Children and young people build participatory democracy in Latin American cities

This paper presents case studies from four cities in Latin America – Cotacachi in Ecuador, Barra Mansa and IcapuÌ in Brazil, and Ciudad Guyana in Venezuela – all of which involved initiatives to foster the active participation of children and young people in the governance of their cities. The paper describes the larger context in each case, the range of methods used to involve young people in each city, the process as it evolved over time, the challenges experienced and the impact of the initiatives. To some extent, all four projects involved the adaptation of participatory budgeting as an approach to participation for young people. The paper concludes with a discussion of the lessons drawn from these cases.