Strong Communities are Built on Child-Centered Governance

We didn’t know what we were doing when, as high school students, my friends and I asked our school board to create a varsity soccer team. We hadn’t thought through a substantive argument and didn’t really know how to speak formally at the board’s meeting.

We were only prepared to say what we felt: We wanted to play!

Looking back, we might have been more persuasive if we had been trained in effective advocacy, learned how the board made its decisions and assembled helpful allies. But … what did we know.

I think about that when I look with excitement at the work my team at UNICEF USA, our colleagues at UNICEF around the world and a number of our peer organizations do to ensure youth today have the skills they need to be effective advocates. We’ve come to understand that political and other leaders are more likely to make decisions that positively impact children and youth when they listen to informed and persuasive young people.

This takes two different, but related, approaches.

The first is to prove to those in authority that the voices of young people matter. Not only should they create space for young people to participate in decision-making, but they will be better off if they do.

We do this by promoting what is called “child-centered governance.” This is a strategy to encourage governments, policymakers and community leaders at all levels to integrate the best interests and perspectives of children and youth into decision-making, planning and even budgeting. This often takes the form of child impact statements, youth councils, children’s cabinets, youth ombuds offices and specific budget allocations for children. There is a growing body of evidence that these structures can improve civic engagement, policy responsiveness and community well-being.

A good example of this is in Minneapolis, which has long been a leader in youth participation through its Youth Coordinating Board, one of the country’s earliest and most impactful children’s cabinets. The board oversees the Minneapolis Youth Congress, a larger youth participation governing body. With the city’s commitment to youth participation and governance, our team at UNICEF USA worked with Minneapolis, which was officially recognized as a UNICEF Child Friendly City in February 2024.

Another example is in the community of Diende, in Senegal. There, young people are advocating directly with local authorities through a Children’s Government Consult formed with UNICEF’s help. Young people meet quarterly with local leaders to discuss government budgets to ensure resources are allocated to support children’s education, health and well-being.

Creating space for youth to participate is only half the battle. Secondly, those youth need to be equipped with access to the skills and tools to make their participation impactful. In other words, they need to be smarter, more strategic and better prepared than my friends and I were before the school board.

Today, July 15, is World Youth Skills Day, a day set aside to recommit to ensuring young people have the skills they need for personal development, employment, political involvement and more in order to thrive in a rapidly changing world. Advocating before their elected leaders is among those important skills.

In Diende, members of the Children’s Government Consult received digital skills training, including software development, to arm them with the research, information and tools to strengthen their arguments and sharpen their advocacy. In Minneapolis, the young people involved in the youth congress receive training in policy analysis, public speaking, collaboration and an understanding of how to navigate government systems.

These youth have the space—and the skills—to make a difference for children in their communities and beyond. In addition, their experience as youth leaders raises their own vision for the role they can play in the world. Aminata, one of the youth in Diende, now wants to become a human rights lawyer. Her peer, Mariana D., intends to become a doctor to help save the lives of children and help them thrive.

They certainly have much more noble ambitions than I had at that time of my life. We just wanted a soccer team at our school. We did get one, by the way. I had the privilege to captain that team, where I learned early lessons in leadership that no doubt helped to shape who I am today.