BG  CZ  EN  ET  GR  HU  IT  PL  SK

Strengthening the capacity of professionals in the EU to fulfil the rights of vulnerable children

This project is co-funded by the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme of the European Union and part funded by the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust and involves partners from ten European countries:

Coram Children’s Legal Centre and Coram Voice from the UK, FICE Bulgaria, Czech Helsinki Committee, the University College Cork, Children of Slovakia Foundation, Estonian Centre for Human Rights, European Roma Rights Centre (Hungary), Fondazione L’Albero della Vita (Italy), Empowering Children Foundation (Poland), Social Educational Action (Greece), and FCYA Hungary.

International standards, and many national laws, recognise that children and young people have a right to express their views – and to have their wishes and feelings reflected in decisions affecting them.

Unlocking Children’s Rights is an innovative training resource, which has been successfully piloted across Europe.  It enables professionals and practitioners working with children to:

  • Strengthen their skills and knowledge of children’s rights
  • Enable children and young people to express their views
  • Communicate effectively and sensitively with children and young people in a professional context
  • Ensure children participate meaningfully in decisions affecting them

The modules are all available for download below and are:

  • Module 1: Introduction to child rights
  • Module 2: Introduction to child development and communication
  • Module 3: Communication skills
  • Module 4: The child-friendly justice guidelines
We engaged with over 60 children when developing these materials. The image is a ‘word cloud’ showing their thoughts and experiences of communication and interaction with professionals.
Coram Voice
Child Law Clinic, Cork

Project partners

Guidance for using the training materials

Download pdf (en)

Facilitator’s guide

The facilitators’ guide provides detailed instructions on how to deliver each module and activity of the training materials.

Download pdf (en)

Participant workbooks and PowerPoint slides

Module IM – Introductory Module

IM Handbook pdf (EN)
IM Slides ppt (en)

Module 1 – Introduction to Child Rights

M1 Handbook pdf (en)
M1 Slides ppt (en)

Module 2 – Introduction to Child Development and Communication

M2 Handbook pdf (en)
M2 Slides ppt (en)

Module 3 – Communication Skills

M3 Handbook pdf (en)
M3 Slides ppt (en)

Module 4 – The Child-friendly Justice Guidelines

M4 Handbook pdf (en)
M4 Slides ppt (en)

Closing Module

CM Handbook pdf (en)

Module tests

Module 1 - Introduction to child rights

Test your knowledge and understanding of child rights. The following multiple choice test is based on the contents of Module 1 of the training package.

Module 2 – Introduction to child development and communication

Test your knowledge and understanding of child development and communication. The following multiple choice test is based on the contents of Module 2 of the training package.

Module 3 – Communication skills

Test your knowledge and understanding of communication skills. The following multiple choice test is based on the contents of Module 3 of the training package.

Module 4 – The child-friendly justice guidelines

Test your knowledge and understanding of the child-friendly justice guidelines. The following multiple choice test is based on the contents of Module 4 of the training package.

Additional resources

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (EN)
European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (EN)
Child-friendly Guidelines (EN)

This project is co-funded by the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme of the European Union

The project is also part funded by the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust.

Please note: the contents of this publication and webpage are the sole responsibility of Coram Children’s Legal Centre and project partners and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Commission.