When decisions or programs are being made or when policies are being developed that concern young people, young people have the fundamental right to co-decide on these issues. Young people should meaningfully participate in all stages of decisionmaking: during development, implementation, and evaluation. No matter whether it concerns something on a smaller scale, like a new STD clinic in your city, or on a bigger scale, like new treaties on decreasing the number of HIV-infections worldwide, young people should always be involved.
Young people not only have the right to participate, there’s also an advantage of young people’s involvement: if the voice of young people is heard, programs and policies can become more effective and can be adapted to the actual needs of young people. Most programs that are developed for young people are not developed by young people. This limits the effectiveness of the program.
To give a better understanding of youth participation, CHOICE uses the Flower of Participation.
