Two members of our Young Researchers’ Advisory Panel recently spoke at a BASPCAN conference about the importance of involving young people in research and the possible benefits and limitations of this. In this blog Abbie Rodgers, one of the presenters, reflects on this experience. 

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.

This blog post introduces a poster, designed by a group of young people, for police officers, which outlines small steps the police can take when working with young people affected by child sexual exploitation (CSE), other forms of sexual abuse and associated vulnerabilities in adolescence.

Our Voices collaborate with youth advisors on a film and poster project to raise awareness of sexual violence in Albania.

A core aim of the International Centre is to develop and enhance opportunities for children and young people to meaningfully and ethically engage in, and influence, research, policy and practice. One way in which we hope to do this is through our partnership with The Oak Foundation, an international foundation promoting children’s rights through its Child Abuse Programme. The International Centre and the Oak Foundation are collaborating to support children’s participation in

preventing sexual violence against children in Europe.

The peer support website ‘A guide for young people supporting each other’ behealthy-peersupport.org.uk has recently been launched in the UK to provide advice and support to young people who are trying to provide support to friends who may be going through difficult situations such as anxiety, self-harm, sexual abuse and violence.

In 2015 the ‘Our Voices’ project secured a small amount of funds to help groups of young people who had been involved in the 'Our Voices' consultations who wanted to take part in a short project. One group of young people in Varna, Bulgaria decided that they would like to develop aphotography exhibition to share messages about sexual violence in their local community.

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child are writing a General Comment on the rights of adolescents, fill in this survey and take your opportunity to shape what the General Comment will say.

The Coventry Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) Advisory Board was formed in March 2015 and we were invited to take part by different people and through adverts seen in the city.

As part of this project we want to hear from you! We want to gather information about, and map how young people across Europe are getting involved in sexual violence prevention work.

This Peer Support Programme used peer-to peer education to build young people's capacity to lead and manage projects and contribute to decision-making.

Feminist activists have been using the months of April and May to raise awareness about sexual assault. We would like to hear how  young feminists from around the world work to raise awareness.

YouAct is a European network of young people, who are active in the field of Sexual and Reproductive Rights. They are looking for new members!

AVA is really excited to have been commissioned to recruit and facilitate an External Reference Group of young people who have been affected by child abuse and neglect.