Wellbeing and self-care: how safeguarding morphed in the virtual environment

In July this year, the Phoenix Consultation brought together youth activists from Mexico, Canada and the US in a virtual space to discuss children's right to a healthy environment over four days. Children Unite was responsible for safeguarding at the consultation and we found that, because the virtual environment of the event positioned youth activists as equal to elders, the traditional idea of safeguarding morphed into a broader concept of wellbeing and self-care. There were very few 'safeguarding' tools - that were specific to children. Take the traditional idea of a 'code of conduct' - through consultation with an intergenerational advisory committee this was called an 'event agreement' and everyone - elders and youth - were expected to abide by it. Click on this link to find out more about the consultation.