Giving a voice to children and young people
Involving young people
To be effective, appropriate and responsive to children's and young people's needs, policy-making to improve health has to be informed by their views.
Engaging children and young people in decisions which influence their daily lives can also contribute to a sense of ownership and citizenship, and help build self-esteem.
The increasing number of initiatives and projects now involving them show that children and young people actively enjoy being involved in decision-making processes at school and in their community. Their involvement improves health-promoting outcomes at both a community and individual level.
How can this be achieved?
Young people's views can be heard through well-established channels such as:
Consultation with children and young people offers a variety of opportunities:
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to 'road test' proposals for their viability and credibility
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to identify knowledge gaps
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to identify creative and practical solutions to problems
Legislative change
Legislative change - both nationally in the form of the Children's Act 1989, and internationally in the form of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990) - places a duty on government to ensure that its actions are conducted in the best interests of children and young people. Article 12 of the UN Convention accords children a specific right to free expression of opinion in matters affecting the child.
Resources available
National Heart Forum's young@heart
The National Heart Forum's young@heart policy development process wanted to ensure that policy recommendations reflect the reality of children's lives. To achieve this, the evidence takes account of the knowledge, experience and views of children and young people in the following ways.
1.) A review was jointly commissioned by the National Heart Forum and the Health Development Agency to identify children's views on their own knowledge, beliefs and behaviours regarding health from key surveys commissioned by government, charities and statutory agencies. This was published in the NHF's
young@heart Report
2.) A talkshop was held, organised jointly by the National Heart Forum and National Children's Bureau, looking at children's attitudes to "healthy" behaviours. The workshop sought the views of around thirty children from ages 11-17 and a video was made of the event. Funding was provided by the Health Development Agency.
See National Children's Bureau
See Article 12 (of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child)
See the Children's Commissioner website http://www.childrenscommissioner.org.uk