Dr Elaine Allan, Lecturer Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen (FQNIS) previously shared her work related to a collaborative Children’s Rights Based Approach – The Imagineers Research Project. Now she invites YOU to take part in The Children’s Rights Revolution in her blog discussing The Year of Childhood.
Results demonstrated that, in a supported environment, children and young people ably negotiated relationships with higher education and NHS professionals on an equal basis, building connections & and trust. Acting upon the workshop’s findings, we co-produced a child-led teaching video and incorporated it into the delivery of RGU online teaching and published an article outlining the process so the model could be applied to future practice contributing to progressing the Rights Of the Child.
Building on this work Dr Allan now shares the contribution she made to the Year of Childhood which took place throughout 2021 into early 2022. The Year of Childhood was hosted by the Children’s Parliament during its 25th birthday year and included a series of conversations one of which included Dr Allan.
Throughout the Year of Childhood, childhood was explored through the lens of children’s human rights. The aim of the programme was to support the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which was voted unanimously into Scots Law on 16th March 2021.
The objectives of the Year of Childhood Programme were:
- to create space for dialogue on children’s human rights
- to highlight existing good rights-based practice
- to deliver inspirational media and communication strategies to raise awareness of children’s human rights.
The programme consisted of:
- a varied portfolio of events to widen our discourse on children’s human rights;
- sharing stories to invite reflection on varied experiences of childhood and the lifelong impact they had;
- a recorded conversation series to explore the concepts and values which underpin rights-based practice;
- inviting Unfearties (https://www.childrensparliament.org.uk/unfearties/) to grow the movement of children’s champions in everyday life;
- sharing knowledge and practice of children’s human rights in key sectors via webinars;
- a dynamic communication strategy to demystify rights and spread the word; …to explore childhood through the lens of children’s human rights with both professional and everyday audiences.
The Children’s Parliament is in the process of converting the Conversations into a series of podcasts. Dr Allan’s conversation with Rona Blackwood Head of Programmes, Children’s Parliament will be the first episode of the second season. It is now available to stream on Spotify, and Apple Podcasts under the Children’s Parliament Podcast series. It will be officially promoted on the 16th, of August 2022. The podcast episodes are being released in blocks ahead of time so that people can listen in bulk if they’d like, and then we will be promoting them one by one every fortnight.
The Scottish Government has launched an awareness campaign to encourage the whole of Scottish society to become children’s rights defenders. The Scottish Government wants to spark a revolution in children’s rights through policy and a call to action. Their aim is for all children and young people to know their rights while acknowledging that awareness and understanding are lower than they should be.
There is an increasing need for Public Involvement (including the voice of children and young people) – to be more evident in the development, design, and delivery of services to progress the rights of children and everyone can become part of it.
If this information has enthused you to become a children’s rights defender and contribute to the Scottish Government action plan, here are some questions to ask yourself when developing and embedding a rights-based approach into your own practice, regardless of the subject:
- Will this raise awareness of the UNCRC and Rights of the Child for children, families, communities, colleagues and the wider public?
- Am I linking my practice explicitly to the UNCRC?
- What examples of best practices can I develop, share/include to contribute meaningfully to a CRBA in my specific profession?
BECOME A RIGHTS-BASED CHILDREN’S CHAMPION!
Dr Allan welcomes comments and questions via her email: elaine.allan6@rgu.ac.uk
