The aim of the Council of Europe Child Participation Assessment Tool is to support states in meeting the goals of the Recommendation on participation of children and young people under the age of 18. The Assessment Tool offers a method, at European level, to facilitate and support the implementation of the child’s right to participate.

The Assessment Tool provides 10 basic indicators enabling states to:

  • undertake a baseline assessment of current implementation of the recommendation;
  • help identify measures needed to achieve further compliance by states;
  • measure progress over time.

The Assessment Tool can be used across government ministries, throughout local authority administrations, with the courts and judicial systems, with relevant professionals working with children, with academic and civil society partners, and with organisations of children and young people.

In 2016-2017, the Assessment Tool was successfullly piloted in Estonia, Ireland and Romania, and subsequently revised. In 2017-2018, three further countries (Bulgaria, Italy and Latvia) appiled the tool and an evaluation meeting of this work cycle will take place in Sofia, Bulgaria in July 2018.

The Assessment Tool is accompanied by an Implementation Guide with a roadmap and detailed guidance on information collection, focus groups and using the results for reporting to the UN Committee for the Rights of the Child.

The Child Participation Assessment Tool is aligned with the “Framework for monitoring and evaluating children’s participation”, a toolkit for monitoring and evaluating child participation processes at global level.


Council of Europe standards

Committee of Ministers Recommendations

Recommendation Rec(2012)2 on the participation of children and young people under the age of 18

Recommendation Rec (2010)7 on the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education

Congress

Recommendation 128 (2003) on the revised European Charter on the participation of the young people in local and regional life


Resources

Child Participation Assessment Tool (2016)

Implementation Guide for the Child Participation Assessment Tool (2016)

Animations Democracy and Human Rights in School (2014)

Child and youth participation in Republic of Moldova (2012)

Child and youth participation in Slovak Republic (2011)

Child and youth participation in Finland (2010)

Charter for All (2010)

Teaching democracy – A collection of models for democratic citizenship and human rights education

Have your say! – Manual on the revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional life (2008)

Compasito – Manual on human rights education for children (2008)

Exploring Children’s Rights – 9 short projects for primary level (2007)