Sharon Bessell

The right to be properly researched: Research with children in a messy, real world

Unless they focus on epidemiological debates, most thematic issues of social-science journals concentrate on research results, describing methods only as a means to an end. Nevertheless, the burgeoning field of research with children in the context of international rights-based programming has placed a new spotlight on epidemiological questions. What exactly (and what age) is a child when seen as the subject rather than object of research? How does this affect both methodology and method? Does the special social status of childhood imply new approaches and techniques, different ethical considerations, a novel role for researchers? Who should be a child researcher? What, indeed, are the human rights of children?

Dominant Discourses, Debates and Silences on Child Labour in Africa and Asia

Abstract Drawing on the relevant literature, this article explores key debates and controversies on child labour in the context of Africa and Asia. It first identifies and analyses three dominant discourses on child labour: 1) the work-free childhoods perspective; 2) the socio-cultural perspective; and 3) the political economy perspective. Against the backdrop of these discourses, the article goes on to critically examine aspects of child labour that are underrepresented in the literature and in international policy circles. It concludes by highlighting the importance of grounding childrens gendered work within the complex material social practices of interconnected histories and geographies in which their livelihoods unfold.

Forming Partnerships: The Human Rights of Children in Need of Care and Protection

The care and protection of children experiencing or considered to be at risk of abuse or neglect within their families is a major policy dilemma. Children in the care and protection system do not fare well on a range of indicators, when compared to the overall population. In recent years there have been significant changes in policies and support for children in out of home care, including the adoption of the language of rights. Nevertheless, the care and protection of children who enter the system bearing that name is often dubbed one of social policy’s ‘wicked problems’. This paper synthesizes concepts of human rights, children’s needs and citizenship as a basis for redefining policy and services for children in out-of-home care. We suggest that improved support for children in out of home care requires the recognition of children as partners.

Children's Participation in Decision Making in the Philippines: Understanding the attitudes of policy-makers and service providers

This article explores the ideas about children’s participation in decision-making held by government officials and non-government representatives engaged in promoting children’s participation in the Philippines. It suggests that the ideas that policy-makers and service deliverers hold about children’s participation are heterogeneous, diverse and complex. While adults’ attitudes are often presented as serious barriers to children’s participation, this study suggests that they are both obstructive and facilitative. A deeper understanding of the range of ideas held by adults, particularly policy-makers and service providers, may be the critical next step in progressing children’s participation in a direction that is meaningful for children and influential in terms of policy outcomes.

Indonesian Children's Views and Experiences of Work and Poverty

While the causes of child labour are multifaceted and complex, economic disadvantage is generally identified as an important contributing factor. Child labour is also cited as perpetuating poverty. The precise relationship between child labour and poverty is, however, contested. This paper aims to deepen understanding of the relationship between childrens work and poverty by focusing on childrens views and experiences. Drawing on research with children in Indonesia, this paper examines two questions. First, how do working children define and experience poverty? Second, how do working children view the relationship between their work and poverty?

The Individual Deprivation Measure: measuring poverty as if gender and inequality matter

As inequality deepens globally and within countries it is vital that we know how poverty shapes, constrains, and often destroys the lives of women and men. We know from decades of research that poverty is experienced differently by women and men, yet existing mainstream measures of poverty have been blind to gender. This article focuses on the Individual Deprivation Measure (IDM), a multi-dimensional measure of poverty and inequality designed to illuminate rather than obscure gender differences. Developed over the past five years by an inter-disciplinary research team based at the Australian National University, the IDM is grounded in research with women and men across 18 sites in six countries. Unlike most mainstream measures of poverty, the IDM takes the individual, rather than the household, as the unit of analysis. As a result, the IDM is able to capture gendered differences in the ways poverty is experienced, and also differences according to other markers of identity or social status, such as age, ethnicity, or geographic location.

Sustaining the energy: a celebration of the life of Judith Ennew

In October 2013 the world lost one of the leading lights of scholarship and advocacy for the human rights of children. Judith Ennew was an intellectual and an activist who shaped the global agenda for research with children, particularly in the Global South, for almost four decades. Judith was also a mentor and friend to many child researchers around the world. Here, we celebrate the incredible life of Judith Ennew as we remember the breadth and depth of her contribution to research and her unfailing commitment to improving the lives of children around the world.

The Methodology and Ethics of Rights-Based Research with Children

As research with children has burgeoned over the past three decades, methodology and ethics have become increasingly important subjects of discussion and debate. Researchers, particularly in the social sciences, are concerned to ensure not only that the methods used in research with children are robust but that the underpinning principles are ethical and treat children with respect. Judith Ennew was one of the most significant contributors to the development of rights-based research with children, pioneering the concept of ‘the right to be properly researched’. This chapter traces Judith’s contribution to research with children over almost four decades, exploring the theoretical perspectives that shaped her approach to methodology and ethics and discussing in detail the practical application of her approach.