Consolidating the learning from the ‘Our Voices’ Programme of Work

Our Voices is an international programme of work that focuses on the involvement of children and young people who have experienced sexual violence in research, policy and practice. The programme of work began in 2013 with a grant from the Oak Foundation to the Safer Young Lives Research Centre at the University of Bedfordshire in the UK. The initial project built on pioneering work by Centre staff who were collaborating with young people who had experienced child sexual exploitation in the UK. Since 2013, researchers from the Centre have coordinated a number of projects to expand understanding of initiating and supporting participatory practice and initiatives with young people who have experienced sexual violence internationally. We have supported opportunities for young people, including young survivors, to come together in groups to discuss, analyse, share, plan, design and develop actions and outputs related to addressing childhood sexual violence. Working with partner organisations, we have engaged children and young people in Albania, Bulgaria, Kenya, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Uganda and the UK. We have also been supported by the Safer Young Lives Research Centre’s Young Researcher’s Advisory Panel (YRAP), who have helped to shape the development of this work.In many cases new activities were initiated due to gaps and needs that were identified and expressed by young people and the practitioners we collaborated with.