The three Ps: Provision, Protection and Participation

As we have seen in chapter 2, the three Ps (Provision, Protection and Participation) are an important part of the toolbox provided to support understanding, interpretation and application of the CRC into practice. Reading of the country report shows that

the Ps provide a common starting point in the frame of reference for most of the 15 participating countries. They are further used as key concepts in planning, for identi-fication of needs for change and focus of the change projects. The concepts are closely integrated and are in fact inseparable. It means that all the 3 Ps generally are used as the primary base for discussion of what to focus on in the projects. In the next step, however, Participation has become the main focus in a majority of the change projects.

In this context article 12 in the CRC is a key article. It recognises the right of the child to express an opinion taken into account in any matter or procedure affecting the child. We have seen the same pattern over the years. Children’s participation has been interpreted as the most urgent topic to work on. Some pattern result was found in the reports from the first Impact and Dissemination Seminar in Bangkok 2009 as in most of the final reports from different batches finalised so far.

We find many examples of how teams have built upon what has started through previous projects, which in turn has enriched the content, contributed to development of methods, strategies and dissemination of experiences. This progression also allows us to observe some of the results over time. It could, for example, mean that one team evaluates the project conducted by another team in order to strengthen the first initi-atives, deepen knowledge of a certain phenomenon and to spread the experiences to other schools and actors.

Many teams have observed increased awareness of the CRC not only among children but also among teachers and parents. Initiatives from the change agents have mostly been met positively among target groups and stakeholders. Views are gradually chang-ing from seechang-ing children as objects to seechang-ing them as subjects.

Change agents experience that children now, as a consequences of the change pro-cesses, claim their rights in a new way, raise their voices and are listened to more pa-tiently. One positive consequence could be that riots and unruly behaviour have been minimised.

Participation

Different motives for strengthening children’s participation appear in the country re-ports. Increased participation is generally expected to contribute to empowerment of children, to develop their personalities, identities, skills and competencies, to strength-en their self-esteem and give them space to claim their rights. Childrstrength-en should be able to practice democratic values and working methods in schools as well as in the com-munity. Their perspectives, experiences and knowledge should be utilised. There is also a continuous effort to work on rights together with responsibilities. Training and work-shops have been arranged for students, parents, teachers, principals and stakeholders.

One category of change work concerns children’s rights to participation in decision making in schools. Children should be a part of school management in order to be able to contribute with their opinions and knowledge but also to have opportunities to learn and exercise leadership skills. One intention is to close the gap between school

admin-ment, to eradicate problems like discrimination, marginalisation, violence and bullying among children. Establishment and development of school councils and class councils, district council committees and school parliaments is a common way to give children pos-sibilities to participate in formal as well as informal decision making. Child Rights Clubs are other common forums where children organise themselves and take their own ini-tiatives for CRC-based activities. Student–to–student mentoring and tutoring services are other examples where children are organised to support each other in exercising their rights. The establishment of forums and organisations like this create conditions for sustainability. Students themselves can, for example, play an important role in train-ing their fellow students.

But the change work is not always easy. Empowerment of children is still a new phenomenon in many places. Too much space and power for the children could be seen as a threat to old perceptions and orders. Resistance is common among parents to the empowerment of children in societies where children have to submissively take instructions from the elderly.

Conflicts between school councils and prefects are an example of how tensions have arisen between previous and new orders in schools. Prefects, working closely together with the school administration, have existed for a long time in schools.

Another category of change work described in the country reports concerns children’s participation in the classroom in the teaching and learning process. It is often connect-ed with ambitions to create child friendly schools in a broader sense. Interactive and participatory methods have developed with the intention to develop and change the relations between teachers and students and to change the conditions for learning in different subjects. Children are involved in the creation of democratic classrooms, in-cluding the formulation of school rules.

Pedagogy in the classroom has changed to be more child centered; the atmosphere is more open and the relationships between teachers and students have changed, becom-ing more democratic and interactive. It has been observed that changes like this could reduce stress on teachers as well as on students.

Children’s right to expression is also present in festivals, drama, child rights days and similar activities where children get the opportunity to express themselves through drawing, singing, dancing, photos etc. Another example is social cartography, as a par-ticipatory tool to enable children to recognise their culture and to strengthen their cultural identity when suffering from internal displacement.

Protection

Corporal punishment, discrimination, sexual abuse, harmful work, teenage pregnancy, violence and bullying are examples of problems worked on in many of the change pro-jects. Activities within this area are often closely connected with support for and devel-opment of children’s participation. This approach has in many cases been an important means for creating a safe school environment, to eradicate the problems mentioned.

The children have been involved in talking about the problems and working on solu-tions together with adults.

Within the area of Protection, some country reports give examples of how problems like corporal punishment, truancy, drop-outs due to pregnancies, bullying and sexual abuse have decreased substantially. This could be seen as a result of increased attention to the problems and development of new methods to handle the problems. Working together with children themselves in a new way is another factor of importance for the success. But resistance could still exist among parents and in the community where cor-poral punishment is encouraged. It takes time to sensitise parents on children’s rights.

The situation for girls has in many cases received particular attention in the classroom (e.g.in mathematics and science) or access to school in connection with pregnancy or work at home.

Provision

The country reports show that many different measures have been taken by adults to fulfill children’s basic needs like providing meals in schools, water and sanitation facilities, school uniforms, transport and hostels as well as access to health care for chil-dren with disabilities. In other cases chilchil-dren themselves have contributed to provision through for example production of teaching and learning material. The very impor-tance of paying attention to basic needs is exemplified in one of the reports telling us that children in some instances stay at school the whole day without a meal. In extreme cases you could also find hungry teachers teaching hungry learners.

The experience above shows that it is possible to use the abstract and general formu-lations in the articles of CRC as tools for change.