Background:
How can this be achieved in ways that also include young children and children living in vulnerable situations? In many countries, participation methods have been developed by adults and are best suited to children who are comfortable participating within adult-defined settings and processes. In close collaboration with children and young people, ChangeFactory developed ChangeMethod to ensure that children with diverse experiences—including those in vulnerable situations and younger children—are able to express their views, feel safe doing so, and have the energy and motivation to participate.
Why are children most often invited to participate through school councils, municipal youth councils, or groups selected by adults? Based on more than 15 years of experience using ChangeMethod in Norway and 10 years of international collaboration, we have learned the following:
- Many adults find it easiest to engage with children who express their views within adult-designed structures and processes, such as councils, committees, or advisory panels that are modelled on the way adults make decisions.
- In Norway and many other countries, awareness is still limited of why children’s views are essential and how they can be decisive in ensuring that decisions are meaningful and beneficial for the children they affect.
- Decision-makers who recognise that children have the right to be heard often also emphasise that adults are ultimately responsible for making decisions. This can make it difficult to fully appreciate the value of children’s perspectives as an essential part of the evidence base for decision-making.
What ChangeFactory does:
ChangeFactory uses the ChangeMethod to gather the views of children and young people. It is closely based on experiences we did with Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) in Uganda, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Norway. ChangeMethod was developed in close collaboration with children and young people. The method has been used to gather the views of more than 16,000 children and young people in Norway, through qualitative studies, resulting in more than 50 reports. It is used in studies involving children in kindergarten, schools, leisure activities, help services, the police, and the justice system.
What ChangeFactory is doing now:
Plans inspiration days in Denmark and Sweden to share experiences from Norway on how to gather views of different groups of children and young people, including younger children and children in vulnerable life situations
Publishes the ChangeMethod described in a book to be launched in English, making the methodology accessible to professionals, researchers, and organisations wanting to collect views of children and youth
Trains groups of practitioners and researchers in the Netherlands to use ChangeMethod for gathering the views of children and young people in a safe and meaningful way
