About
The CP4Europe web-platform was developed by the Council of Europe under the Joint Project “Strengthening National Child Participation Frameworks and Action in Europe” (CP4Europe) co-funded by the European Commission (DG JUST) and the Council of Europe, implemented from 1 April 2021 to 30 June 2023. From 1 July 2023, the CP4Europe web-platform is hosted by the Social Protection Institute of the Republic of Slovenia.
This website was created as part of the European Union and Council of Europe Joint Project “Strengthening National Child Participation Frameworks and Action in Europe (CP4Europe)”.
The project aimed to contribute to the promotion of children’s rights to participation at national and pan-European levels in accordance with the Council of Europe's standards and tools.
These included in particular the Council of Europe Child Participation Assessment Tool (CPAT) which has already been used in 10 countries and the Handbook on children’s participation for professionals working for and with children. These, and other child participation tools created during the project, can be found on this site.
The main expected impact of the project was that children across Europe find multiple and innovative opportunities to participate in decision-making processes through stronger child participation mechanisms.
The CP4Europe Project was implemented over 27 months (1 April 2021 - 30 June 2023) in 5 partner countries – Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Portugal and Slovenia – and at a European level. The organisations and people involved in this are listed below, as they were the founding member of this website.
Other organisations are invited to join by registering here.
Founding Members
CP4 Europe Czech Republic was led by the Ministerstvo Prace a Socialnich Veci Ceske Republiky Molsa. The project worked on the basis of cooperation between state authorities and the NGO sector. The project partners actively participated in organizing seminars, focus groups, educational events and conferences, shared experiences and presented their materials for children.
CP4 Europe Iceland started in 2021, facilitated by the Ministry of Social Affairs and Children. In the autumn of 2021, however, a new government was formed, that called for several changes within our structures. The CPAT project moved away from the Ministry of Social Affairs and Children, to the new ministry of Education and Children. Several experts on children’s rights from across various NGOs and government organisations working with children have been involved in the project, in addition to having inputs from different ministries. It was led by Silja Stefnánsdóttir and Hjördís Þórðardóttir at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Children, and later Tinna Rós Steinsdóttir at the Ministry of Education and Children. With her, during the second year of the project were Maya, Arnar and Mirra, who are all children (aged 13-16) who were interested in speaking their minds and give back to their communities.
CP4 Europe Finland was led by the Ministry of Justice (oikeusministeriö). The Ministry of Justice set up a national steering group for CP4Europe project for the period from spring 2021 to summer 2023. The project was implemented in cooperation with the Office of the Ombudsman for children and, as part of the implementation of the National Child Strategy, with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health and the Prime Minister's Office. In addition, an expert from SOS Children's Villages Finland participated in the steering group.
CP4Europe Portugal was led by the Comissao Nacional De Promocao dos Direitos e Protecao Das Criancas e Jovens, that is The National Commission for the Promotion of the Rights and the Protection of Children and Young People (CNPDPCJ). The CNPDPCJ cooperated with multiple public and private, governmental and non-governmental national organizations in order to fulfil its tasks in the project at the national and international levels.
CP4Europe Slovenia was led by the Social Protection Institute of the Republic of Slovenia and the Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. The project has been implemented in cooperation with PIC - Legal Center for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment focusing primarily on assuring the participation of vulnerable groups of children while the project partner’s focused on developing training materials for professionals working with and for children and policy guidelines.
Child Participation Consultants who have contributed to the outputs on this site are:
Bosun Jang is an Associate of the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD), working on various children’s issues with a focus on education (early childhood development, teacher training, curriculum development, education census) and M&E.
Talia Kauffman designs child-centred non-formal education programmes, specializing in child and youth participation, SRH and sports for development.
Gerison Lansdown is an international children's rights consultant and adjunct professor at the University College Cork.
Cath Larkins is a Europe based consultant and professor at the University of Central Lancashire, working with and for children and young people to achieve their goals for social change.
Véronique Lerch is an international human rights consultant, always looking for new ways to bring social change.
Luis Manuel Pinto is Director of Programmes and Learning, Learning for Well-being Foundation; Educator at heart, working where child rights, well-being, participation and learning meet.
Roberta Ruggiero is a Senior Research Associate at the Centre for Children's Rights Studies, University of Geneva and an independent consultant.
Mieke Schuurman (Director of Child Rights & Capacity Building) is working at Eurochild to ensure that children’s rights and children’s voices from across Europe are brought to decision-makers at European Union institutions.
Raluca Verweijen-Slamnescu is a dedicated childcare practitioner, with a passion for participation of children in a safe and respectful manner, in all possible conversations affecting their lives, working as an independent consultant.