For many civil society organizations working with and/or for children, the goal is often the same: to do what is right for children.
However, the current situation faced by children in Turkey today clearly shows that good intentions alone are not enough. Children left out of formal education, deepening child poverty, child labor, problems accessing food, violence and discrimination... All these issues tell us this: Doing what is right is only possible with a rights-based, systematic, and accountable approach.
For organizations that want to align their programs with children’s rights principles, build a rights-based organizational structure, and incorporate this approach into their work, we held an online meeting with Adem Arkadaş, a children’s rights advocate who has worked in the field of human rights for over 30 years.
We began our meeting by accepting a prerequisite: For civil society organizations, a rights-based approach focusing on children is no longer a choice, but a necessity.
So, what is rights-based programming for children?
Rights-based programming for children is an approach that places children’s rights at the center of all processes, from the design to the implementation, monitoring to evaluation, of projects and programs.
In this approach, children are not seen as "recipients of aid" or "beneficiaries," but as rights holders. The state and public authorities are defined as duty bearers. Thus, the issue moves away from temporarily addressing needs to ensuring rights are realized permanently.
Therefore, this programming approach—whose purpose and method are both rooted in children’s rights—addresses problems not just on the surface, but by tackling their root causes.
This raises a question. In different countries, how do we address problems arising from different root causes in a rights-based way?
Rights are not open to universal interpretation, but implementation is contextual
The unchanging fact here is that children’s rights are universal. However, the ways these rights are realized may vary according to context. It’s important to clearly define the context here. Context is not about lowering standards or justifying violations. It is not permissible to harm the essence of a right based on tradition, security, or culture. On the contrary; it means realizing the same rights standards through different means, considering realities such as poverty, migration, disasters, gender inequality, and disability. Accordingly, in a country like ours with multi-layered social, economic, and political dynamics, “context” is of vital importance.
From goodwill to structure: How is a rights-based program established?
Many initiatives related to children in Turkey start with “good intentions.” But a rights-based program stands not on intention, but on structure. Within the structure, standards and accountability are the most basic elements. To achieve this, several critical steps stand out:
- Conducting a rights analysis, not just a needs analysis
As in many other fields in Turkey, needs analysis is frequently used in work related to children. However, one should ask not only, "What do children need?" but also, "Which right’s violation causes this need, and who is responsible?"
- Including children in the process as subjects
Children must be positioned not as beneficiaries, but as rights holders, and the principle must be to work not just "for children," but "with children." Therefore, participation should be designed as a process that genuinely influences decisions, not just a symbolic act.
- Mapping responsibility
Questions like, "Who is responsible for this rights violation? Whom should we support to prevent rights violations?" must be answered. Moreover, instead of merely filling the “service” gap for the duty bearer, we need to strengthen the demand for rights by linking with public policies and budgets.
- Using the best interests of the child as a method
It’s also critical to see the principle of the best interests of the child not as a slogan, but as a tool for evaluating the potential impacts of every decision. While work often assumes the “average child,” a rights-based approach advances by identifying who is left out—considering contexts such as poverty, disability, migration, gender, regional inequalities, crisis, and disaster.
- Establishing accountability mechanisms
It’s important to set up feedback and complaint channels, measurable rights-based indicators, and regular monitoring processes.
In short, it’s necessary to regard children as subjects, work together with them, hold state actors accountable and engage with them, involve children in decisions, provide reasons for decisions made or not made, and be accountable ourselves.
Participation is not an event, but a process together with children
Here, children’s participation is another important topic. Rights-based programming for children means their participation starts from the design phase and includes the entire implementation process.
Child participation is not limited to a one-time consultation meeting or a token committee. In a rights-based approach, participation is a principle encompassing the whole process, from design to implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
This can be a demanding and meticulous path. However, a model of participation in which children's opinions genuinely influence the process, and in which reasons are clearly shared when their views are not taken into account, enhances both the quality and legitimacy of the programs.
Is lasting change possible without partnership?
Alongside all this, creating lasting and widespread impact in the field of children’s rights is not a burden a single CSO can shoulder. Rights are indivisible, and children’s rights, women’s rights, disability rights, migrant rights—all rights intersect.
For this reason, rights-based programming for children sees inter-institutional cooperation not as a choice, but as an obligation. Structures where joint knowledge is produced, joint advocacy is carried out, and children are part of these processes are the strongest tools for rights-based change.
Small steps, big impact
Today in Turkey, issues concerning children are large and complex. But that is not a reason for inaction. Rights-based programming for children can be a compass for sustainable change for CSOs, rather than short-term solutions.
Maybe we can’t transform everything at once. But we can start by rethinking the language we use, the programs we design, and the spaces we create for children.
Because children should benefit not from services, but from rights. And doing what’s right is not just possible—it’s our shared responsibility.