Hub na nÓg is an Irish national centre of excellence and coordination in children and young people’s participation in decision making.

They support government departments, state agencies, public service and non-government organisations in providing opportunities for children and young people to participate in decision-making, with a particular focus on those that are seldom-heard.

Their toolkits and guidance page is particularly useful when considering how to engage with all children and young people.

‘The Right Way’ is a project run by the Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) and funded by the Scottish Government’s Children’s Rights Unit. It aims to support and challenge officials and decision-makers, as duty bearers, to work to ensure young people’s Article 12 right is respected. 

The resources page hosts nine resources which have been developed by young people to help decision-makers practice meaningful participation. 

These include case studies, FAQs, online training, checklists and more. 

CPCS aim to make sure children and young people’s voices influence their own decisions, what they do and those of decision makers across Scotland, for example, the Scottish Government. 

One way they aim to embed children and young people’s views and experience in their work is through a Young Advisors Group. 

They want to support children and young people in Scotland to be children’s rights defenders, to protect and promote human rights and they have resources to help with this.  

Children in Scotland state that a key aspect of achieving their vision that all children in Scotland have an equal chance to flourish is the inclusion and participation of children and young people in their work.

Their goal is to engage children and young people in meaningful, ongoing dialogue and to enable them to have effective and fulfilling participation in all areas of the work they do. 

In order to support the wider workforce they offer their Principles and Guidelines to meaningful participation and engagement of children and young people.

The Participation Network is a group of people who care about children and young people. It is a space for people to collaborate and learn from each other and acts as a community of practice, encouraging positive changes and collaboration. The Participation Network aims to ensure that participation is carried out in ways that are safe, ethical and meaningful.

But participation also needs to be useful, engaging and fun, so they hope that through the Participation Network you will find that, with a mixture of larger events and smaller meetings for sharing good practice, there is something for everyone!

Starcatchers have a wealth of information and ideas relating to participation of younger children across their site. 

Babies and young children, those from birth – 3 years are a group who can be overlooked in terms of children’s rights. Their lack of verbal language, perceptions about their capabilities and their reliance on the adults makes it much harder for them to access their rights than older children and young people. What we do know, however, is that babies and young children use a myriad of ways to communicate with those around them, sharing their views and their experience of the world. 

Starcatchers have created a resource focused on our youngest children.

Children's Health Scotland promote every child's right to the best possible health. They have a page dedicated to toolkits which promote and support the participation of children and young people.

The Psychological Service site is useful for a variety of reasons. They have a range of resources available, including:

• Gathering the views of Children and Young People

• Listening to Children - a Universal toolkit.

Alongside other useful toolkits, guidance and research.

CALA and Highland Child Protection Committee developed the Consulting with our Youngest Children Toolkit.

The strategies in the toolkit can be used by adults working on an individual basis with a young child for a specific purpose or by adults who have significant contact with young children on a frequent basis embedding meaningful consultation in daily practice.