Preparing for Children’s Participation at Meetings and Conferences – Forms, Profiles, Consent, Guidelines and more

Save the Children is committed to the ethical and meaningful participation of children. We respect their right to be heard and to participate in all matters affecting the child.

Participation spans many issues and environs, for example: children are constructively influencing laws, policies, services, and important decision-making processes; they are holding duty bearers to account for their decisions and actions; they are advocates, campaigners and contributors to various important social, political and economic discussions; they are meaningfully involved in programme and project development, education and awareness-raising initiatives, and community-building efforts.

In our efforts to support children’s participation, we must ensure their safety and protection is a key priority.

We also want to ensure that children are well informed and aware of their rights.

Whether it is a community based initiative or an international conference, child safeguarding measures must be considered.

These resources have been compiled to support any event, meeting, conference or forum involving children. The brackets are intended to be filled with context-appropriate information.

In their entirety, they can be modified to fit within local/community contexts or international forums.

Key resources include:

Child Participation Consent Form
Parent Consent Form and Medical History Form
Travel Registration Form
Media Consent Form
Child protection procedure
Accompanying Adult Information
General Code of Conduct
Translator Guidelines
Letter to Parents
Communication Profile
Participant Profile

These resources have been provided as a tool for supporting children’s participation and ensuring their safety. Organizations are encouraged to review and adapt the information and polices to ensure they are appropriate to the context/country where they will be used.

A number of these forms were originally developed in collaboration during the World Congress III against the Sexual Exploitation of Children.

Some modifications and additions may appear in their current adaptations and formats.

All resources are available copyright free.