‘No one ever listens to us’: Challenging obstacles to the participation of children and young people in Rwanda

Enshrined in Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), participation is both a right in itself and a means by which other rights should be realised. Despite increasing attempts to mainstream the discourses of rights and participation by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), insufficient attention has been paid to how these principles play out in practice, especially in environments where the concept of child participation is highly complex.