CODESRIA Policy Brief No. 1, February 2018 : A Plea for Participatory Ethics and Knowledge Production with Children in Africa by Tatek Abebe

Summary
This policy brief draws on aspects of participatory research and the ethical challenges that surround it. It explores knowledge co-creation and ethics in participatory research with children in Africa. The focus on participatory ethics is justified by the fact that it constituted some of the core features of the 2017 Child and Youth Institute. The policy brief discusses the practice of participatory research informed by the paradigm of Right to be Properly Researched (henceforth, RPR). It highlights the transformative potential of participatory ethics for undertaking collaborative, ethical research with children. In so doing, it argues for the importance of advocacy for/with/by children as well as the value of capacity building in order to promote research that respects children’s dignity and produces positive social change in Africa.

Tatek Abebe
Professor of Childhood Studies and Development Studies at Norwegian University of Sciences and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway. He is PI for several funded research projects on childhood and youth in Africa. Abebe is Co-author/co-editor of three books and author of over 40 journal articles, book chapters and policy reports. He is also founder and Coordinator of Nordic Network of African Children and Youth Research. In 2017, Abebe was Director of CODESRIA’s Child and Youth Institute. He serves as Editorial Board Member of Childhood, Children’s Geographies, Fennia: International Journal of Geography, and Ethiopian Journal of Environment and Development.