Summary:

In 2004, members of Bhima Sangha and other children of the community, had developed the five-year plans of their Panchayats as part of the 10th National Five-Year Planning process. They were facilitated by The Concerned for Working Children (CWC), Karnataka, India.

Action Research by Children to Improve their Mobility and Access - 2005

A review of the literature on research and information management shows that there are hardly any examples of children conducting their own research. In most cases, children's engagement with research, if any at all, has been as informants or as assistants to data collection. One of the few exceptions have been the research processes conducted by the members of Bhima Sangha(see note 1) and Makkala Panchayats (see note 2) of Karnataka.

In 2004, members of Bhima Sangha and other children of the community, had developed the five-year plans of their Panchayats as part of the 10th National Five-Year Planning process. They were facilitated by The Concerned for Working Children (CWC), Karnataka, India.

'Transport and mobility' related problems ranked high on the children's list of issues in the five year plans.

In order to develop solutions to these problems, children felt the need to become aware of the specific nature of transport problems. This led them seek help from CWC to carry out a research process on the subject. A project supported by DFID, UK and facilitated by CWC, India, for developing a participatory child-centred research methodology in order to enable children themselves to research into mobility issues as thus planned. It was implemented in India, Ghana and South Africa. The University of Durham, UK co-ordinated this.

The project took off with a participatory, child-centred workshop organised by CWC in order to train adult facilitators from South Africa, Ghana and the UK as well as to enable child participants to design a research methodology and field-test the same, which they would implement in their respective field areas.

The participants at the workshop were Professor Albert Abane, Head of the department of Geography, Tourism and Transport from the University of Cape Coast , Ghana, Mac Mashiri, a transport engineer by profession from CSIR, South Africa, Priyanthi Fernando, a gender and transport expert from IFRTD, UK, Dr. Gina Porter, a faculty and researcher at the University of Durham, UK and twenty-nine children, aged 9 to 18 from three Gram Panchayats of Karnataka, India, besides CWC's Resource Persons and field staff. The adults were all professional experts who had years of experience in research or programming especially in the area of transport and mobility.

During the five-day workshop, the children were facilitated to design a research framework and methodology; develop appropriate tools and pilot three of them for conducting the research. Transect walk (observation map), focus group discussions and mapping mobility profile for different children were field tested. During this process, the adult delegates learned the fundamentals of children's rights, children's participation and protagonism. The principles and techniques of participatory research and ways of facilitating research by children were the key issues covered by the adults.

Our research partners from Ghana and South Africa went back with great commitment to enable children in their countries to undertake a similar process.

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"I did not expect such an marvelous experience and it was totally different from what I thought before coming here. The kids sitting here have been marvelous. They have taught me things that I have never known before. I have been doing research in transport for the last 24 years and I have learned more in these 5 days than those 24 years, from you children. I have also realised that I had ignored a very significant group of people in all my research, that is children. The staff here have been excellent. I am carrying back to Ghana very memorable ideas. Something interesting is going on here that we have not seen before - 'children planning their own life'. I will leave a promise with you that I will do my best to uphold what you are doing here in Ghana as well, which some day you could come and see."

Prof. Albert Abane October, 2004, Namma Bhoomi, Kundapur, India

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The child participants in India returned to their villages and started their research. They identified more children from their hamlets who were interested in being part of the research, based on certain criteria they developed. They conducted massive publicity campaigns about the research. They also negotiated with the local government, key persons in the community and school authorities, enlisting support for their research study.

The project spanned over a period of six months from October 2004 to March 2005. The children were equipped with research and documentation skills through a number of training workshops and field pilots. A total number of 144 children conducted the research. They used six different methods, namely Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA), Observation Mapping, Interview, Focus Group Discussion, Traffic Count and Mapping Mobility Profile of individual children, to conduct the study. The child researchers collected information from over 300 child respondents from three Gram Panchayats. The tools to conduct the research were developed by the child researchers themselves during the course of the training workshops. Each of the tools were pre-tested before being administered. After data collection, children compiled and consolidated the information they collected; categorised them into sub-heads; developed strategies for advocacy and prepared an action plan to address their issues at different levels of governance.

They developed their strategies based on the individuals and agencies they had to work with if they had to solve their problems. Significantly, they listed themselves and their communities among those who can play an active role in developing and implementing solutions. There are several instances where children have initiated discussions related to solving their problems even as their research was underway.

In April 2005, four representatives of the child researchers from Kundapur met with children from South Africa and Ghana who had done similar research (though smaller in scope) in their countries. Over a five day workshop, they mutually shared their research experiences and consolidated their findings.

The Ghanian Minister for Transport was present at the final day of the workshop, in addition to several other senior officials who took part in the stakeholders meeting. They listened to the outcome of the children's research with great interest. The discussion at the meeting covered a wide range of issues - from transport needs of children, children's ability to do research to the need for enabling children to participate in developing policies and programmes that affect them. The gathering emphasised the need to ensure the sustainability of such processes initiated by children.

Back in India, the children of the three Panchayats in Kundapur are gearing up to put to good use the information they have collected and documented during the past few months. In the final workshop held from May 26 -28, children have developed numerous advocacy and communication tools that will assist them to put across their concerns and issues forcefully to decision makers. They have also identified the main power centres they must inform and influence in order proceed further.

On 28th May, 2005 in Namma Bhoomi (see note 3), Kundapur, the children were preparing to present their findings as well as describe the methodologies they used to arrive at them to a group of senior government officials of the Karnataka Education Department. Present at the meeting were the Deputy Director of Public Instruction (DDPI), Udupi District, Block Education Officers (BEO)s of Kundapur and Byandoor and several Cluster Resource Centre (CRC) and Block Resource Centre (BRC) officers from that region. The children used skits, songs, role-plays and posters to effectively present their concerns regarding the state of transportation in their local areas.

This presentation is the first in the series of interventions they have planned. We will bring you updates on how children proceed to improve the nature and quality of transportation available to them.

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Note 1: A union of, by and for working children in Karnataka facilitated by the Concerned for Working Children, with a membership of over 13,000, striving for the realisation of child rights.

Note 2: A children's Village Council or parallel government of children, set up in Karnataka jointly by Bhima Sangha and the Concerned for Working Children. It is a forum for all children to participate in decision-making and governance at the Panchayat level.

Note 3: CWC's Regional Resource Centre situated in Kundapur, where about 100 children equip themselves with livelihood skills and education every year

For a detailed report, contact: The Concerned for Working Children 303/2, L.B. Shastri Nagar, Vimanapura Post, Bangalore - 560 017, Karnataka, India Tel: + 91 80 25234611/270 Email: cwc@pobox.com Website: www.workingchild.org

Organisation Contact Details:

Concerned for Working Children
303/2 L.B. Shastri Nagar
Vimanapura post
Bangalore 560017
Tel: 00 91 80 523 4611
Email: cwc@pobox.com
Website: www.workingchild.org

Last updated 14/06/2005 08:09:47