This blog shares the reflections of PhD researcher and OVUN member, Janelle Rabe, on navigating participatory research with young people on the topic of sexual violence.

Since 2018 the International Centre has been working on the Our Voices Too Youth Advocacy Project in partnership with three national NGOs in Europe: Different & Equal in Albania; the National Center for Child Abuse Prevention (NCCAP) in Moldova and ATINA in Serbia. Each organisation has worked with Youth Advocates who have designed, organised and facilitated a number of advocacy activities.

As the Our Voices Too Youth Advocacy Project is now wrapping up, we wanted to share with you some of the fantastic resources that were developed by the Youth Advocates involved in this project.

This blog shares considerations for meaningfully involving young people in advocacy on sexual violence, and in participatory research and practice more broadly.

Dr Isabelle Brodie (International Centre) shares findings from a scoping review of the literature she conducted with colleagues from the International Centre on the participation of young people in child sexual exploitation (CSE) services. The review was part of the Alexi Project and can be accessed here. Isabelle speaks about the different meanings of participation, what conditions need to be in place in order to make participative working possible and effective, and shares young people and professionals' views on participation in CSE services; what they value and what they find challenging.

Check out our latest podcast on embedding participation with Abi Billinghurst, the founder and director of Abianda, a social enterprise that works with young women affected by gangs. Abi explains how participation is central to the work of Abianda and shares her expertise on embedding participation as a model of practice in various professional cultures. We also talk about how Abianda’s participatory methods are part of a wider contextual approach to working with young people, which acknowledges and addresses the wider contexts of young peoples’ experiences. 

Abi also wrote all the tools for the LEAP Against Sexual Violence project which can be accessed on the Childhub website.

On the 17th November 2017 the LEAP project came to an end. This blog, written by Kate D'Arcy the Project Coordinator for LEAP, shares what has been developed as a result of this two year European project.

10 comic postcards were launched this week that each highlight a different principle of working with young people affected by CSE  

The LEAP project is a European project which aims to support children and young people affected by sexual violence by strengthening and facilitating participatory practice. It is running from 2015-2017, and is part of the Our Voices programme of work.

The purpose of this publication from ECPAT Internationalis to synthesise current thinking on how to best enable the voices of children who have been the subject of exploitation to have roles in the decision making and governance of organisations that are designed to support and advocate for them.

Read the full thematic report here.

On 28th September a Cumberland Colloquium was held on 'young people affected by sexual violence as change makers in prevention efforts: what are the opportunities and what are the risks?'

A journal of good practices of child and youth initiatives in the prevention of commercial sexual exploitation of children.

The Sexual Violence Prevention project was set up by Rape Crisis Scotland (RCS) in April 2013. It followed a consultation which identified a need for national support to coordinate and support prevention work with young people in Scotland and to develop a national sexual violence resource pack.

This report documents and reflects on the first meeting of Reference and Dissemination Group meeting for the 'Our Voices' project which took place in December 2014.

Rape Crisis centres in Scotland are engaging with young people in schools and youth groups around the country to talk about issues such as consent, gender, social media and sexualisation.

This training guide provides learning materials for those working with young people who have experienced violence.