Empowered and Connected

The Centre for Children’s Rights at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) was commissioned to work alongside World Vision International to explore the claims, practices and outcomes of its Young Leaders project. The main focus of the study was to understand the common challenges affecting children and young people’s participation during international fora, from the perspectives of the children and young people themselves and the adult global stakeholders they engage with, with a particular interest in how they may influence decision-making. This research is relevant because while children and young people’s participation has greatly increased over the past ten years or more, particularly in major international oversight bodies and panels, there is little known about the influence, if any, this have had and may continue to have in the future.