Community Engagement :
The need for better leadership is local as well as global. The objective is to develop child leaders in every social strata. Local children’s parliaments work closely with schools, faith groups, local NGOs, and grassroots initiatives to bring forth children from every background into leadership. Neighborhood circles enable children to talk, listen, decide by consent, and launch actions to solve real problems. For example, local parliaments in different places around the world have gotten rid of stagnant water, built good relationships with police, successfully petitioned to get needed bridges built, and collected food for the needy.
Children’s parliaments at higher levels of federation provide leaders for regions. For example, they have organized aid and been quickly on the scene of natural disasters. They helped an indigenous tribe get official recognition from the state after years of futile efforts by the tribe. In Chile, children’s parliaments contributed to re-writing the country’s constitution.
At the international level, a 16-year-old WCP member speaking at a United Nations side event led to a WCP partnership with the International Police Executive Symposium. The goal of the partnership is to conduct a demonstration experiment to use children’s parliaments and collective impact methods to reduce crime in the country of Belize. In early 2025, Children of the WCP participated in the UN’s annual review of articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) by participating in General Comment 27, this year focused on UNCRC Article 40 concerning children’s legal rights.