Eurochild Children’s Council: When Children Are Partners in Decision-Making
On 15 June 2026, a working meeting of the Eurochild Children’s Council (ECC) took place. During the preparatory day, participants met with Council of Europe representative Anna Kaiser, finalized the conference programme, and prepared for the conference together with children and young people from different countries.
On the first day of the conference, ECC members led a networking session, which was co-designed by Oleksandr, the Ukrainian representative. Participants also met with the Cyprus Children’s Council to exchange experiences on strengthening child participation and engagement between children and public authorities.
One of the key events of the conference was a workshop designed and delivered entirely by members of the Eurochild Children’s Council. Children and young people introduced adults to their digital world and discussed the opportunities and challenges of the online environment, once again demonstrating that they can be not only participants in events, but also creators of ideas and equal partners of adults.
National Survey of Ukrainian Children Presented to the International Community
On 16–17 June, the Eurochild Conference 2026 took place, where the EDUKIDS team presented the results of the national survey “How I Feel and Learn in Ukraine Today”, which gathered responses from 5,551 children from different regions of Ukraine.
The report materials were shared with conference participants so that representatives of international organisations, European institutions, experts, researchers and practitioners could gain a better understanding of how Ukrainian children are living, learning and feeling amid the full-scale war.
Behind the statistics are real children’s experiences: air-raid alerts, shelters, distance learning, power outages, anxiety, fatigue and the constant need to adapt to new challenges. At the same time, the findings demonstrate the resilience of Ukrainian children, their ability to find the strength to continue learning, and their desire to be heard.
For EDUKIDS, it was extremely important that the findings of this survey become not only a research report, but also a source of evidence for international partners developing programmes to support children, shaping policies and strengthening child protection systems across Europe.
Ukraine’s Representative Co-Moderated the Closing Panel of the Eurochild Conference
The final day of the conference began with a “Live Library”, during which participants moved from table to table, meeting people who shared their personal stories and practical experience in the field of children’s rights and protection.
The conference culminated in a closing panel discussion co-moderated by Oleksandr, Ukraine’s representative on the Eurochild Children’s Council. Together with Eurochild Vice-President Bruce Adamson, he moderated a discussion with representatives of European institutions and put questions to:
- Elizabeth Canavan, Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach;
- Sandra Aigner-Accardo, Project Manager at the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights;
- Sonia Vila Núñez, expert from the Cabinet of European Commission Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu;
- Anna Kaiser, representative of the Council of Europe.
For the Ukrainian representative, this was an opportunity to directly bring the voices of Ukrainian children into dialogue with European leaders and experts. For the EDUKIDS team, the event was another confirmation that meaningful child participation means more than consultations or surveys — it means ensuring that children are genuinely present in the spaces where decisions affecting their lives are shaped.
Participation in the Eurochild Conference on Child Protection Systems 2026 was an important step for EDUKIDS in its international advocacy for the rights of children in Ukraine. We believe that the experiences of Ukrainian children living through the full-scale war must be heard and taken into account when shaping European policies, support programmes and child protection systems.
