Working children, knowledge and power: evaluating a participatory children’s rights-based approach in research

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. <br><br>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.