ANÁLISIS DE ENCUESTAS

Early development work aimed at benefitting children was largely undertaken indirectly by working with the adult members of a community. The 1989 United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) led to a fundamental change in the way children were positioned in development work (UNICEF, 2011). The convention was more rapidly and more widely adopted⁴⁴ than any previous human rights related agreement and promised to be a turning point in addressing the plight of impoverished children (Bartlett, 2001). The convention was a legally binding international instrument based on four core principles: non-discrimination; devotion to the best interests of the child; the right to life, survival and development; and respect for the views of the child (OHCHR, 2011).

In 1990, seventy one heads of state and 159 countries convened at the World Summit for Children.

The delegates pledged themselves to a plan of action aimed at radically improving the situation for the world’s children by the new millennium. However, despite the rhetoric, the commitments were largely empty promises. Poverty continued to grow and children were disproportionately affected (Bartlett, 2001). Nevertheless, some NGOs (Plan was among them) did start to take on projects more usually associated with broader community development and recast them with a child-centred focus (Bartlett, 2001).

An important dimension of the Convention on the Rights of the Child was its emphasis on respect for the views of the child. Article 12 of the convention specifically acknowledges and protects children’s right to participation and consultation in matters that affect them (OHCHR, 2011). An approach like this, which positions children as active participants in development activity, aligns with the view that children are citizens already and not merely ‘future citizens’ as they have often been described historically by politicians, educators and others tasked with guiding young peoples’ education and development (Osler & Starkey, 2003; Smith et al., 2005; Holdsworth et al., 2007; Collin, 2008).

44 Only the United States and Somalia failed to ratify the convention

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While the legal status of citizenship and the rights attached to it (for example the right to vote) is limited to adults, a broader view of citizenship involving participation in community activity and contribution to the social life of a community would undoubtedly include children. This broader view of citizenship questions traditional perspectives that viewed children as marginal rather than integral to community development with a limited role as passive recipients of knowledge and care. It promotes instead ‘studies and programs that incorporate children as community agents in their own right’ (Golombek, 2006, p.15). In this view, children who are recipients of development attention are able to effectively participate in all democratic processes with ‘appropriate’ support (Ibrahim, 2005;

Lolichen, 2006; 2006a; Collin, 2008). This ‘child rights’ approach is integral to Plan’s development approach which considers children as partners in changing the future rather than passive recipients of compassion (Ratnam, 2007a).

A change of approach in donor countries to the way that children were positioned within

development activity is perhaps most readily visible in the changed emphasis of educational material produced by NGOs. There was a general shift from a somewhat paternalistic focus on individual children and their need, towards helping children by helping communities (Smith, 2004; Whaites, 2000). Presenting pictures of starving children accompanied by a request for cash donations was common in previous decades but became widely seen as inappropriate. Similar fundraising requests now tend to involve promotional material that focuses on positive images of empowered children as part of community contexts (Alam, 2007).

In contrast to using deficit models which position young people as civically disconnected and disinterested, working from a perspective that young people are fully engaged citizens means that young people need education that offers alternative ways to engage and thereby supports their existing political and social identity as citizens of communities (Lolichen, 2006). This approach is in evidence throughout the design of Global Connections. The children in Australia were considered in the same ways as the children in Indonesia and both groups were encouraged to develop

communications based on their own interests and concerns. The program recognised the existing agency of the young people and aimed to create transformative opportunities for that could empower them further as global citizens. That the program took place in schools in Australia and other contexts (including detention centres) in Indonesia was relevant only from a logistical perspective and not philosophically with regard to the different groups as learners.

3.6 Conclusion

Throughout Plan’s long history as a child-centred development organisation they have adapted and evolved in response to changing concepts of ‘best’ practice while keeping their primary mission of

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achieving lasting improvements in the quality of life of deprived children in developing countries.

Global Connections was designed to conform to their vision of educational ideals as framed by this primary goal. As a result, the program was designed according to development principles of engaging children and without specific regard for formal education practice. Children were considered as existing global citizens and the program was structured in participatory ways to give them maximum control over the way that they engaged with issues of concern.

Global Connections’ design and Plan’s approach to implementing it is strongly supported by development literature. However, some of the supporting literature is based on theoretical rather than proven examples of ‘best’ practice. This is particularly the case with regard to the changing ways that development NGOs are envisaged as relating to their home constituency but also related to emerging conceptual frameworks for considering the global citizenship themes of the program.

Additionally, other aspects of the program were linked to existing practice in the development field but were outside Plan’s traditional activity. Plan needed to develop new ways of working with their partner organisation in Indonesia and new ways of evaluating, monitoring and balancing the outcomes of very different groups of young people in two countries. As a result, Global Connections was transformative with regard to Plan’s ‘normal’ practice and involved negotiating organisational as well as educational dimensions that had significant implications up to the highest strategic and governance levels. Addressing the research questions relating to partnership requires that the empirical research specifically acknowledges the separate nature of Plan’s interaction with Global Connections compared to that of the schools.

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Chapter 4 Partnership