Policies for Children’s Rights: Constructing an Evidence-Based Approach

Thirty years after the signing of the UN Convention on Children’s Rights (UNCRC), the fulfilment of children’s rights in virtually every part of the world remain hampered by a series of practical challenges. These challenges are difficult to overcome given the significant gaps in rights-based knowledge production and the lack of mechanisms to translate research findings into policy. Yet, the use of evidence in child rights’ policy making has been recognised to have a positive impact on the improvement of child well-being outcomes.

The human rights approach to evidence-based policy implies a series of practical, ethical and political commitments to have material consequences on children’s lives and become an instrument of good governance and social accountability.

The University of Geneva’s Centre for Children’s Rights Studies and the University of Colorado, Denver have embarked on a research process to elaborate a full operational framework for the production and use of evidence to support the design, implementation and evaluation of effective policies and practices aimed at fulfilling children’s well-being, which are consistent with the implementation of normative children’s rights.

The GSPI supports the initial research team to elaborate a policy engagement strategy with key stakeholders from international organisations, national governments, and scientific institutions. The aim is to generate a dialogue and a collaborative process in support of the development of a relevant, practical tool that can yield concrete changes on practice and behaviours in support of better policies for children.

A workshop was held in Geneva on 28-29 October 2019 to get input on the preliminary version of the framework and to identify locations and partners to pilot its implementation.

For more information, please contact Frédérique Guérin at frederique.guerin@unige.ch