New avenues to bringing children’s views to the public debate
By Patricio Cuevas-Parra
As a child rights advocate, I am thrilled to commemorate the Universal Children’s Day by celebrating the extraordinary abilities of children and young people in conducting their own research on issues that matter to them.
Child-led research is a participatory research method that is led and designed by the child and is conceived from a child’s perspective. As an emerging approach, child-led research seeks to enhance children and young people’s participation in the public sphere by giving them a voice on issues that are relevant to them.
Recognising children as researchers has not been an easy journey. While a number of academics and practitioners have studied the engagement of children and young people in participatory research processes over the past decade, scant attention has been paid in the literature to research led directly by children. Normally, most research on children’s issues is led by adults, and children are unlikely to be involved as lead researchers.
A literature review shows that there are tensions in different levels. Firstly, there is a tension between the knowledge produced by common people and the scientific knowledge. Secondly, age-based discrimination practices privilege the research led by an adult over the one which is child-led. As result of both strains, the opportunities for children and young people to conduct their own research are limited and face criticism based on the premise that such practices are tokenistic and extractive.
In order to contribute to this debate and explore promising experiences of child-led research practices, we are currently studying two initiatives conducted in Bangladesh by members of the Child Parliament and in Lebanon and Jordan by Syrian refugee children. Emerging findings from the study show that these child-led research projects have been an effective form of child participation as this process has been accompanied with well-developed ethical and child-sensitive methodologies.
Furthermore, interviews with child participants reveal that children and young people were highly motivated in engaging in their own research and this process created a sense of belonging and a feeling of being valued. Participants feel that the child-led research project has had an impact in their life, especially in their self-confidence and empowerment. They also positively value the new transferable skills acquired during the workshops. Nonetheless, the study has not yet produced evidence on the impact of the child-led research in decision-making processes as more data needs to be collected and analysed.
As we observe the Universal Children’s Day, I congratulate the children and young people from Bangladesh and the Middle East who engaged in child-led research as this practice contributes to make their voices heard. I also celebrate the role of the Convention on the Rights of the Child that has made a huge impact in enhancing the role of children and young people as active researchers as a way to grant their right to influence decision-making on issues that affect their daily lives. My hope is that the Universal Children’s Day can provide more innovative avenues to bringing children and young people’s views to the public debate.
About the author
Patricio Cuevas-Parra is Senior Policy Adviser, Child Participation, Global Advocacy & Justice for Children, World Vision International. Mr. Cuevas-Parra leads and develops the cross organisational implementation of resources to carry out child participation initiatives at the local, national and global levels. He also leads broader efforts to ensure the development of policies, practices and programs in order to strengthen child participation in advocacy.