Piloting Process Child Participation Assessment Tool 6 November 2014 Mieke Schuurman Independent Expert and Coordinator for the Council of Europe process to pilot the Child Participation Assessment Tool Guaranteeing children s rights to participate in all fields of life and measuring progress in promoting child participation National Induction Seminar Estonia
Dual purpose of piloting Tool 1. Practical implementation and effectiveness of Tool and its ten indicators 1. Starting debate on children s participation in CoE member states resulting in a collection of information and data Base Line to measure further progress: Recommendations on further action and on gaps identified
Three Phases: Roadmap = Plan of Action 1. Preparatory Phase development guidance note, preperatory meeting and induction seminar ( June Oct 14) 2. Piloting Phase Testing of the Tool in 3 Member States (November 14 May 15) 3. Evaluation and Follow-up Phase adaptation and finalisation of the Tool and support the use of the Tool in other Member States (June Dec 15)
Preparatory Phase Participating countries: Estonia, Ireland, Romania Reference Group independent experts, youth representative (Joint Youth Council CoE), CoE secretariat (CR and Youth) Road Map describing the pilot process
Preparatory Phase Guidance Note providing directions on each of the ten indicators: Which stakeholders will be involved What evidence needs to be collected Which methodology needs to be used for the different indicators: - children s consultations, - research and data collection, - meetings of professionals Evaluation Sheet to Evaluate the Tool
Implementation Phase Induction Seminar with key stakeholders Children s consultations: On-line Survey Children s Focus Groups Multi-stakeholder consultations: Line Ministries and government agencies Professionals and their organisations working with/for children Legal professional working with/for children NGOs and civil society Children s Ombudsperson (if this exists)
Implementation Phase Children s Consultations: On-line Children s Survey Children s Focus Groups
Which issues are addressed by the Survey and the Children Focus Groups? Indicator 3: independent children s rights institution in place Indicator 5: child-friendly individual complaints procedures in place Indicator 7: children informed about their right to participate Indicator 8: children and young people represented in consultative governance bodies Indicator 9: child-targeted public service feedback mechanisms in place
Online Survey Purpose of the Survey: consult children on how their right to participate is being put into practice Anonymous, but.. Questions on age, gender, nationality, first language, type of school attending, how they became aware of the survey and if someone assisted them to fill in the survey
Which children should participate? Age group: 7-18 Gender-balance Geographical balance (urban/rural) Different backgrounds Aim to have a minimum of 1000 children participating
How to reach children to participate in the Survey? Via schools involved in organising focus groups Via other schools in different parts of the country Via NGOs working with and for children Via the Children s Ombudsperson Widely disseminate via stakeholders at induction seminar
On-line Survey: timing and report Piloting of the survey with children in Ireland (end October) Survey to be translated into Estonian and Russian (November) Piloted with Estonian children before going online On-line for a minimum of 1 month: starting on 20 November Results of the survey analysed with specific tool/programme, which also allows for disaggregated outcomes January-February 2015 Share the conclusions with the participating children in a child-friendly format via the government s website (March- April 2015)
Example question
Children s Focus Groups Consultations 10 Focus groups of each around 15-20 children: - 5 groups from primary and secondary schools - 5 groups with involvement of NGOs Selection of children to be done in cooperation with schools and NGOs: ensure inclusion of disadvantaged children by cooperation with NGOs with specific expertise in working with these groups Timing of focus groups: minimum of half a day to one full day Focus Groups are led by a professional children s facilitator
Guide of good practice for children s participation in focus group meeting To ensure meaningful participation by children and young people a checklist has been developed for organising children s focus groups
Consultation Meetings with different stakeholders on specific indicators: Professionals working with children, including teachers and social workers (on indicator 3) Legal professionals working with or for children (on indicators 4 and 5) Professionals in the area of law, education, health, social workers, responsible for immigration procedures and government officials responsible for housing (indicators 5 and 6) Civil society (in particular NGOs) (indicators 7, 8, 9 and 10).
Evaluation of the Piloting Phase Collection of National Data into a national report (by national consultant) Evaluation of the Tool and each step of the consultation process - into a national report (by national consultant) Reports: 3 national reports and 1 overall report Evaluation meeting: (June/July 2015) Revised Assessment Tool (August 2015) Future Child Participation Assessments and explore possibility for Awareness Raising Conference (September 2015 onwards)