Improving participatory practice with children and Young people affected by sexual violence – learning from practitioners and young people voices

The International Centre: researching child sexual violence, trafficking and violence has a track record of research focussing upon child abuse and violence and meaningful participation of children and young people. Three... [ view full abstract ]

The International Centre: researching child sexual violence, trafficking and violence has a track record of research focussing upon child abuse and violence and meaningful participation of children and young people. Three researchers from the Centre will offer a symposium to present findings from on-going European projects which consider:

• The value of participation for children and young people affected by sexual violence
• Ethical considerations/ Risk and challenges to hearing the child’s voice
• An overview and key findings emerging from a review of literature from the UK and Europe which concentrated upon participation within policy and practice
• Evidence-informed practice from international projects which have included NGO partners from The Netherlands, UK, Bulgaria, Romania and Albania to inform practitioners, academics and policy makers.

The review of literature suggest that participation is a right and can be valuable to young people affected by sexual violence to overcome their experiences and move on, as well as improving services for the future. Nevertheless, emerging themes from the International work echo the positive nature of these findings and also highlight a number of complex issues in practice. The papers will provide evidence and examples of how practitioners struggle with a range of ethical issues surrounding the implementation of participatory practice. An overview of how these projects are supporting practitioners by building their skills, knowledge and confidence with the aim of improving participatory practice will be shared. Learning from project work with young people affected by sexual violence, which aims to build their leadership and life skills and develop their own sexual violence prevention projects will also be explored. The papers will share advice from young people affected by sexual violence about how they want to be engaged in participatory work and how practitioners should involve them in the process.