Investing in Children
What is the Investing in Children Membership Award?
The Investing in Children Membership Award™ recognises and celebrates examples of imaginative and inclusive practice. Investing in Children members are those services that can demonstrate a commitment to dialogue with young people that leads to change.
Why does it Work?
- It responds to the challenge ‘where I live my life’.
- By including change as a criterion as well as dialogue it focuses on outcomes as well as processes.
- It provides an opportunity for children and young people to experience being active citizens influencing the world around them.
- By seeking evidence form children and young people themselves it shifts power to them and avoids tokenism.
- There is lots of persuasive evidence to show that process helps produce efficient, cost effective services.
Applying for Membership
There are no complicated forms to complete or a complicated set of standards to meet. Organisations can register their interest by phone call or email and have an initial discussion about the strength of their evidence
Arranging a Visit
Following from this a support worker from YAP will meet with you and the children and young people who use the service to get evidence from them of dialogue and change, A report is drafted based on their evidence. If the evidence is positive membership is awarded.
YAP is privileged to be the assessors for the Investing in Children Award Scheme in Ireland, in conjunction with Voices of Young People in Care (VOYPIC) in Northern Ireland. We are working with a range of organisations in Ireland towards them achieving the Investing in Children Membership Award.
If you are interested in finding out more information about the Investing in Children Award please contact us by email at info@yapireland.ie or by phone on (01) 8689180.
YAP Ireland Investing in Children Success
In 2013, YAP first made contact with Investing in Children in the UK to review how we were promote young people’s voice and rights in our work. In 2013 we became the first organisation in the Republic of Ireland to achieve the award after being successfully being evaluated. Since then we are evaluated annually and have maintained the award to date.
Below, you can find the final evaluations written by Investing in Children on each of our regions:
· Dublin North Evaluation 2019
·Dublin Mid Leinster Evaluation 2019
· South and Midlands Evaluation 2019
For more information on the Investing in Children Membership Award™ click on the link: HERE