Advancing child participation and accessibility through collaborative design

This past weekend in Brussels, we supported the launch of a new collaboration to make European policy more accessible to children.

Together with a group of young people from across Europe, and in partnership with Eurochild and Re.Brand Studio, we began co-creating a child-friendly version of the European Commission Guidelines on Mental Health and Well-Being at School. The aim was to ensure these important recommendations can be understood and used not only by adults, but also by children themselves.

Over three days of collaboration, the young participants translated key ideas into clear and relatable language, while also helping to shape the tone, layout and visual identity of the future document. Our role focused on facilitating reflection and co-creation, supporting the process of making complex content more accessible without losing the depth of the original message.

This project reflects our ongoing commitment to supporting meaningful child participation, improving the accessibility of public communication, and fostering inclusion through clarity and co-creation. It also offered an opportunity for young people to build new skills, share perspectives, and contribute to a resource designed to serve their peers.

Following this initial meeting, the next phase will include broader consultation with national and European-level child participation platforms. Once that feedback is integrated, the final version will be reviewed by the group and presented to the European Commission later this year.

📍 Read more about the initiative and stay tuned as the work progresses.

When children are trusted to shape how policies are communicated, we take a step closer to systems that respect, include and empower all.