The National Council of Girls and Boys (CNRR) is born and meets for the first time in Rome tomorrow, after several months of preparatory activity. This reality, desired and established by the Authority Guarantor for Childhood and Adolescence (AGIA) as part of its 'iopartecipo' system dedicated to the direct participation of minors, will be a kind of small parliament for the youngest: composed of 50 girls and boys between 13 and 17 years old, coming from different Italian regions and from different experiences, it was born to give the younger generations the opportunity to express their perspective and to contribute to public life, directly, on issues and questions that will be decided by the Council itself during its mandate, a mandate that for now extends until 2025. The quality of education, school infrastructure, environmental protection, mental health, access to quality public health and access to psychological support are just some of the issues already identified through a series of workshops and meetings with hundreds of girls and boys throughout the national territory carried out in the phase that led to the composition of the Council.
"From the beginning of my mandate I believed in the need to enhance the participation of young people - comments the Guarantor Authority Carla Garlatti - With this system we can finally offer an open space to everyone, where everyone can find a way to make their voice heard to the institutions". "The younger generations still have too limited spaces for expression" explains Pippo Costella of Defence for Children Italy, the organization that has been entrusted by AGIA with the task of facilitating the constitution and development of the Council "listening to what boys and girls think and propose can provide original and important trajectories of meaning that can inspire and guide the choices of adults for the benefit of all".
The development of the initiative is rooted in the rich panorama of direct participation experiences of minors present in Italy and is supported, from the beginning, by a network of important organizations that consider participation and listening to the younger generations as a central dimension of their mission. The inaugural session of the Council will be held at the Guarantor Authority headquarters tomorrow Friday 23 February from 3 to 6 pm and will be streamed on the website iopartecipo.garanteinfanzia.org. After this inaugural moment, the boys and girls from all over Italy who have come to Rome will meet to choose the issues to address and organize the work for the coming months. A work, tailored to boys and girls, that will certainly be inspired and accompanied by fundamental moments of play, knowledge and socialization.
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