Participation and Empowerment

DECYP鈥檚 Participation and Empowerment Strategy is being developed in partnership with children, young people, parents, carers and the DECYP workforce.

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What is participation and empowerment?

Participation and empowerment is one of DECYP鈥檚 strategic priorities and is about supporting our organisational belief that:

鈥楾he rights of children and young people are upheld in all that we do, particularly the right to an education, to influence decisions that affect them, and to be safe from harm鈥�.

DECYP has developed a Participation and Empowerment Strategy to help us do our part in upholding children鈥檚 rights.

We need to put children and young people鈥檚 rights at the centre of all the work we do and ensure that diverse voices are heard equally.

This is about children, young people, parents and carers having a greater say in the design of the department鈥檚 services and supports so that they better meet their needs.

This priority will help to bring DECYP鈥檚 Strategic Plan to life so that children are 鈥�known, heard and included鈥� and support us to work in 鈥�strong partnerships with children, young people, families and community.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

How will we achieve this?

During 2025, we will 鈥榳alk our talk鈥� and do this work by partnering with children, young people, parents, carers and the DECYP workforce. This work is summarised below.

The work ahead is about deeply listening to children, young people and the communities we serve, and connecting in ways that supports them to feel empowered.

Internal to DECYP

Goal – Bring our DECYP belief to life in the work we do.

How – Build the child鈥檚 rights focus in DECYP through:

Learning more about children and young people鈥檚 rights and making sure we uphold them in our work.
Creating resources and providing support that guides everyone in DECYP to seek, listen and give influence to child, youth and community voices in a consistent and safe way.
Sharing good examples of existing child-centred work being done in DECYP to include children, young people, parent and carer voices.

External to DECYP

Goal – Create the building blocks DECYP needs for the participation and empowerment work to further develop.

How – With external partnerships to co-create:

A policy position and best practice guide to increase opportunities for children, young people and adults to share their views in a safe and ethical way.
A model of advisory groups to inform decisions that DECYP leaders make. The groups will include children, young people, parents and carers.