This study is part of the ‘Governance fit for children’ project, and aims to examine the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s (CRC) ’General measures of implementation’ in five EU countries and in EU institutions. The study is co-ordinated by Save the Children Sweden, and financed by the EU. The general measures covered in this study are: the legal status of the CRC; the development of national plans of action; co-ordination of implementation; monitoring of implementation; data collection and indicators; the visibility of children in budgets; co-operation with civil society; international co-operation; independent human rights institutions; and measures to spread information and raise awareness.

The study looks at implementation both at national level, and in municipalities of various size and character. Sweden is a highly decentralised country where the municipal authorities have considerable autonomy; one consequence of this far-reaching devolution is that responsibility for the kind of service-provision that primarily concerns children – education, health, social services – lies with the municipal or regional authorities. The methodology of the study has comprised the collection, examination and analysis of written material from Government Offices, municipal authorities, public bodies, organisations etc, together with a large number of interviews with actors at national and local level.