From words to action: A groundbreaking toolkit to measure children’s rights
Roberta Ruggiero and Gerison Lansdown.
How do we know if children’s rights are being upheld - not just in law, but in practice, in the lives of real children?
It is a question that has challenged governments, civil society, educators, and advocates since the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was adopted in 1989. While the CRC laid out a global standard, the gap between ratification and implementation has often remained hard to quantify.
Building on the success of their 2022 publication Monitoring State Compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (downloaded more than 800,000 times), a powerful new open-access resource, Children’s Rights-Based Indicators, offers a way forward.
Co-authored by internationally recognised child rights experts Gerison Lansdown, Roberta Ruggiero, and Ziba Vaghri, the book - developed over nearly a decade - provides a practical framework to help governments, practitioners, and communities translate the CRC into tangible, measurable action.
We sat down with authors Lansdown and Ruggiero to discuss their work.
“The idea,” says Lansdown, “was to give advocates, policymakers, and practitioners the tools to answer: what needs to be in place for children’s rights to be real, and how do we know if it’s working?”
A global framework rooted in rights and adaptable to local contexts
At the heart of Children’s Rights-Based Indicators is a comprehensive monitoring framework that identifies structural, process, and outcome indicators for each article of the CRC:
Structural indicators assess whether the necessary legal frameworks and policies are in place (e.g., laws prohibiting child labor).
Process indicators examine the systems and actions implemented to realize those rights (e.g., training programs for teachers on non-discrimination).
Outcome indicators look at the tangible results in children's lives (e.g., enrolment rates for children with disabilities).
This three-part approach builds a full picture of implementation, moving beyond formal commitments to assess real-world impact.
What distinguishes this publication is not only its legal grounding and scope, but also its practical usability and the meaningful inclusion of children throughout its development. Over 2,000 children from 35 countries were consulted in the development of the tool, directly influencing the design, prioritisation, and even the language of many indicators.
“We wanted not only to reflect how the CRC is interpreted by the Committee [on the rights of the child],” explains Ruggiero, “but to understand what the rights actually mean to children in their everyday lives.”
“One striking insight from the consultations,” Lansdown adds, “was the importance children placed on the value of quality relationships. Whether on protection, education, or participation - children emphasized the need for safe, respectful, and trusting relationships with adults as central to realising their rights.”
Why monitoring of child rights matters
Monitoring is often seen as a tool for accountability. While that’s certainly true, Lansdown and Ruggiero stress that it also plays a vital role in improving quality, learning, and strategy. Without it, even the most well-meaning programmes can struggle to demonstrate impact or adapt effectively.
“It’s not just about justifying investments,” says Ruggiero. “It’s about doing your job better - whether you’re a government official, a social worker, or a school principal.”
Who can use these indicators?
Although the indicators were designed with national governments in mind, their use extends far beyond official institutions. According to Lansdown and Ruggiero, they are relevant to:
Governments and public agencies developing and assessing national child rights strategies.
Local authorities and municipalities, including child-friendly cities and communities.
International organisations, local NGOs, and service providers, for designing and evaluating their programs.
Educators and school systems, adapting them to assess child participation, protection, and inclusion.
Health and welfare professionals, to track service quality and equity.
Researchers and students seeking a framework for child rights analysis.
Corporate actors exploring child-rights due diligence.
“The indicators are modular,” explains Ruggiero. “They can be adapted to suit local realities - whether you are evaluating a national child protection law or a school-based sex education program.”
From global to local impact
The indicators are intended as core global standards but are designed to be adapted to different legal, cultural, and operational contexts. In Switzerland, for example, students and cantonal observatories are using them to evaluate the implementation of child rights through cantonal legal provisions dedicated to child protection.
What matters in rural Kenya may differ from urban Korea - but both can benefit from a shared measurement framework grounded in children’s rights.
What's next?
Ruggiero and Lansdown envision a possible child-friendly version of the indicators, the development of future case studies, and a webinar series to support broader uptake across sectors. They also stress the need for capacity-building to ensure users can meaningfully apply the tools.
“Too often, local actors feel disempowered. They may have the data but lack the framework to use it effectively, while children are often excluded from the evaluation of policies and interventions, even when such measures are designed for their benefit.” Ruggiero notes. “These indicators can change that.”
With these publications, Lansdown, Ruggiero, and Vaghri have done more than produce a set of indicators - they’ve opened a path from principle to practice, giving professionals across the world a way to track, improve, and advocate for the rights of children.
Both books are freely available via Springer:
