The project coordinated by professor Irene Rizzini with the support of FAPERJ (CNE – Process number E-26/201.113/2022), aims to analyze different aspects of citizen participation and protagonism of children and young people in Brazil, highlighting existing initiatives in the city of Rio de Janeiro. The project also considers the relevance of child and youth participation for the universalization and enforcement of political rights to strengthen democratic principles and protect children and youth who live in contexts of vulnerability and violation of their rights. Based on existing normative instruments in Brazil, in particular the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the Statute of the Child and the Adolescent (1990) and the Statute of Youth (2013), the project aims to contribute to the analysis and identification of alternatives capable of potentializing actors while connecting the demands of children and youth with institutional structures of the State. One of the main goals is to transform these demands into public policies or into strategies for implementing and monitoring existing but neglected policies.  

Specific objectives:

1. Conduct a survey and review of academic articles published in Brazil between 2005 and 2022 on child and youth participation;

2. Analyze public policies, regulations and the national government´s plans that address issues of child and youth participation in Brazil;

3. Map child and youth participation initiatives in the city of Rio de Janeiro with a particular emphasis on the initiatives where children and youth play a leading role (whether in the organization of actions or implementing them);

4. Analyze objectives and strategies adopted by these initiatives seeking to identify common grounds. As well as identify where public policies are formulated in the municipality. The perceptions of young people and other key actors involved in the project will be of particular relevance, taking into account intergenerational relationships that facilitate or hinder their participation;

5. Publish and widely disseminate research results and products to deepen the debate and to contribute to inform the formulation and implementation of public policies focused on children and youth participation.

Research Team: 

Coordination and research: Irene Rizzini, Professsor at the Social Service Department (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro) and Director of the International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood (CIESPI in association with PUC-Rio).

Research: Renata Brasil, International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood (CIESPI in association with PUC-Rio).

Research assistants: Caroline Araujo and Mônica Figueiredo - International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood (CIESPI in association with PUC-Rio).

Scholarship holder: Priscila Alves F. da Silva, Social Service Department, PIBIC-PUC-Rio.