ABSTRACT
Youth participation is about giving children and young people (usually up to the age of 18) the opportunity to express their views on aspects of life that affect them, and to use these opinions to inform and infl uence decision-making. Youth participation has many forms, from school councils to youth forums, from young board members to surveys. I have chosen to discuss youth participation in the UK as I have been involved in several youth participation projects, and wanted to fi nd out more about the history, methods and potential of involving young people. I want to go further than this, however, and ask: how effective is youth participation in the UK? There are many reports dedicated to why and how to develop youth participation, but very few evaluating the extent of its impact. I have looked at a wide variety of websites, articles, reports and research regarding youth participation. [...]
The widespread participation of children and young people in decisionmaking is a relatively new phenomenon. Arguably, youth participation in public decision-making was triggered by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) in which Article 12 clearly states that children and young people should have their opinions taken into account in all major decisions affecting their lives. Stephen Lewis, then the Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF, argued at the Commission on Human Rights in 1999 that in fact the UN Convention’s most impressive effect was the wider inclusion of children and young people in decision-making:
The most powerful change wrought by the Convention is the way in which children have become visible. Politicians, media, NGOs (non-governmental organizations) and broader civil society feel a clear obligation to include children in their respective public domains, interventions, dialogues, debates, mandates.
