Towards child-inclusive concepts of childhood poverty: The contribution and potential of research with children

Abstract

Children's participation and addressing global poverty are two dominant narratives within global development discourse and policy. Poverty disproportionately affects children, with World Bank estimates suggesting that of those living in extreme poverty globally (less than $1.90 per day), one third are children aged under 12 years. Childhood poverty is of particular policy concern, not only because of the large number of children affected, but also because of the long term consequences of childhood deprivation on affected individuals and for society as a whole. Yet, despite the prominence of rhetoric around ‘listening to children’s voices’ within the global development agenda and the extent of child poverty, approaches to poverty reduction generally, and to childhood poverty more specifically, have remained remarkably adult-centric. While child poverty is widely recognised as a priority for global action, conceptualisations, definitions and measures of poverty are rarely based on children’s own experiences, perceptions or priorities. This article argues that research with children on poverty offers a means of achieving a child-inclusive approach to poverty reduction. It reviews sixteen articles, published between 2000 and 2017, to explore the ways in which research with children had been undertaken in countries of the global South, outlining key findings and mapping the methodological and ethical challenges and identifying the policy implications.