Child Action for Effective and Inclusive Local Policies

ChildACT+ strengthens children's participation in local decision-making across five European countries. Working directly with municipalities, schools and children's associations, the project builds durable participatory structures such as children's councils, school consultations and participatory budgeting, and turns them into national plans that local administrations can adopt.

Why this project

Effective participation of children in decision-making is enshrined in Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Article 24 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and is reinforced by the 2021 EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child. In practice, participatory structures in Southern, Eastern and Baltic Europe remain isolated pilots rather than systematic practice.

Objectives

• Establish regular participatory structures for children in partner municipalities.
• Build the capacity of local administrations to consult children meaningfully.
• Connect local practice with European frameworks on children's rights.
• Launch five national plans, one per country, for long-term child participation mechanisms.

Activities

• Local participatory processes with schools, children's associations and public administrations.
• Capacity building for municipal staff on child-friendly consultation.
• Participation in the European Forum for Child-Friendly Cities and Communities.
• Development and launch of five national child participation plans.

Expected results

These are the results the project set out to produce. They are commitments made in the application, not outcomes already achieved.

• Five national plans for sustainable child participation mechanisms.
• Participatory structures embedded in partner municipalities.
• Increased capacity among local administrations and schools.
• Contributions to European policy dialogue on children's participation.

Who it is for

Children and adolescents; local administrations and municipal staff; schools and community actors; children's associations and civil society organisations.