Sharing our journey - NSW Commission for Children and Young People

Sharing Our Journey is the final installment of the TAKING PARTicipation Seriously kit.

The Commission’s experience of involving children and young people in our work has been fun, rewarding and challenging. We have learnt a lot about the ways that children and young people want to be involved and have their say, by allowing them to do just that. We don’t have all the answers, but with each initiative we undertake we build on our knowledge, learning more about what works and what can be improved.

This module documents our learning as we involved children and young people in our work. It’s not a guide on how organisations should involve children and young people in their work, rather it shares our successes and failures as we continue the conversation about participation which we began in Sharing the Stage, TPS.

It’s based on a project we undertook to review and reflect on our participation initiatives. Children and young people shared their views through written questionnaires, small focus groups and one to one meetings. Some young people who participated in the review also read parts of this report and provided their comments on the content. The quotes from children and young people in this report feature their ages when they participated in this reflection project. Many of the kids were therefore younger when they were actually involved in the Commission’s work.

From this project we learnt a number of lessons about how to improve our participation mechanisms and methods. The two most significant things we have learned are that participating in decision making is important to children and young people’s well-being and the information from kids featured in the Commission’s TAKING PARTicipation Seriously kit does help kids participate.

Follow the links below to download or order a hardcopy.