Anne Mette Friis Anne Mette Friis

Rising temperatures and fading action: The sweltering summer of 2023 calls for empowering youth climate advocates

The summer of 2023 will go on record as the hottest in history, yet action to tackle climate change is lagging. Most importantly, it misses the voices of those the changes will impact the most: children and young people.

On her guest blog to mark the World Youth Day, our Chair Anne Mette Friis calls for a paradigm shift in our approach to the challenges of today – one that includes the voices of our youngest citizens.

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Reetta Mikkola Reetta Mikkola

Bruce Adamson on the transformative power of participation

As Scotland's former Commissioner for Children and Young People, Bruce Adamson tirelessly championed the rights of children and their active involvement in decision-making processes. In our interview, he sheds light on the significance of child participation, the challenges faced, and the progress made in promoting child rights in Scotland and beyond.

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Reetta Mikkola Reetta Mikkola

Kavita Ratna on making child participation sustainable

For the past 30 years, Kavita Ratna has worked on raising the voices of the most vulnerable children, starting with children and adolescents who have been compelled to work for a living. We spoke with her about finding success in the most challenging of contexts.

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Reetta Mikkola Reetta Mikkola

Jeffrey Goldhagen on giving children a voice in medical decision-making

Medical sciences, often built on a relationship focused on diagnostics, have not traditionally been attuned to giving children a voice in healthcare - despite children communicating their needs since birth. Yet, that is slowly beginning to change. We spoke with Dr Jeffrey Goldhagen, Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Florida and President of the International Society for Social Paediatrics and Child Health, on the importance of taking a child rights-based approach to children’s healthcare.

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Guest User Guest User

Anna Schledorn on playful participation in Regensburg

The city of Regensburg in Germany is often considered an inspiration in designing the urban space together with children. We spoke with Anna Schledorn, social worker and youth welfare planner in Regensburg, about the city’s playful approach to child participation in local policy making.

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Reetta Mikkola Reetta Mikkola

Laura Lundy on child participation with a purpose

Most, if not all, practitioners in the field of child participation are aware of the ‘Lundy model’ of child participation, which lays out the components of meaningful child participation. We sat down with the author of the model, Professor Laura Lundy, to discuss child participation and why tokenism is better than no participation at all.

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Reetta Mikkola Reetta Mikkola

Sonia Livingstone on moving child participation to the digital era

Professor Sonia Livingstone from the London School of Economics and Political Science has studied children’s online lives since the 1990s. In our interview, she shares her perspectives on how we can maximise the potential of online spaces for safe and meaningful child participation and civic engagement.

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Guest User Guest User

COVID-19 demonstrated the need to include children in crisis response

While the world is slowly recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are starting to grapple with the potential long-term impacts of the outbreak on children. We are also starting to see the opportunities to learn from its impact on child rights and how we may need to adapt future crisis response.

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