Our Experts | EU Child Participation

We are lucky to have very experienced child participation experts who help children share their ideas and make sure their voices are heard. Meet the people who make this possible:

Cath Larkins

About you: For more than 25 years, I have worked with children and their adult allies, to try to make participation activities more inclusive. I am a professor at the University of Central Lancashire. I also work freelance for communities and governments across Europe, to co-create participatory processes that make a difference on the issues children care about.

What is your role? I use the Council of Europe Participation Handbook that I co-created with children and communities, plus insights from research and practice. This helps everyone be inclusive in how they plan, connect, identify issues, prioritise and investigate, take action, follow up and evaluate. To try to make sure children can really make a difference, I encourage accountability and support young people to take the lead whenever possible.

Why is it important? Children have amazing ideas to make the world better for everyone. The Platform helps share these ideas with some of the adults who make decisions in the EU. This needs to involve the most marginalised children and to tackle big issues of inequality. So, it is important to reach out to children in their communities, to respond to their concerns and for the to EU show how children's ideas have made a difference in decisions.

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See Cath working with children and adults of our Advisory Board

Laura Lundy

About you: My name is Laura Lundy, and I am a professor at Queen’s University, Belfast and University College in Cork and an expert in children’s rights. I help adults understand how to make sure children’s views are taken into account when decisions are made about them. My work shapes how decisions are made not only in Ireland but across the world.

What is your role?: I play an important role in the Platform by giving advice on how to use the Lundy Model of Participation. This model helps the Platform understand how children’s right to be involved in decisions can be put into practice, following Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Why is it important?: It is very important that when children share their ideas or concerns, they truly matter. It's not just about letting children speak but also about making sure their voices get to the right people and used to make changes. I help the Platform find the best ways for children to be part of important decisions, making sure their voices are valued and heard by the European Union.

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