The Forum for the participation of children and teenagers in Teo: A socio-educational context that enables children's right to participation

Children are citizens of the present and active subjects who must be educated to exercise and enjoy civil, social, political and cultural rights in conditions of equity. Based on this premise, in a democratic society, children’s right to participation must be guaranteed by public administrations and their rulers. Therefore, this article aims to know the perception that children and adolescents and the social educator have about the right to participate, as well as their assessment of the Forum for Child and Adolescent Participation of the City Council of Teo (A Coruña, Galicia, Spain). To achieve this, a qualitative research was undertaken focused on the case study, based on data collection through instruments such as documentation analysis, in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The results show that participation is perceived as a right to be exercised, while at the same time making a positive assessment of the Forum in terms of benefits (personal, social and educational). However, they reveal a series of challenges and limitations that hinder the exercise of the right to participate in an authentic, full and protagonist manner: 1) the adult-centric vision that prevails in part of the adult community, 2) a strong dependence in the decision-making process in matters that concern them, 3) lack of spaces to participate in the community, 4) difficulties in networking with other socio-community agents (families, schools, associations, etc.). It is concluded that the right to participation is reinforced with the creation of local bodies for child participation, but it is a priority to create more spaces or experiences of participation in Teo, to give protagonism to girls and boys in the participatory processes, as well as committing to strategies that make visible their sense of agency.