Participants of the Andean Subregional Encounter present positive experiences of participation and advocacy in order to document the participation of girls, boys and adolescents in the Andean Subregional Encounter of Girls, Boys and Adolescents, @REDLAMYC presented the booklet: «Giving life to our voice» Memory of our leading participation a material prepared within the framework of the #TejiendoRedesInfancia project co-financed by the European Union.
Juan Martín Pérez García, Executive Secretary of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for the Defense of the Rights of Children and Adolescents, pointed out “For REDLAMYC it is of vital importance to give space to the voice of girls, boys and adolescents; For this reason, these memories are a demonstration of the great potential that their voices, their experiences and knowledge represent, not only adults, communities, but also the States benefit, it is also an incentive for us to continue listening to them and creating spaces for them they are also decision-makers of their future ”.
The document was prepared from the information collected during the Meeting held in November and December 2018, in the city of La Paz, Bolivia, where more than twenty organizations for children and adolescents from different regions of Bolivia and countries such as Colombia participated. Ecuador and Peru.
The document contains information on progress and setbacks in relation to the fulfillment of their rights and describes positive experiences of participation and advocacy carried out by children and adolescents in their regions or places of origin, such as the implementation of the project. Voting for our childhood tenderly protected and listened to (Colombia), informative talks on the rights and obligations of children and adolescents in educational units (Peru), Creation of training schools for boys, girls and adolescents framed in values, identity, gender, sexuality (Ecuador), implementation of articles 129 to 138 in the Girl, Boy and Adolescent code from Bolivia [2] in favor of working children (Bolivia) [3].
During her speech, Nadia Mendoza, representative of the Union of Working Girls, Boys and Adolescents of Bolivia, expressed “Many times when girls, boys and adolescents present proposals, they are forgotten, therefore, having a document that summarizes all our ideas and concerns is a great advance for us, we hope that the authorities will take our opinions into account; that they understand that we are no longer objects, but subjects and that we are willing to enforce our rights ... "
Another important feature of the booklet: «Giving life to our voice», are the requests made by the participants to adults and mainly to local and national authorities, among the main ones are: the creation of spaces for participation, support and monitoring for that local and national authorities fulfill their commitments to children, control and follow-up on the proposals they make, activities that allow them to meet more frequently, training and coordination spaces with other organizations and the involvement of adults in their proposals .
Similarly, the document also contemplates the commitments that the participants assumed on the last day of the meeting.
- Coordinate campaigns with the authorities to publicize the Rights of Boys, Girls and Adolescents.
- Find suitable spaces to organize meetings with the seedbeds.
- Generate means and strategies to improve our processes and advocacy actions.
- Strengthen the identity of our movements and organizations, unifying work criteria and conceptual bases.
- Manage the support of organizations for logistics issues in education.
- Improve communication to summon more boys and girls to training workshops.
- Promote the participation of the members of our groups, networks or organizations in decision-making spaces and youth platforms.
- Participate in local development plans.
- Develop projects that can obtain support and financing.
- Generate an advocacy plan for child and adolescent participation policies.
- Promote the organization of student governments in educational units.
- Management with local and national authorities to generate municipal consultations on the opinion of girls, boys and adolescents on issues of protection, exercise of rights, inclusion, education, among others.
- Persist with the idea of changing the world.
More information here
Media contact:
Verónica Morales, Regional Communication Officer #TejiendoRedesInfancia +52 1 55 5620 9309
