Our organisation
Changefactory (CF) is a Norwegian foundation, also working in Nordic countries and internationally. All our work is developed and done in close collaboration with children and youth, to reflect the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
OUR MISSION
is to help ensure that public systems in Norway, Nordic countries and internationally, meet children and young people’s needs, so they feel safe and useful for them.
THE FIELDS
where we do this work are in schools, kindergartens, health and social services, the police and the judiciary. We collaborate with politicians, professionals, academics and students in all these fields
OUR VISION
is that children and young people are viewed as wise and important and have to be included in all decisions and actions regarding them. Children’s viewpoints as a group also have to be taken seriously in decisions affecting them, both on a local and national level
Our work in Norway:
All our work is based on summarized experiences and advice from children and youth. We call it knowledge from children, done by Changefactory, in Norway called Forandringsfabrikken (FF). FF has conducted more than 50 national qualitative surveys, and more than 16.000 children 2-17 years from all over Norway have participated. It has been done to ensure that politicians, leaders and professionals have knowledge directly from those they make decisions on behalf of, along with knowledge from research and knowledge from professionals.
CF has since 2009 invited youth 12-20 years to present the knowledge from children, directly in dialogues with politicians, professionals and students. They are invited as “PROS” Each pro can present knowledge about systems they have experience from. We facilitate this to ensure that children and young people themselves have the opportunity to present main findings to relevant students, professionals, and decision-makers locally, nationally and internationally.
CF also invites PROS to social activities, weekends and camps. Pros can contribute with advice to Norway, on topics they are involved in. They are in this way given the possibility to feel worthy and important. They can also feel mastery, faith in the future and community, through practicing being together with familiar and new young people. The summer camp is for many of the pros the most beautiful adventure of the summer.
The Changemethod
CF has a participatory approach for working with children and youth, where children and youth are directly involved in design, implementation and finalisation of projects. Participatory method tools, based on the Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) method, are used to include participants in all aspects of projects. These are tools that enable participation from many different children and youth – including those who can be quiet, restless, uncertain or angry, who may often be removed from situations and who rarely get a chance to have their voices heard. Method tools include posters, photography, film, drawing, writing and talking. Emphasis is placed on ensuring that the participants feel safe, and that they want to participate.
Read more about the Changemethod here