The Country of Boys and Girls:
A Model for Participation and Child Leadership

Luz Helena Monje
Nancy Stella López Mora
Plan International, Colombia Program
Foundation for Dance and Life

Citation: Monje, Luz Helena and Nancy Stella López Mora (2007). "The Country of Boys and Girls: A Model for Participation and Child Leadership." Children, Youth and Environments 17 (2): 170-186. Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/

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Abstract

This report describes the Country of Boys and Girls Project in the city of Santiago de Cali, in the Department of Valle del Cauca, Colombia, which was supported by Plan International, and executed by the Foundation for Dance and Life. 

The project was a real exercise in child participation through which boys and girls had the opportunity to become recognized social agents and visible subjects of development who interact with other community agents to transform their reality, starting from the perspective of children’s rights. 

The intervention process was based on four strategies:  Approximation of the Micro-Reality; Education on Children’s Integral Development; Organization for Action; and Inter-Institutional and Community Involvement. The project relied on youth-child interaction and a “learning by playing” pedagogical process. 

Keywords: children’s rights, child-centered community development, Colombia, child leadership, organizational processes, child participation, youth participation