How to do Child-Centered Social Accountability

This Guidance sets out a step-by-step process for carrying out Child-Centred Social Accountability (CCSA). CCSA is a rights-based and community-driven approach through which rights-holders (children, communities), often supported by civil society organisations (CSOs), use participatory mechanisms and processes to directly engage with duty-bearers (decision-makers, public officials, and/or service providers) with the aim of holding them to account for their decisions and actions.

CCSA focusses on:

1. improved outcomes for children in terms of fulfilment of their rights;
2. meaningful and ethical participation of children at every step; and
3. improved governance for children.

This Guidance is relevant for child-focused and child-led civil society organisations (CSOs) who want to learn more about CCSA, as well as for CSOs wishing to involve children as active participants in CCSA that is targeted at improving services for both adults and children.  It should be noted that the definition of child used in this Guidance is everyone under 18 years of age, as specified in article 1 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

This guidance was developed as part of the How to Child Rights series, which is a series of practical, high quality, tried and tested tools and guidance on new and emerging themes related to children’s rights