Convinced that an educating people will necessarily be a participating people, participation has been from the beginning one of the axes of Oinherri. In recent years, however, they have been concerned about the processes of participation with children and adolescents, according to Maite Azpiazu, member of Oinherri: "Who participates and who doesn't? Who do we recognize the capacity to participate and who do not? Are we not raising the process from very mature forms in these processes of child and adolescent participation? Is participating simply asking the children and adolescents what they want and going to the city council with that list to fulfill it? ".

For six months Oinherrik, the research group of the UPV/EHU Part Hartuz, the research group of Emagin Bilgune Feminist and the Joxemi Zumalabe foundation have reflected on the subject. The reflections have left a proposal for a new framework to rethink the culture of participation, based on three key points.

On the one hand, beyond asking for opinion, the participation of boys and girls should be a protagonist and empowering for them and them, says Maite Azpiazu: "We want boys and girls to be educated in participation so that they become aware of the right they have to build and participate in that political subject trained to become part of the community."

To do this, "we must take into account the cultural needs of childhood: rhythms of children, need for movement, play and holiness, spontaneity... We must create a different, non-adult, participatory culture that takes these characteristics into account. We have to create a participatory culture in which other voices and bodies feel comfortable, because we do so from the perspective of adults, in our case from the culture of white Basque adults, which is usually based on assembly and word. An attempt to leave has been proposed, because the children there do not participate as children, they become small adults and tell us what we want to hear."

In the same vein, Azpiazu explains that they have given importance to the issue of intersectionality, "because we know that there is not a single childhood and that this stage also crosses with other aspects (race, social class, sex...), and it is important to keep them in mind so that participation is diverse and we can really reach all voices and bodies."

Finally, if we want to integrate the participation of children in the public policies of the locality, "we must begin by educating first in intimacy or participation at home, then in school participation, and finally, in the people or in the community. As pedagogue Francesco Tonucci says, we often don't let kids decide anything until they're 10-12, and all of a sudden we take them to the mayor and tell them to participate and decide. But this requires a process from the very beginning, because educating in participation is a process of empowerment, feeling able to participate, to be part of a community, and to do so acquire skills and instruments that allow to give other leaps in a progressive way".

Saturday, days

To deal with all this, they have organised the conference "Participation from the culture of childhood (re)thinking" next Saturday in Oñati. Ane Sofedo will talk about the article “If children can teach us” published in ARGIA; Txusma Azkona and Alfredo Hoyuelos will talk about education in privacy; Maitane Basasoro of the Herri Eskola of Antzuola will talk about how to get from the Argentine Network of the City of Children an idea from Paula Culture. More information on this link.

The conference will also present the piloting of the new framework, with a pilot project in four locations from November to March, with the aim of implementing the reflections. To this end, they have managed to involve in each of the selected villages representatives of three fundamental legs: the city council, formal and non-formal education and citizenship. The names of the four peoples will be announced at the conference.