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The following is our brochure:

About World Children’s Parliament (WCP)

Key Objectives of the WCP

  • To familiarize and train people around the world about a neighborhood-based, bottom up method of governance called “Inclusive Neighborhood Children’s Parliament (INCP)” that operates in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

  • To encourage the UN and the governments of nations across the world to use INCP to improve their policy making processes, including making decisions through mutual leadership between the children and the adults.

 

About us

We, the children of the World Children’s Parliament, gather from different nations, discuss the issues we see around us, and try to resolve them with support from NGOs, government institutions, international institutions, and civic authorities, depending on the issue. 

We are aged 18 or younger and are elected by our peers from our respective countries’ neighborhood-based parliaments. We serve as their representatives during our tenure.

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History of Bottom Up Governance

The idea of supplementing traditional governments with a bottom up structure of neighborhood-based parliaments (or spaces) emerged independently about 40 years ago in India and the Netherlands. It developed faster in India, winning recognition from the UN in 2008 for activities in the State of Tamilnadu and again in 2023 for the effectiveness of the neighborhood parliaments in combating Covid in the State of Kerala. 

An observation from this work is that when children are involved in neighborhood organizing, adults will organize more readily! For this reason, it is important that children’s parliaments focus on both immediate neighborhood issues and the SDGs. In Chile, for example, children have been contributing to rewriting the country’s constitution - following the spirit of SDG 16, “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

When the children’s parliament  initiative was first established at the global level, it was known as the Youth Participation Forum, reflecting its provisional nature. Over time, it evolved, taking on different forms, until it eventually became known as the “Provisional World Children’s Parliament.” In April 2024, we formally hosted a side event at the UN ECOSOC Youth Forum (See item 5) where our name officially became the “World Children’s Parliament.”

 

Organization and Structure

The WCP is trying out neighborhood-based, bottom up organizing at the global level. It is supported by a coalition of NGOs from different parts of the world. 

We children of WCP organize meetings about every other week. We discuss issues based on the SDGs and make decisions to address them. For example, during the pandemic we highlighted SDG 3, Good Health and Well Being, by organizing World Health Day celebrations in four countries. Connected virtually, they developed and submitted recommendations to UNICEF officials of three countries.

The adults who support the WCP are called “adult allies.” They ensure our protection and make suggestions on how to get things done.

 

Elements and Principles of WCP

The WCP functions with the following elements and principles.

  • Sociocracy, a consent-based decision making governance method that includes everyone’s voices with no one left behind. We elect children to ministerial roles using consent. (Consent is a method that came from the Netherlands and was adopted early on in India.)

  • Each member in the parliament is a minister with a specific portfolio such as a specific SDG or to address a specific local neighborhood issue such as combating child marriage. 

  • A minister’s term is typically six months or a year.

  • A parliament is small in size; the number of members should not exceed 30.

  • The members of a parliament elect a representative to attend a parliament for a larger geographic area. Those parliaments in turn elect another upward representative - an upward federation goes through the country level and culminates in a world children’s parliament. 

  • The operation of the WCP is based on full mutual leadership between the children and the adults. 

 

Partnering with NGOs and Government Institutions

Organizations interested to partner with us may want to get in touch with us as a first step. The partnership/(s) with the NGO/(s) will be decided based on the introductory call that we set up with the organizations.

 

Way Forward

WCP has the larger vision of establishing such INCP units in many neighborhoods and connecting those children’s parliaments to the world level and eventually removing the word provisional from its name once there exist the representations of about 20 countries in the WCP. It also aims to get the unheard voices of children to echo at the international forums like the UN.

It targets to fund-raise for providing opportunities to the children from vulnerable communities to get their voices enfranchised at global level.

WCP’s main focus is to work with organizations that work in line with SDGs. E.g., we are preparing to work with an NGO “IPES,” which works in community policing to undertake real action on alleviating teen-age gangsterism in the country of Belize.

 

Contact Us

To reach out to us you can WhatsApp or Email.


NOTE: The World Children’s Parliament took the name World Children’s Parliament on 17 April 2024 when it hosted the UN ECOSOC Youth Forum Side Event, “World Children’s Parliament.” This document was updated to reflect that name change. See Item 5 in this link for more complete information about the WCP and the 17 April 2024 event. https://ecosoc.un.org/sites/default/files/2024-05/Side-Events-Summary-Reports-17-April-2024.pdf

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