How Can Participatory Approaches Influence Young Children's Rights - Literature review Example

How can participatory approaches influence all aspects of young children’s rights? Introduction Respect for human rights is crucial for true development. It is important that these rights are not trifled with under any circumstances. Nurick and Johnson (2001) highlights the principles of these rights wherein, rights are universal and everyone is entitled to theirs and that these must be equally available to all and not only to a selected few. Likewise, these rights belong to individual the moment they are born and is inherent in everybody. As such, these rights need not be given for it is already theirs hence, must not be taken away. More so, there should be no preference regarding a person’s ethnicity, color, race, gender and even political beliefs. However, when dealing with children, it is crucial that their rights are respected especially since they are the weak members of society and are currently unable to fend for themselves. Hence, it is important that people or agencies that have children as a component of what they do must take note that children have rights too and are fully entitled to these rights. As mentioned, with everybody else, they have their rights from birth and must never be discriminated. Freeman (1996) further emphasizes this point stating that despite the importance and extreme value of these rights, these are automatically owned. People must not work for these rights, toil; beg much more bleed for these rights. As such, though incapable of working and are generally dependent, children must be accorded these rights. Human rights are very important. Hence, the United Nations (UN) has crafted its declaration ratified by different country members to ensure its protection. It is through this declaration that the UN protects the rights of individuals as they continually support efforts and provide recognition for this birth right of everyone (United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN 2011). However, since children are still unable to care for themselves much more know and defend their rights, the United Nations (UN) have put forth the Convention for the Rights of the Child (CRC) to provide additional protection that will ensure that children’s rights are upheld. Additionally, the CRC calls for the participation of children so that these rights may be practiced. The CRC also recognizes that adults play a crucial role for the rights to be enjoyed by every child (Nurick and Johnson, 2001). Main Body Recognizing Rights Early On As mentioned, rights are not given to anybody in the course of their lifetime hence it is not something to be taken away. These rights are born with every individual. Thus, it is important that appreciation of these rights start early for children. It then makes the integration of children’s rights during early child development crucial for the formative development of children. During these times, programs are utilized to influence the circumstances surrounding children as they grow up. Of course the family is considered since it is the immediate environment of the child. Then, the community is likewise considered and of course the institutions that are necessary for the early development of the child such as the availability of health centers and schools and the quality of service these institutions provide. Moreover, policies are also considered since these will impact on the opportunities for development as well as the protection of children’s rights (Arnold 2001). Policies play a key role since these is where funding for early childhood development comes from. An example would be the funding of the federal government of British Colombia (BC) so that there will be budget allocation to care for the unborn through pregnancy support, birth and on infancy. The government also supports parenting and the family and makes provisions for the improvement of the community and for early childhood development as well as children’s education and care. The support will really play a big role especially if this is calibrated with the socio-demographic developments concerning early childhood development. Shresta and Eastman (2002) calls for a strong support to this matter especially since the events during the age 0 to 3 of a child can impact their adolescence. However, this stage has been overlooked in some areas hence there is an absence of adequate funding and support for this part of a child’s life. This must not be the case if the principle of having a right since birth is to be enforced. Also, adults must conform to this since this stage is where brain development is at its fastest thereby enabling a child to participate early on becomes to key to future capabilities. Thus, care and protection are very crucial since an abuse on children’s rights at this stage can leave a deep scar in their emotional well-being for the rest of their lives. However, it is hoped that the realization worldwide that true development must be intertwined with human rights will pave the way for more support to pour in to the efforts of improving participatory approaches that will further advance children’s rights (Brodnig 2005). This has somehow improved the viewpoint of different international organizations, hence enabling them to integrate the need for the advancement of human rights whenever they dole out developmental aids. However, to ensure that these funding really go into the targeted segment of society, it is important that international organizations such as the World Bank (WB) to put in as a key component the requirement for good governance. According to the International Development Association (1998) if a country, area or community is governed properly, true development can push through and the protection of human rights will be carried out more smoothly. Therefore, to ensure that communities are given funding to uphold and protect children’s rights, they must have adequate knowledge to deal with the economy as well as on matters important to their community. This will ensure that adequate policies are crafted that is coupled with accountability and transparency as well as a strong legal system that can promote development and protect the rights of community members including children. Also, as mentioned, the role of adults is crucial for the advancement of children’s rights. However, there has been a long history for this issue and it is especially prickly whenever the decisions as well as the things done by adults cross with these rights (Rogers 2004). This is especially tricky when crafting policies especially since children do not pay taxes and do not vote. Thus, it is not easy for policy makers to advance their rights especially if it will cause much public expenditure and involve some form of restrictions to their voters. Also, matters of the state may not be easily enforced in the household. The problem may lie in the calibration of such rights and the relevant participation of children whereby, despite their immaturity and lack of capacity to make sound judgments, enforcement of children’s rights involves a certain degree of compromise on parental control in favor of more leeway for their children. Melton (2005) argues that this should not be the case since this thinking is counterproductive. Adults, such as parents, will always be essential since their guidance is of utmost importance to the development of these children as well as for the adequate appreciation and protection of their rights. Participation and Children’s Rights Boshier (2005) highlights the importance given by the United Nations on the rights of the child wherein children must be properly recognized as citizens therefore making them eligible to participate socially. Thus, it is a must that their rights are properly respected and this respect will spawn from being heard properly. This can only be done through a significant paradigm shift from the past when children were not yet heard and are seen to be owned by their parents until they are old enough to fend for themselves. Also, this further emphasizes that despite being dependent, children must be accorded with rights properly the way adults are with no prejudice or discrimination whatsoever. As such, children have all the right to socially participate and it is the adults’ responsibility to make this happen as smoothly as possible. It is true that adults have more knowledge to be fair adults must also be mature enough to accept the fact that they do not know better all the time. Despite the pressure of work, the stress of the office and the problem of traffic when commuting, adults must also realize that children have their own problems to deal with. It is unfair to deprive them of their rights just because they are yet to be capable of what adults do since there are things that they also have to deal with everyday. And, to ensure that children truly enjoy their childhood and to really protect their rights, adults must really be a strong associate to make these happen. Stephenson and Miles (2004) describes children’s participation as children having a certain degree of control on things that concerns their well-being which may be done when they are able to freely communicate their thoughts or do necessary actions. However, the latter requires a certain degree of adult assistance especially for young children since these kids are highly dependent. Child participation has been gaining ground fuelled by a greater recognition of their rights and further strengthened by the community. Again, this reinforces the important role adults must play for children’s rights as well as for ensuring child participation. However, parents cannot do this monumental task alone and although the family is the basic unit of society, children are increasingly leaving the protection of the home as they grow up. Thus, it is important that communities are able to provide the necessary support necessary for the further advancement and protection of children’s rights since this control gives, to a certain extent power to the child. Furthering the Benefits of Participation Gregory (2000) points out that it is important to consider this power and this must be truly understood to provide true participation. This understanding is key to better comprehend the factors that may hinder or advance participation among children. As mentioned, giving this power and control to a child has been an issue since a proper balance must be struck in order to be able to foster the this true participation that can really give children the rights that is a birthright of everyone. In New Zealand, the Ministry of Social Development (2002) spearheads the strategy of the government to further promote the betterment of the lives of children in their country. The ministry used consultative process involving various respondents from the government and various experts to better improve the resulting policy from the survey. It is hoped that this will be able to tackle the problem of violence that are being faced by children. This has been a considerable turnaround from the country’s initial failure to enforce the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (Ludbrook 2000). It had been a good turnaround as the country has been able to develop policies for early childhood development and early childhood education. This is expected to be able to improve the welfare of the children in their country as the study also hits on a very childish issue of bullying. Here, adults are not involved but the pressure comes from the children’s peers themselves. This is a very disturbing problem and the American Academy of Pediatrics (2009) recognizes the seriousness this brings since violence can be detrimental to the health of children and adolescents. This leads the organization to foster a bigger role for pediatricians in counteracting the problems brought about by such violence. Schreier et al (2009) concludes that children victimized by their peers can lead to psychotic syndrome that may be carried on as they age. Stueve et al (2006) further expands the coverage to bring into the loop the bystanders that may be able to help in the safety of children and guard against violence that may even escalate lethally when weapons are brought in to the equation. This is very critical since, as mentioned, young children’s brains are developing rapidly and the trauma that they may experience from violence can have lasting and devastating effects on their lives. Bringing in the bystanders to help can really improve the protection of children and their rights especially since, aside from children being very dependent, those that are bullied are those that are generally incapable of defending themselves. Policies and Participation for Human Rights Policies are also key especially if the community is to give young children a fair start. Unfortunately, not only is this a problem of priority but an economic problem as well especially in poor rural communities. As mentioned, rights must be fair to all and this likewise applies to the youngest members of society. However, Meyers (1998) cautions that Early Childhood Education (ECE) can be biased wherein the right to education becomes skewed to those that have the capability to pay if there is inaction by the community and policy makers. Thus, to ensure that rights are accorded to all, adequate support becomes necessary to enable children from the lower economic strata to avail of this very important right to education. Early childhood development is practically a new field. Although it is already being explored, it has yet to gain much traction on a global basis. Likewise, the impact of participatory approach to children’s rights is yet to be fully appreciated and utilized. Also, since most of the inequalities experienced with respect to fulfillment of human rights are most prevalent in the weakest and poorest member of society, participatory research has also been utilized to better understand the problems being faced by the less fortunate members of society. Hence, it is highly encouraged that despite the cost, participatory research is utilized in order to have a better understanding of the target strata. However, it is of utmost importance that recommendations come with genuine support from policy makers once again underlining the crucial role institutions play in ensuring that rights are enjoyed by everyone (Bennet and Roberts 2004). This form of research has been silently gaining strength as governments, non-govermental organizations (NGO) and even multinationals are increasingly utilizing participatory approaches to enable them to promulgate pertinent policies for helping people that are considered underpriviledged and marginalized. Aside from the poor members of society, this is likewise beneficial to the promotion of children’s rights since they are highly dependent since they are the weakest members of society and are usually the ones that are usually excluded whenever policies are crafted (Holland and Blackburn 1998). As mentioned, children are very dependent. This makes them vulnerable to abuse and since they are young, they are usually not given much thought by policy makers since it is assumed that they are not yet able to comprehend the things that are going on around them. This has hindered the true implementation of human rights that are detrimental to properly giving children what is due to them. It is encouraging to note that the use of participatory approach is increasingly being used by researchers to determine the true state and to give these members of society the chance to be heard and understood. This understanding becomes very crucial since this is the best way to seek ideas while giving the opportunity for weak society members to contribute to policies that affects them directly. Furthermore, Sartorius (2006) brings forward the idea that this method likewise benefits the researchers from these organizations to further enhance the programs that they are making by partnering with the very beneficiaries of these programs. Another issue is the measurement of human rights and its abuses. Right Monitoring, Benefits and Caveats This tends to vary from every economic status as well as from different areas and periods. Fosse (2008) stresses the need for the proper evaluation of human rights abuses so that these are properly measured and proper actions are taken to ensure the protection of the rights of every individual. Moreover, USAID (1996) highlights the benefits of participation such as being able to assess properly the important details of the target strata by including the stakeholders in the research. This likewise enables the participating members to know more about the program and understand the policies that are going to affect them. This likewise enhances the capabilities of the target sample in participating and in the process fosters a higher level of cooperation which results to the improved dedication of all stakeholders. However, USAID likewise offers a few caveats which must be avoided such as being viewed as having a lack of objectivity since various stakeholders are involved and may influence the process more than what is warranted. As mentioned, participatory research is very expensive and puts considerable strain on budgets and efforts. However, probably the most dangerous of these is the probability that the researching group which may hold the key to valuable funding can be adversely influenced by the stakeholders themselves. However, when it comes to child participation, the danger may lie in the lack of participation. This may be due to the lack of opportunities for children to be heard as well as for the lack of understanding of this need on the part of the researchers. Also, the aforementioned danger of having an influence on the research may also come from adults that are not necessarily part of the policies that will benefit children but may be affected by the benefits of these policies which may lead them to try to influence the result. It must be remembered that adults are usually wary of the additional control given to children because of their immaturity which may be perceived as a source for a lack of proper judgment on their part. Much has been said about the dangers of being unable to properly care and protect children’s rights. It has been shown how long and deep the scars are from violence that can be carried on to adulthood which, at a closer examination, limits the enjoyment of the rights that they are born with. Likewise, the participative approach that has been constantly gaining traction has been very crucial for the creation of policies that are truly calibrated to cater to the advancement of the unfortunate, weak and underpriviledged members of society. Gujit and Gaventa (1998) stresses the importance for various institutions to be able to gauge the impact of the programs that they make. Previously, only the experts are consulted to make the proper evaluation but, increasingly, Participatory Monitoring & Evaluation (PM&E) are involving the very people targeted by these policies and programs into the fold. This has empowered them and has helped the policy makers in determining how to further improve these endeavors. Conclusion Children’s Rights enhanced by Participation The development of participative approach and its application to further children’s rights provide a very promising landscape that can improve the lives of children and ensure that as humans, their rights which is their birthright, is advanced and protected. Moreover, early childhood development and early childhood education has been instrumental in the efforts of concerned agencies and institutions to propagate these rights. Education plays a very important role in the formation of a person’s personality and the learning that they are accorded when they are young are very important in equipping them with these necessary endowments. Clark (2006) brings forward this importance when the perspectives of different children are used in the United Kingdom for improvements made in the schools’ playgrounds and learning areas. The participation of children in the design has been very useful despite the young age of these three and four year old “architects” that has helped in the improvement of the schools’ design. As a bonus, this even effected change on the staff of the schools. Doverborg and Pramling(1993) underlines the importance of understanding how children think. This is very important in advancing their participation which in turn helps in protecting their rights which enables enables adults to further understand the need to slacken up and give more control for the children. The foregoing school example highlights the benefits of children’s participation and the impact that it has on their right to be heard. Moreover, it showed that despite being young, they are able to give suggestions for improvement and even has considerable impact on quality (Langsted 1994). Thus, even the initial non-believers in the school have been compelled to accept the inherent expertise of children in matters that involves them. This implies that adults need not worry too much about the control that they are giving to children since despite their being young they truly know what they want and what impacts them since they are experiencing these needs. Children’s Rights: for all and all over Rights are everybody’s birthright. Regardless of nationality, these must be enjoyed by all. This important principle therefore needs that rights must be calibrated to service every corner of the world. Burman (1996) however cautions that globalising rights might lead to policies that are applicable to one nation but may not be useful to another being universally implemented. It is important therefore to note that nations that have stronger bargaining power in the UN Convention on the Rights of the child refrain from advancing interests that might be counterproductive in other nations. Rights must be fairly implemented and be given freely to all. However, it cannot be denied that having a formal framework to implement laws for the advancement of rights such as those for children is crucial to fight against structural inequalities. In the end, all these show how important it is for a concerted effort to promulgate children’s rights and the very important tool of participation has shown its potency for getting the job done Works Cited: Nurick and Johnson, Putting Child Rights and Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation with Children into Practice: some examples in Indonesia, Nepal, South Africa and the U.K., PLA Notes (2001), Issue 42, pp 39-44, IIED London http://www.planotes.org/documents/plan_04208.pdf Arnold, C 2001 “Bringing up children in a changing world. Who’s right ? 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