Meaningful and Inclusive Youth Participation (MYP) is the meaningful and inclusive participation of young people in different programmes, policies, and spaces, especially on matters that concern them directly as is guaranteed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). For participation to be considered meaningful, young people must at a minimum be well-informed of their role and what their participation will contribute to, and their opinions are respected and taken seriously. Meaningful participation can involve different levels of responsibility, as is reflected in the CHOICE Flower of Participation. For example, all of CHOICE’s programs aim to meaningfully involve young people with a high level of responsibility at all stages and at all levels of our programs and advocacy, this includes their meaningful participation in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the programs and advocacy strategies and campaigns, as well as their meaningful participation in decision-making spaces. Here young people participate on equal terms, which may require capacity strengthening or a change in the usual way of doing things. Note that while young people do not always need equal decision-making power for their participation to be meaningful, this is an important prerequisite for a youth-adult partnership. CHOICE’s Flower of Participation provides more information on the different ways in which participation can be meaningful (or not).

One young person does not represent all young people, so for MIYP to be truly meaningful, it should involve a diverse group of youth (e.g. rural/urban, young LGBTIQA+ persons, youth from different socio-economic backgrounds etc.)