Within Save the Children UK’s Humanitarian Technical Unit, a child-focused task team was initiated in 2012 “to ensure that a child focus is promoted in all dimensions of our humanitarian work.” This team commissioned a consultancy to develop guidance on how to achieve safe, appropriate and meaningful participation for children in humanitarian programming. To inform the development of appropriate guidance, the first stage of the consultancy was to undertake a desk review, interviews among key head office humanitarian technical advisers and monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) staff, and a survey to seek the views and experiences of field staff regarding children’s participation in the humanitarian response. Eighteen interviews were undertaken and 26 humanitarian staff completed the online survey.