A participação das crianças como prática de cidadania: avaliação de experiências brasileiras

Abstract

This study aimed to understand how different the child action can contribute to children's citizenship. With the aim of understanding this process we used the literature review which was a method to concern the social views produced about childhood and also identifying aspects of the child commitment in participatory practices and analyzing different experiences that rely on the participation of children. It has been necessary to extend democratic practices to all citizens, as we know that despite democracy presupposing equal rights (in this case, participatory) it is evident that not all groups assume them on a daily basis, like the children for instance. This paper used resources in different areas of knowledge such as sociology, philosophy, anthropology, pedagogy and history in order to ponder on the participation of children. This study articulated the reflection as dialogues among participation and different concepts, namely: territory, rights, protection, citizenship and power. Based on this, three experiences that rely on children's participation are analyzed: Os Sem Terrinha, Fundação Casa Grande and O Orçamento Participativo da Criança. These experiences are prepared and analyzed after four questions: What is the conception of children for the experiences? How do children participate? Do experiences assume children's rights? Do the practices of the experiences help them in the exercise of citizenship? In the process of analyzes we found out that the experiences have different forms of participation. This participation can contribute to children's citizenship they can recognizing their rights, create possibilities for economic and social political participation, they can assume the adult as a facilitator of these processes. It is important to leave behind the prejudice about children and keep the democracy as a basis for practices are a requirement for success in this role.