Towards a more holistic understanding of child participation: Foregrounding the experiences of children in Ghana and Nigeria

Framing reciprocal obligations within intergenerational relations in Ghana through the lens of the mutuality of duty and dependence

“…When they [children]come back from school, they help them with their homework’ (FGD with Nima Out of School Children 1, Tuesday 14 th February 2006). This help children expected from parents in ensuring their access to schooling was very much linked to societal or familial expectations that in future, as wage-earning educated adults, they will help their parents who would be elderly and hence, have a need for assistance (Twum-Danso 2009, Twum-Danso Imoh, 2020). As one child stated in a FGD (Study 1):Parents must take their children to school and provide them with everything they need to stay in school.…”

“…As Mensa-Bonsu and Dowuona-Hammond (1996: 15) note: 'a child is obliged to render services to a parent which obligation is then reciprocated by the parent by care and maintenance'. This service provided by children in exchange for care and the provision of needs that ensure their wellbeing comprises undertaking a range of household chores such as sweeping, cooking, cleaning, looking after younger siblings, helping parents in the running of their business, and in some cases, earning money independently to contribute to the maintenance of their family or provide for themselves and by so doing, ease the pressure that their caregivers are facing (see Twum-Danso, 2009;Twum-Danso Imoh, 2020).…”

Listening to the Social World of the Child: A Phenomenological Proposal

“…Hammersley, 2017;Tingstad, 2019;Tisdall, 2016;Wyness, 2016), as well as the problem of "voice" (cf. Komulainen, 2007;Spyrou, 2011;Sundhall, 2012;Twum-Danso Imoh and Okyere, 2020). Twum-Danso Imoh and Okyere (2020, p. 1), for instance, argue for a practice that is "more holistic, inclusive and aligned with the meanings that children themselves attach to their everyday lives as well as to the key personal and social relationships that they value. "…”

“…The ongoing issue of how to "listen to children" has been a persistent concern in social research on children and childhood, and has also been somewhat related to the phenomenon known as "children's participation" (e.g., Komulainen, 2007;Lundy and McEvoy, 2011;Mannion, 2007;Spyrou, 2011;Sundhall, 2012;Twum-Danso Imoh and Okyere, 2020;Wyness, 2016). The relationship between listening to children and children's participation is not only covered within childhood studies or children's rights research, but is also to some extent included in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989).…”

How Does Participatory Action Research Generate Innovation? Findings from a Rapid Realist Review

“…The rationale that underpins the action research design is the lack of understanding, particularly through children's lived experience, of the complex underlying drivers of WFCL, coupled with the lack of evidence of what interventions work to reduce them (Oosterhoff et al 2018;Idris, Oosterhoff and Pocock 2020). The programme aims to include the experiences of children themselves in both understanding the drivers of WFCL and directly in the development of appropriate solutions (Miljeteig 2000;Imoh and Okyere 2020;Sändig, Von Bernstorff and Hasenclever 2018). Consequently, it offers a unique opportunity to build rigorous evidence on how child-centred action research as a programming modality, works.…”