This paper explains why participatory action research (PAR) could be so important in helping the children of the urban poor, and those who work with them, generate relevant insights into their specific needs and priorities and help them influence decisions that are taken about their lives. The paper begins by discussing the problems facing children in urban areas of the South and why more participatory research approaches which work with children have come to the fore. It then describes what participatory action research is (and is not) and why researchers and the institutions that fund them have difficulty in supporting such a research approach, especially in relation to children. The paper then addresses the three main implications for researchers who want to use PAR with children: taking responsibility for the children’s needs and priorities within the research; balancing participation and mediation; and ensuring the research helps to negotiate more spaces for children in their environment and more power in their relationship with the state and society.
Resource collections
- Accountability to affected populations (AAP)
- Topics
- UN Habitat - Urban Response Collection
- Urban Response - Urban Crisis Preparedness and Risk Reduction
- Urban Response Collection - Community Engagement and Social Cohesion
- Urban Response Collection - Economic Recovery
- Urban Response Collection - Environment and Climate Change
- Urban Response Collection - Housing, Land and Property
- Urban Response Collection - Urban Crisis Response, Recovery and Reconstruction
- Urban Response Collection - Urban Resilience
