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Act2gether

Advancing Children’s Rights and Holistic Well-being through Intergenerational Partnerships

Act2gether is a global initiative of the Learning for Well-being Foundation that drives personal and social transformation by fostering partnerships between children and adults. It integrates a holistic perspective on well-being—mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual—through intergenerational collaboration.

Since its inception, the programme has supported the meaningful participation of children and youth across five countries ensuring their voices are not only heard but also valued in decisions that shape their lives.

Act2gether provides methodologies and tools that cultivate core capacities and embed children’s participation as a collaborative force for systems change.

The Challenge

Despite international commitments, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children’s participation remains largely underdeveloped or tokenistic. Structural barriers and societal assumptions about age continue to marginalise young people from spaces of decision-making.

Intergenerational dynamics are often shaped by polarised concepts of childhood and adulthood, where children are seen as dependent or incomplete. These narratives limit the potential of children and adults alike. Even when policies promote participation, the quality of relationships between generations determines whether children experience authentic engagement or exclusion.

In response to this, Act2gether shifts the paradigm—placing intergenerational partnership at the core of efforts to realise children’s rights and well-being.

Act2gether is grounded in the Learning for Well-being Framework, which integrates four perspectives of human experience—mental, emotional, physical and spiritual—to support intergenerational collaboration:

  • Mental: Policies and structures that legitimise children’s participation as rights-holders and decision-makers.
  • Emotional: Emphasis on relationships of trust, safety, and belonging that shape well-being.
  • Physical: Access to services, tools, and environments that enable meaningful participation.
  • Spiritual: Recognition of interdependence and the need to overcome fragmented perceptions of age and identity.

 

This approach views participation not merely as inclusion, but as a process of becoming—requiring the development of core capacities such as listening, sensing, and reflecting.

 

Through intervention models tailored to local contexts, Act2gether supports transformation in education, health, governance, and civil society systems—creating cultures of dialogue, shared responsibility, and inclusive change.

Act2gether fosters intergenerational partnerships by creating enabling conditions for child and youth participation at all levels of society. Key elements include:

  • Participatory Grant-Making for child-led social initiatives
  • Digital Platforms for intergenerational collaboration
  • Practical Tools like the We Are Here Toolbox and the Global Voices podcast
  • Advocacy and Policy Engagement, including contributions to UN bodies and regional organisations
  • Dialogue Spaces such as 2getherland online and youth-led forums

 

Each implementation builds capacities in both children and adults—creating systemic opportunities to reimagine relationships, elevate youth leadership, and embed well-being across programmes.

Act2gether has contributed to personal and systemic transformation across five countries—Bolivia, Palestine, the Netherlands, Germany and Israel —by creating meaningful opportunities for intergenerational partnerships.

Through locally led initiatives and strategic collaborations, the programme has:

  • Strengthened legal frameworks for child participation in Bolivia, influencing educational environments through intergenerational practice and civic engagement
  • Supported the creation of child-led networks and micro-grant initiatives in Israel, fostering leadership and shared responsibility
  • Institutionalised peer-to-peer approaches and school-based participation structures in Palestine, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education
  • Promoted co-creation on positive mental health through intergenerational dialogue and toolkit development in the Netherlands
  • Developed inclusive school-based interventions focused on well-being and mental health in Germany, advancing national advocacy and systems-level reform

 

These experiences demonstrate that when children and adults are supported to collaborate across generations, they co-create sustainable solutions grounded in empathy, shared learning, and mutual respect. The Act2gether programme continues to generate adaptable, evidence-based models that can be applied globally to advance the rights and well-being of all children.

Resources

Explore the 'We Are Here' Toolbox

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Related content

International and Canadian Child Rights Partnership (ICCRP)

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Children as Actors for Transforming Society (C.A.T.S.)

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2gether for Mental Health • Germany

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