Children’s Participation in Community Development

THIS VOLUME INCLUDES papers from a conference on children’s participation in community development, which was initiated and sponsored by Plan International’s China Programme. The conference itself was coordinated by the College of Rural Development of China Agricultural University in Beijing. Thirty papers are included, and they are divided into six areas: theories about community development and children’s participation, the practice of children’s participation, the contribution of children’s participation to child development, children’s participation in learning and education, children’s participation and health education, and children’s participation in other fields.

The first section consists of a number of papers that discuss in detail the ways in which children are viewed in Chinese society, and the initiatives that have sought to give priority to children being able to express their priorities and perspectives. The second section includes ten papers which describe the practicalities and outcomes of pro-child programming (primarily that done by NGOs). The third section extends the discussion from participation towards development, focusing on children’s rights as well as the contribution that children can make to development. The last three sections all consider the details of sectoral programming, looking primarily at health and education, but also including such areas as communications and law. An annex to the volume discusses the themes of the conference with a group of children who were participants.