular meetings



Common vision, identity and ownership



Building friendships



Democratic decision-making and inclusive representation



Choice and inclusive methods



Reflection, monitoring and evaluation

Child and Youth Agency INDIVIDUALS 

Fostering life skills



Children/youth aware and active in promoting their rights and responsibilities



Analysis, action and change oriented

Child and Youth Agency

Child and Youth Agency Translating Children’s Ideas into Program Design

Children’s ideas often get overtaken by adult ideas because more adults are usually consulted during planning than children and because adults tend to be the strongest voices during the program design Children’s ideas often get sifted out due to a sense of having to choose programs that are more directly related to health, education or livelihood whereas issues that children bring up sometimes are more related to safety, protection and nurturing

Child and Youth Agency Project Planning Project Focus Project Length Project Design Project Management, Implementation

Child and Youth Agency Project Focus may or may not directly relate to material poverty in the same way that adult oriented projects do but will likely address issues such as vulnerability and exclusion

Project Length a project meant to be designed or led by children and youth should be limited to 6 – 12 months CCF recognizes that this means that children and youth will not necessarily develop one project over a 3 year period and is committed to setting aside funds over the three year period to allow for flexibility from one year to the next through a block budget

Child and Youth Agency Project Design • Projects designed by children and youth should be readily understandable to a variety of ages • Partners are important but should not overtake the natural enthusiasm of children • The implementation plan should be developed in a way that most young people involved can easily understand • If staff need to put the project design into a framework for the sake of consistency or in order to pursue outside funds, this revised document should not replace the ones that is more simple and child friendly

Child and Youth Agency Budgeting with Children and Youth while the funds that went into the projects ultimately benefited children in many cases, children and youth were not involved in the process of choosing and designing projects

Child and Youth Agency Ensuring Funding is Available to Support Child and Youth-Led Programs CCF is recommending that at least 10% of projects developed are those that are proposed by children and youth and that respond to their interests CCF is recommending that at least 10% of funds are also allocated to child and youth-led initiatives, that is, projects that are designed and developed BY children and youth, not programs that are designed and developed FOR youth

Child and Youth Agency Ensuring Funding is Available to Support Child and Youth-Led Programs CCF has learned that without the funding commitment, the ideas of children and youth are often left out of final program plans and as a result, children and youth become discouraged about their part in the planning process.

Child and Youth Agency C/Y at the Center of Programming • Establishment of child and youth-led governance structures such as child and youth associations • Dedication of staff and resources to build capacity across CCF to support the increased leading role of children and youth in CCF programs • Development of Standards to guide the promotion of child and youth agency

Child and Youth Agency Standards of Practice description of the ideal practices which will ensure that children and youth will have a leading role in CCF’s programs and will ensure that staff will have the tools to support children and youth in that leading role

Child and Youth Agency CCF Standards for Child and Youth Agency Resources are sufficient to support child and youth agency/child and youth led programming. Children and youth are informing program assessment, planning, implementation and evaluation. Children have opportunities to exercise and advocate on their own behalf. Children are implementing programs of interest to them with adult support. CCF and partner staff value, respect and use children’s ideas and views for program development.

Child and Youth Agency CCF Standards for Child and Youth Agency Relevant, appropriate and continuous training of key stakeholders (staff, community leaders, parents, teachers, health workers, religious leaders, etc.) on child and youth agency CCF national offices, area offices and projects partnering with youth development organizations CCF and partners demonstrate a shared understanding of child and youth agency. Policies developed and implemented by CCF. Participation promotes the safety and protection of children and youth.