Together’s Spring seminars 2016 are coming!

Date: 19th January 2016
Category: Awareness-raising, Scotland-specific monitoring and reporting

Together is pleased to notify subscribers that we have successfully obtained a £2000 grant from the Castansa Trust in order to hold our annual State of Children's Rights report seminars for 2016.

The Castansa Trust

The Castansa Trust are based in Edinburgh and have an overarching strategic target to fund projects tackling social change and education. Despite receiving many applications over the Christmas period, the Castansa Trust were extremely interested in seeing Together's UN Convention on the Rights of the Child seminar workshops go forward, which was great news for us all!

The seminars

The funding from Castansa Trust means that Together will hold 2 Spring seminars in April 2016. The preliminary plan will be to hold these in Edinburgh and Aberdeen and aim to reach as many of Together's members as possible, as well as hopefully many more new members.

These all-day workshop seminars will provide opportunities for all professions working for or with children and young people in the voluntary sector and in local and national governmental / statutory bodies to gain a better understanding of children's rights and have the opportunity to raise the key issues facing children and young people in their area. Children and children's services are being disproportionately affected by cuts to public services and it is essential that there is wider awareness and understanding of children's rights to enable adults and children alike to advocate for their rights and facilitate social change.

The workshop seminars will inform part of a wider process of reporting in which Together will compile a State of Children's Rights report 2016. This report will provide a non-government perspective on the extent to which children in Scotland are able to enjoy their rights enshrined in the UNCRC. It will reflect on past reports to discuss what progress has been made and where further efforts are needed.

The report is a valuable resource for multiple stakeholders in monitoring and evaluating where progress has been made and where children and young people are still falling through gaps in law, legislation and practice. In the past, recommendations from these reports have been taken forward at a local and national level, such as embedding the principle of participation into legislation and practice and undertaking child rights impacts assessments on Ministerial decisions.

Over the past three years, Together has hosted 12 similar seminars across 10 local authorities, attended by nearly 300 professionals working with and for children and young people. 72% of participants have reported that the seminars were extremely useful in bringing more of a children's rights approach to their work. Evaluations have demonstrated how useful delegates have found listening to young people themselves, being able to connect with other professionals and share best practice from a range of different services, understanding how to take forward a child rights approach and the importance of addressing those issues affecting children and young people.

More specific information will be provided soon regarding dates, venue and early registration...so watch this space!