Vlaams jeugd- en kinderrechtenbeleidsplan 2015-2019 | Page 21

participation

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE HAVE AN IMPACT
The focus is on policy participation. It is
about what is very close to the hearts
of children and young people, but most
definitely also about themes in all policy
areas affecting them. The Government

of Flanders wants to help create preconditions which will make a permanent
participatory attitude the logical standard.

BECAUSE FURTHER EFFORTS ARE MADE TO CREATE SUPPORT
The Government of Flanders invests in
training and education for anyone who
works with children and young people
in a large variety of policy areas. It concerns initiatives relating to media, sport

and youth, but certainly also to work,
well-being and education. A networking
group will promote knowledge exchange
and information flow.

AT ALL LEVELS, INCLUDING FOR MORE DIFFICULT-TO-REACH
TARGET GROUPS
Participation is not a strange concept in
policy documents. The Government of
Flanders is aware that in reality a great
deal of work still needs to be done and
that several target groups are insufficiently reached. We want to increase the
involvement of young people of immigrant origin and young people in pover-

ty. We introduce a label for child-friendly municipalities and an award for the
most youth-friendly municipality of
Flanders. The local youth council must
still be consulted about important decisions. We thus keep the local level close,
while renewed efforts are also being
made at the Flemish level.

THROUGH FURTHER KNOWLEDGE-BUILDING AND A VARIETY
OF INITIATIVES
The Government of Flanders stimulates
a variety of participatory practices and
builds further knowledge around this.
The ‘Cijferboek’ (Book of Figures) and
the ‘1-meting lokaal jeugdbeleid’ (first
post-baseline assessment on local youth
policy) may help, for instance, to detect
needs and gaps in local participation.

We develop new initiatives ourselves,
like the establishment of a citizens’ cabinet, and keep existing initiatives up-todate, like the structured dialogue, which
is a participation instrument from the
European framework of cooperation in
the field of youth.

21