The project Participatory capability of children and youth in street situation in Brazil examines how adolescents in care with a history of living on the streets exercise their rights and participate in the social life of their communities. The methodology involves individual interviews with the professionals who work in the institutions and young people who live in them. In addition, the project describes public policies, norms and government plans for these young people.

The current stage of the project started in March 2022 and involves interviews in six Brazilian cities: Brasilia, Fortaleza, Manaus, Porto Alegre, Rio de Janeiro, and Sao Paulo. These interviews will help us to understand daily life in the institutions, the life history of the adolescents and how they exercised their rights.  We pay particular attention to the factors which helps the young people to participate in the decision-making processes about their lives.

The project is coordinated by Daniel Stoecklin, professor at the Center for Children’s Rights Studies at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, in a scientific partnership with Irene Rizzini, professor in the Department of Social Service at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and director of the International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood (CIESPI/PUC-Rio). The researchers are André Cardozo Sarli of the University of Geneva and Renata Mena Brasil do Couto at CIESPI/PUC-Rio.

To learn more about this project, click here.