The success of democratic societies is dependent on their citizens' ability to participate in the process of decision-making. These skills cannot emerge suddenly at the age of 18 when voting rights are granted. Children have to be given opportunities to participate in matters that affect their lives and the environments they belong to, thus laying firm foundations of democratic citizenship. Childhood is necessarily transient but it is a critical period and its later impact on adulthood imbues it with a certain urgency. Failure to support and facilitate children at this critical juncture will be missed opportunities for the child and society at large.
Children are passive recipients of services.
Adults determine the needs and priorities for children because they feel they know best. Participation, if any, is token and adult directed. Programmes are sectoral like education, health, sanitation, etc., and ignore the larger framework in which the child lives and interacts. Lateral linkage between sectors and child sensitivity in all sectors, be it housing, economic policy, city planning and others, is absent. Hence, there is a need for a strategy that is sensitive to children and their participation, one that is focussed on children, for children and also by children.