Background Information:

Citizens today and tomorrow
Political, economic and social change in the UK and Europe in the 1990s brought about recognition of the value, and necessity, of young people's involvement in decision making, both in terms of their own personal and social development and in terms of benefits to communities and nations.

In the early twenty-first century this trend continues to be reflected in the increase in attempts at involving young people, consulting with them and facilitating their participation in democratic processes locally and nationally. The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, ratified by the UK in 1991, gave an imperative to this movement and is reflected in recent policy and legislation.

Consultation
Consultation means listening to young people's views and giving appropriate feedback. Ideas around consultation can often be restricted to mechanisms that bring young people's views to adult-led initiatives resulting in processes that are essentially reactive, with power remaining in the hands of the adults. In this situation young people are involved but contribute from the outside. This may influence what happens but without transfer of power and responsibility.

Participation
Participation refers to young people taking an active part in a project or process as key contributors. This has the potential to allow them to be proactive in shaping projects and determining processes, which in itself is empowering. Participation can vary by degrees. Projects can be devised, planned, and executed entirely by young people or with a degree of adult support, or they might be adult-led in a way that allows young people to make a significant contribution in terms of discussion and implementation.

Hierarchy of participation
Young people's involvement in society has been described as a hierarchy of participation conceptualised as a ladder with tokenism on the bottom rung and projects initiated and run by young people, without adult direction, at the top. While useful in informing thinking about youth involvement, it is important to guard against the idea that projects lower down the ladder are necessarily inferior. While tokenism is completely undesirable, appropriate levels of involvement are specific to context. An initial low level of involvement may be very valuable for setting the scene for a higher level in the future.

Barriers to involvement
These take many forms. Young people themselves may lack confidence or not see the point, because they think it won't make any difference anyway. They may mistrust the motives of older people trying to involve them and have concerns about their own ability to deliver. Older people may be reluctant to give up power or have misinformed ideas about young people's behaviour, needs and ability to participate. Research stresses the importance of everyone being clear about the level of involvement, the process, the outcomes and the nature of feedback.