Children in development

Abstract

Contemporary development studies have been attending to perspectives and strategies of people at the periphery of power as important actors in change. I argue that such an approach (which includes gendered actors) should extend to children, and show that they can be significant in development interventions. On the other hand, the participation of children in development processes highlights problems of competence that are intrinsic to intervention. Children illustrate both the need for participatory approaches and the problems that arise when perceptions of participants conflict with those of experts. We see that the agency of some actors can be severely curtailed.