Child-sensitive accountability and the post-2015 agenda
Accountability for and with children and young people
This paper has been prepared by Plan International, Save the Children, UNICEF, World Vision, Child to Child and
Children International. Drawing on evidence from research and extensive programmatic experiences, the paper
sets out how children and young people could engage in monitoring and accountability for the post-2015
agenda, from the community to the global level.
Key messages

The success of the post-2015 agenda will depend, in part, on strong, open, accessible, inclusive and
participatory accountability mechanisms and processes at all levels.

The engagement of children and young people, including the most marginalised, in public and social
accountability mechanisms will enable their interests to be heard and responded to, increasing the
relevance and effectiveness of the post-2015 agenda.

Clear and pre-defined modalities should be established for the engagement of children and young
people at all levels of post-2015 accountability mechanisms and processes, with the view to creating
a continuum of accountability from the community to global institutions.

Transparency and the availability of timely, disaggregated and relevant public data on children and
other marginalised groups are fundamental to support accountability. These groups must be made
visible in local, national and global statistical data sets as much as in country and donor policies,
budgets, finance plans and expenditure reports.

The post-2015 agenda should include a clear focus on open, inclusive and accountable governance
to ensure an enabling environment for meaningful engagement in monitoring and accountability.
Children’s rights, post-2015 & a continuum of accountability
Children and young people are the primary stakeholders of the post-2015 agenda. As the most widely ratified
human rights treaty in history, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) provides children across the
world with a wide range of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. Building on the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs), the post-2015 agenda will be instrumental in advancing their right as outlined in
the CRC with the eradication of poverty at the heart of these efforts. Children’s evolving capacities and physical
and mental development, combined with multiple forms of discrimination, mean they are particularly
vulnerable to the impacts of poverty. Despite the galvanising effect of the MDGs in spurring progress on child
survival and development, vast numbers of children continue to live in poverty in developed and developing
countries alike.i A post-2015 agenda that is responsive to the rights of all girls and boys is essential for
sustainable development, fulfillment of human rights and addressing intergenerational poverty.
Accountability, where duty bearers are held to account for progress against their commitments, is important
for effective and sustainable implementation of the post-2015 agenda. This new agenda provides an
opportunity to embed comprehensive, transparent, inclusive and participatory accountability processes at all
levels for and with adults and children. This should include accountability for both the outcomes (the what) and
the process (the how). It should respond to the distinct situation of fragile states, making sure not to create
additional, but different, accountability requirements for those states.ii
The post-2015 agenda will be implemented at local and national levels and the primary focus of accountability
would be at this level. At the same time, accountability for the post-2015 agenda should come together at a
global level, most likely through the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). At global
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level all States, which are ultimately responsible for the implementation of the post-2015 agenda, should be
reviewed periodically in a transparent process that provides mandatory opportunities for citizens, including
children and young people, to participate in these reviews. A global accountability mechanism for the post2015 agenda should also work in synergy with existing human rights mechanisms to ensure alignment with
existing international obligations.
Embedding participation as a principle throughout can improve the quality of public policies over time and thus
strengthen implementation of the post-2015 agenda. It is crucial that children and young people are able to
access and participate in accountability mechanisms – including complaints and redress - at all levels, without
discrimination, to help strengthen accountability. This should build from the community level, where positive
development outcomes must be experienced by the most vulnerable and where most citizens should have
access to and participate in accountability mechanisms. While the community and national levels will have
fewer barriers to citizen engagement compared to regional and international fora, an inclusive accountability
mechanism should entail civic voices to be heard through all levels. We call this a continuum of accountability.
Participatory accountability with children & young people
As rights holders, children and young people have a right to participate in this continuum of accountability. In
addition to being a right, accountability with children and young people can improve development outcomes
and support children’s civic engagement and understanding of democratic practices.
Evidence from programme evaluations and community experience suggests that when citizens, including
children and young people, participate, tangible benefits include improved development outcomes,
development effectiveness and collective actioniii. Indeed, over the past decade, there has been a growing
recognition of the value of child and young people’s participation in development efforts, including in social
accountabilityiv approaches at the community level (such as social audits, community score cards), as well as in
formal and informal processes at the national (e.g. participatory budget setting and monitoring) and
international levels (e.g. human rights treaty monitoring).
Involving children and young people in decisions that affect them, including in participatory accountability
processes, puts their civil and political rights into practice.v Their involvement often determines their political
participation later in adulthood, as well as help children to develop cognitive abilities, respect for others, selfesteem and social skills.vi It can promote ownership and sustainability by building their support for political
decisions, and it helps to prevent and reduce vulnerabilities to economic, political and socially instability.
Children and young people can play a critical role in contributing to more effective systems of accountability
and in applying pressure to help ensure that duty bearers fulfil their commitments. National and local
commitments should be accompanied by clear, age-appropriate and transparent communication to children
and communities about how government aims to address post-2015 and what consequently to expect from
government institutions and service providers. In particular, children and adults from all social strata should
understand the availability of opportunities for review and collaboration and engagement in post-2015.vii
Our learning indicates that the role of children in influencing change is stronger when children are organised in
formal or informal structures, so their voices are collective rather than individual. Organised groups of children
can have a better impact in articulating their rights, needs and concerns, mobilizing for change, and monitoring
the performance of government institutions. Building on existing social and public accountability initiatives, an
effective and inclusive continuum of accountability for the post-2015 agenda should link children and young
people’s organizations with adult civil society networks and initiatives, as well as with governance structures
and public accountability mechanisms.
Technology (e.g. mobile technologyviii, crowd map) can play a vital role in enabling participatory monitoring and
accountability in ways that link the local to the global. We have seen this in action in some of the post-2015
consultations, as well as in social accountability initiatives that use ICT and mobile phone technology to
monitor services. Investment in statistics – such as those driven by comprehensive civil registration and vital
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statistics systems - as well as advances in technology and new forms of ‘big’ data, including qualitative data,
can be used to strengthen participatory monitoring and accountability.
Social accountability
Besi to add
Enabling environment
Fostering a culture of accountability requires the setting of appropriate post-2015 goals and targets, including
on governance. Upholding and guaranteeing all human rights, and civil and political rights in particular, is
critical to providing an enabling environment for meaningful engagement in monitoring and accountability at
all levels. Without access to public information and the rights to freedom of expression, association and
peaceful assembly guaranteed in law and practice accompanied by formal opportunities for participation in
governance, citizens, including children and young people, will not be able to meaningfully monitor the post2015 agenda and hold duty-bearers to account. This point to the need to include a clear focus on open,
inclusive, participatory and accountable governance in the post-2015 agenda. More and better data would
also be crucial for monitoring and accountability of the post-2015 agenda.
Guiding criteria for participation of children & young people in accountability
Despite the many benefits, children and young people continue to face significant obstacles in participating in
accountability processes and holding governments and others to account. These include discriminator social
norms, including negative attitudes of adults towards children and young people (particularly girls and young
women) and their perceived potential value added in participatory processes, as well as the limited capacity of
decision makers to effectively engage with children and young people and respond to their concerns.ix
As a result, significant effort will be required by all stakeholders to ensure that any post-2015 accountability
mechanisms or processes effectively hear and respond to the voices of individuals, including children and
young people. The following criteria could guide establishment and strengthening of child-sensitive monitoring
and accountability mechanisms:x

Meaningful participation: Children and young people are active participants and partners who are fully
consulted and informed. Their voices are heard and respected equally to those of adults.

Inclusive: all children and young people, including the most marginalised, can access these mechanisms on
an equal basis. This might mean working with existing community-based and child-led civil society groups.

Accessible: They are open, transparent and accessible to all children and young people. Information is ageappropriate and provided in a language and format that is accessible and easy to understand.

Collaborative: Children and young people engage with duty bearers in an informed, organised, safe,
constructive and collaborative manner. Mechanisms and processes encourage interaction and consensus
building.

Responsive: Duty bearers support attempts to improve accountability, are open to the influence of children
and young people, and respond to their concerns. Children’s and young people’s voices are heard and
acted upon.
Recommendations for the post-2015 agenda
We recommend that all stakeholders, including Member States, the UN system, and the Major Groups:

Establish clear modalities for the engagement of children and young people at all levels of post-2015
accountability processes, including the HLPF, creating a continuum of accountability that includes
mechanisms for periodic review.xi
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
Implement participatory approaches to monitoring the post-2015 agenda that meaningfully include
children and young people and ensure that their voices are heard, respected and acted upon in an equal
manner to those of adults.

Proactively assess and respond to financial, social, linguistic, physical and other barriers that prevent
children and young people from engaging in post-2015 monitoring and accountability processes at the
local, national, regional and international levels.

Strengthen the capacity of public officials to effectively and respectfully listen and respond to the needs
and concerns of children and young people.

Include a clear focus on open, inclusive and accountable governance within the post-2015 agenda to
ensure an enabling environment for meaningful engagement in monitoring and accountability.
We recommend that national governments:

Ensure that engagement by children and young people in decision making and accountability is
institutionalised and that spaces are created for children and young people, including the most
marginalised, to make a meaningful contribution to the achievement of the post-2015 agenda.

Ensure an enabling environment for civil society and the creation of civil society “spaces” that encourage
local level civic engagement linked to structural planning and decision-making mechanisms, including in
setting of national and local targets, plans and budgets.xii

Support social accountability as part of national monitoring and accountability mechanisms, and establish
systematic feedback mechanisms that promote child and youth participation, such as community or school
hearings to identify key issues and child led reporting on public services in the community and at national
level.

Strengthen investment and capacity for a rights-based approach to the collection, analysis and
dissemination of timely and disaggregated data on progress toward government commitments in
accessible formats to all, including children and young people.

Ensure transparency and access to easy to understand and timely information at all levels and guarantee
the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly as well as freedom of the media in law and
practice in line with international commitments.
We recommend that civil society, donors and UN Agencies:

Support children and young people, including the most marginalised, to understand, collect, analyse and
use post-2015 related information to promote dialogue with and hold duty bearers to account.

Work with children and young people to support and amplify bottom-up, child-led monitoring and
accountability, and clearly link these to post-2015 accountability processes at all levels.

Support capacity building for national implementation and monitoring of the post-2015 agenda, including
in relation to social accountability that includes children’s participation.
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Endnotes
i UNICEF, Child Poverty in the Post 2015 Agenda, Issue Brief, 2014
ii Child Focused agency discussion paper on local level accountability - need more detailed reference
iii
Need to reference examples
iv “Social accountability can be defined as an approach towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement, i.e. in which it is ordinary citizens
and/or civil society organizations who participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability. Mechanisms of social accountability can be initiated and
supported by the state, citizens or both, but very often they are demand-driven and operate from the bottom-up.” (Malena et al. 2004: 3)
v
Liz Gibbons, UNICEF workshop working paper 2014 – need to specify publication
vi Gerison Lansdown, Every Child’s Right to Be Heard: A Resource Guide on the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child General Comment No. 12
(London: Save the Children UK, 2011), available at http://www.unicef.org/ adolescence/files/Every_Childs_Right_to_be_Heard.pdf
vii Child Focused agency discussion paper on local level accountability - need more detailed reference
viii UNICEF ???
ix Walker, D et al. Partners for Change: Young people and governance in a post-2015 world. September 2014, Plan International, Overseas Development
Institute and Restless Development.
x
Davis, A et al. Young people’s engagement in strengthening accountability for the post-2015 agenda. September 2014, Plan International, Overseas
Development Institute, and the UN Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth.
xi Child Focused agency discussion paper on local level accountability - need more detailed reference
xii Child Focused agency discussion paper on local level accountability - need more detailed reference
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