Child and youth participation: a practical example from German development policy

Abstract

The present publication documents a participation process in the area of development policy and draws lessons for good participation from it. The process in question is a youth consultation held in 2015 and 2016 at the behest of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The ministry used the results of the consultation while developing a policy action plan for realising child and youth rights. The documentation of the Youth Consultation Forum, which depicts both its strengths and its weaknesses, illustrates how quality standards can be taken into account even in advisory participative processes of limited duration, while pointing up some of the challenges this can involve.