Governance

Governance can mean different things to different people. For some it is how an organisation makes its decisions, for others it is ensuring that an organisation has policies and procedures that set out how it should operate. In reality, both are two sides of the same coin, as governance represents the processes by which an organisation makes its decisions that set out how it operates.

Adults, children and young people can struggle at times to fully understand governance, what it means and how to apply it to the everyday running of an organisation.

Youth Councils and Boards are one way of engaging young people in governance and can provide a springboard for further involvement in other activities and forums.

The benefits of truly listening to children and young people are widely acknowledged but taking their involvement to the next step can be hard. It is important that all organisations ask themselves:

• How do we listen to young people, including how do they want to be consulted?
• How are they involved in all levels of our decision-making?
• What involvement is appropriate?
• How will we tell young people what we have done about their comments and support them to tell other young people what has changed?

Children and young people have a right to be involved in the decisions that affect them. There are so many opportunities for children and young people to take an active part in shaping where they live, the services they use and the running of local and national organisations. Their participation is essential to improve services.

There are now a wide range of tools to encourage effective participation across a range of settings (see useful websites), but fewer to help assess what has been achieved (standards).