Children as Actors for Transforming Society (CATS), 2012-2019

HOW IT BEGAN IN 2012

Hosted in Caux, Switzerland, the C.A.T.S. Forum was initiated in 2012, by Initiatives of Change (IofC) France in partnership with IofC Switzerland, Child to Child and with the support of the Learning for Well-being Foundation, which joined the year after as an official partner.  At different stages, other partners have also joined: a group of children and young people established as M.E.O.W (since 2016) and Eurochild at first as an organizing partner (2015 and 2016)  and after, as an associate partner.

6 EDITIONS: 1600 CHILDREN AND ADULTS

The original partner’s commitment enabled the Forum for 5 years, which had then been extended to two more years until 2019. Throughout the 6 editions of the C.A.T.S. Forum, more than 1600 children and adults have participated in a living experience of intergenerational collaboration to advance children’s rights and wellbeing, in particular the right for children to be heard and be taken seriously. The C.A.T.S. Forum has inspired initiatives from school days (Belgium), to national networks (Israel), national forum (France) and regional fora (Latin America and Asia). 6 years modelling, inspiring and enabling child participation. Click here to read all reports from the previous CATS editions.

ENDING OF CATS, BEGINNING OF SOMETHING NEW

In spite of the magic lived at the Forum, holding the event and its associated activities was not always easy. For all those involved, this process has been a source of great learning about the meaning and the boundaries of creating environments where all children can engage in meaningful participation, at all levels. This learning journey led the above mentioned partners to reach the conclusion they would now like to give a different expression to their commitment to children’s rights, in a way that best suits their respective vocation. Therefore, the CATS partnership is being dissolved at the beginning of 2019 and as such the CATS programma has come to an end.

At the L4WB Foundation we are working on a new program which will feature the relationships between children and adults. Soon, we will inform you about our exciting plans on this website and through our mailing list. If you wish to be added to our mailing list, please do send an email to the team.