Educo’s approach is thorough, with participation worked into all stages of projects, and meaningful, adapted to context and individual needs, and with a commitment to learning and improving participatory practices. 

Children participate in all stages of Educo’s projects, from conception and planning through a participatory Child Rights Situational Analysis process, to implementation and evaluations. Approaches are tested and learnings are shared throughout the organization.  

Educo believes that it is necessary to carry out capacity building on children’s rights in order to best involve them in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning initiatives and that it is important to be flexible and adapt to children’s needs during these processes.

A set of Child Participation Standards provide guidance to Educo and its partner organisations on how to work alongside children to ensure their active participation. The nature and scope of child participation are determined by the principle of the best interests of the child and adapted to reflect local contexts and the child’s age and maturity levels.   

Key aspects of the standards include: 

• Participation is voluntary, relevant, inclusive and safe 
• The information children receive is transparent and child-friendly 
• Participation is not a one-off, but a continuous process 
• Children are informed of the results of their participation