Working children, knowledge and power

: evaluating a participatory children’s rights-based approach in research

Abstract

In the past years, participatory and rights-based approaches to research have flourished in the field of childhood studies. These attempts are driven by the objective to implement the child’s right to be heard as anchored in Art. 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The process and results of participatory research, however, have rarely been investigated as a way of producing knowledge.

This thesis aims to analyse both the process and results of participatory and rights-based research with child rights and epistemological lenses to a) explore working children’s understanding of the right to be heard in the context of research, b) to investigate the extent to which a global participatory research project with working children enabled rights-based research and c) to explore epistemological assumptions linked to these research approaches. It uses the project “It’s Time to Talk! – Children’s Views on Children’s Work” (2016-2019, Time to Talk) as an example. Time to Talk has been implemented by Kindernothilfe and Terre des Hommes. It included a consultation of 1.822 working children from 36 countries, the involvement of 17 Children Advisory Committees (CACs) as advisors, analysts and advocates and child-led advocacy in eight countries.

First, the children’s understanding of the realisation of their right to be heard in (global) research based on the Lundy Model of Participation was explored with 23 CAC members in India and Indonesia in four focus group discussions using child-friendly tools. It takes the distinctive situation of working children into account: their tight schedule, their high level of exhaustion, the powerful role of employers and the costs of attending research sessions. This understanding was used to develop a child-informed Evaluation Tool that was applied with both groups in a fifth focus group discussion. It found that Time to Talk enabled rights-based research to a great extent. Limits were identified with regard to the time provided for the formation of views, the critical role of employers, income losses and the influence of dialogues with key stakeholders. The results of Time to Talk were compared with findings from non-participatory research using a combination of Document Analysis and Secondary Data Analysis to trace similarities and differences in the knowledge produced.

Theories of knowledge and power guided the analysis of findings. I argue that the individual working child acquires knowledge through practical experience, interaction with and observation of testimonies in the social environment and at work. It is located on a continuum between tacit and explicit knowledge. Participatory and rights-based research can be seen as one means to elicit this knowledge. It is different from and complementary to the knowledge generated through conventional, i.e. non-participatory research as it is very nuanced, context-specific, culturally-sensitive and not assumption-driven. However, the thesis shows that disclosing this knowledge does not necessarily empower working children. Turning their knowledge into demands can lead to their non-participation in global policy debates because their views challenge well-established norms and legal frameworks, which is unwelcome. Working children thus seem to be wronged in their capacity as knowers.

Date of Award	Dec 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Jannette Elwood (Supervisor) & Laura Lundy (Supervisor)