Introduction

This chapter draws primarily on research in community settings in the UK, but also on international examples, to explore some of the tensions around children and young people's autonomous organisation in everyday life. Taking ‘autonomous’ to mean self-governing and independent, I look at how organisation and communication initiated by children and young people can be either facilitated or blocked by adults, sometimes being seen as ‘anti-social behaviour’. Attitudes that exclude children and young people from decision making, and policies that restrict the safe spaces where they can meet and communicate with each other, are contrasted with ways in which adults can encourage and support children's own ideas and initiatives, and promote more open communication.

Activities that are initiated by adults to engage children in formal decision-making processes, such as school councils and youth forums, can undoubtedly be led and controlled by children to a greater or lesser extent. However, here the focus is on situations where children and young people themselves reflect on their everyday lives and initiate their own organisation. Examples abound that show how young people, when given the chance, can provide positive solutions, often in the face of dismissive and negative attitudes towards them that can prevail in local communities.

The chapter first gives a background to the participatory challenge in the UK and internationally and then seeks to show, using examples from the UK and the developing world, what needs to be done to promote children and young people's autonomous organisation:

• • Recognise the often negative social attitudes towards young people.

• • Appreciate the need for safe spaces where young people can meet, and listen to what they say.

• • Interact with young people in their own domains.

• • Understand the power relationships in different social and cultural settings, and the local and national policies that affect young people.

• • Understand the positives and negatives of autonomy, and monitor the impact of initiatives on different children's lives.

• • Be prepared to negotiate and support children and young people's autonomy.

The challenge of participation

Many of the examples used in this chapter come from work in England and Wales, where children and young people's participation has become part of the rhetoric of many government policies under New Labour. Initiatives such as New Deal for Communities, Neighbourhood Renewal, Children's Funds and Children's Trusts have participation as integral, as does the Every Child Matters policy framework.