Shaking the Movers back for its second year at King's

The second King’s Shaking the Movers workshop was held on November 26, 2022. The event involved 85 contributors, including child participants, student coordinators, undergraduate student facilitators and Childhood and Youth Studies (CYS) faculty. Based on the Landon Pearson Centre’s (LPC) model for collaborative consultation with children, CYS undergraduate students worked together on campus to virtually facilitate the workshop with children aged 5-13 from across Ontario.

Led by Childhood and Youth Studies (CYS) faculty members Daniella Bendo and Hala Mreiwed, the 2022 Shaking the Movers workshop expanded to include student facilitators from two classes, CYS 3355: Rights-based Community Engagement and CYS 3351: Facilitating Child Advocacy.

The topic for this year’s workshop, “A World Fit for Children: Making Our World a Better Place,” provided a foundation for CYS students to develop child-rights-based videos, posters and activities, which focused on important themes selected by children, including poverty, bullying, mental health, education, healthcare, and the environment. Through these activities, young people shared their thoughts, ideas and suggestions about how to make the world a better place for children as they explored and discussed aspects of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in the context of their lived experiences. SHAKING THE MOVERS

CYS students compiled a report that captures the young people’s key ideas, experiences and insights shared throughout the 2022 workshop. The report was presented to a network of decision-makers from across Canada at a conference at Carleton University through the LPC in April 2023. Decision-makers were asked to read Shaking the Movers 2022 reports from various regions. They responded positively to young people’s suggestions and the issues outlined in the report. Many were saddened by the issues young people highlighted but were also inspired by their ideas and perseverance in a complex, rapidly changing 21st century.

Reflecting on this year’s Shaking the Movers workshop, Assistant Professor Daniella Bendo says, “Our CYS students came up with creative and engaging child rights-based videos, posters and activities that opened up important discussions with children about how to make our world a better place for children. The children provided insightful ideas, thoughts and suggestions on what A World Fit for Children should look like, and we look forward to sharing these perspectives with decision-makers.”

The Shaking the Movers 2022 workshop was made possible thanks to a 2021 MOU between King’s and the LPC and generous funding from the LPC, the John M. Davitsky Foundation at Toronto Foundation and King’s University College.

The next Shaking the Movers workshop will run in fall 2023.