Children, Young People, UNICEF and Participation

Abstract The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is part of a significant shift in thinking about children, young people and childhood. It has introduced participation as the third P, alongside provision and protection. Development actors and policies have identified participation as a facet of meaningful social development. Academics have constructed new ways of conceptualising children, recognising them as competent social actors and social participants. However, while discourses of participation have reached global scales it is important that we maintain a ‘critical eye’ on what participation is and whom it is for. Such a critical eye can be cast very effectively over UNICEF's very own discourses and practices.