36 • PART TWO: FACILITATOR’S GUIDE
(^17) Roger Hart’s Ladder of Participation was introduced in 1992 and has been widely used by UNICEF and other organizations
working with children.
HOW DO YOU ENHANCE PARTICIPATION?
Good participation leads to empowerment of
children. It is a good idea for organizations to
assess the nature of children’s participation in their
programs. A useful tool to assess the level of
participation is Roger Hart’s Ladder of
Participation.^17 In the Ladder, the first three steps
are actually examples of non-participation. The
higher levels on the ladder indicate increasing
empowerment and partnerships, greater ownership
and sustainability. The ladder is not progressive in
nature. Thus, it is not necessary that each level may
progress to the next. The tool must be used to
identify the current level of participation in an
organization, program or activity.
The illustration and table that follows describe the different levels of Participation
- Decoration
- Tokenism
- Manipulation
NON-PARTICIPATIONLEVELS OF
PARTICIPATION- Child-initiated, shared decision with adults
- Child-initiated and directed
- Adult-initiated, shared decisions with children
- Consulted and informed
- Assigned but informed
PARTICIPATION