The Children's Forum brings our young residents together to help shape the future of their city.
Each year during Children’s Week, the Children's Services team hosts the Children’s Forum—a unique event dedicated to celebrating the voices, ideas and leadership of local grade five and six primary school students.
Children's participation is a priority for Council, it is the cornerstone of a Child Friendly City, a commitment made by the City of Greater Dandenong to endorse UNICEF's Child Friendly City Principles in 2015. Children are the experts in their own lives, their needs and concerns – they have the right and ability to help shape where they live. The Children's Forum is one of the ways Council listens to children's voices.
The Forum creates a space where young people can engage directly with Council teams, explore real-life community projects and share their vision for a better future. Through interactive workshops, inspiring guest speakers and creative activities, participants develop a sense of agency in their community.
These activities also help children gain new skills and knowledge and build their confidence, encouraging them to express their opinions and be part of civic activities.
2024 Children's Forum
On Thursday 24 October 2024, the 9th Annual Children’s Forum brought together over 70 grade five and six students from local primary schools. The Forum was a celebration of children’s voices, leadership and creativity—a unique event where our young changemakers took centre stage.
The Forum was an event led by children, for children with Junior Mayor, Gemma Durakovic as MC, opened the event with confidence and enthusiasm. Other young leaders led the morning session, leading activities speaking on stage, and sharing their stories.
Inspiring speakers included the Junior Mayor from Kingston Council, who shared her experiences as a young leader and Duoth Makuac, a young community leader. Duoth shared his journey from primary school changemaker to youth advocate, showing how young voices have the power to create real change.
Council teams delivered engaging, interactive workshops offering students the chance to engage with real projects, such as exploring sustainability in park design, ideas for growing healthy food in our community and designing a new game to encourage children to be active. These sessions empowered participants to see themselves as active contributors to their community.
To wrap up the day, artist Olana Janfa led an art session, sparking creativity and encouraging students to share their vision for change through art. Children’s artwork —a message to the world about making a difference and a glimpse into the hopes and dreams of our young changemakers —was exhibited in the Bendigo Bank windows (shopfront on the lower ground of the Dandenong Civic Centre, 225 Lonsdale Street, Dandenong).
A huge thank-you to everyone who helped make this event possible from Council teams to guest speakers, teachers, and most importantly, the students. Your support created an inspiring space where children felt valued, heard and empowered. Watching them in action was a powerful reminder of just how capable our young changemakers are.
