Action Research with Children: Lessons from Tackling Disasters and Climate Change

Main author: Tanner, Thomas
Other authors: Seballos, Fran
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-31350
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description Recent research and practice from the fields of climate change adaptation and disaster management has created a shift from emphasis of children's vulnerability and need for protection towards their potential as agents of change before, during and after disaster events. This article examines lessons from action research into children's agency in disaster‐prone communities of El Salvador and the Philippines. We describe some of the participatory risk management methods that were adapted for use with children, the centrality of ethics to our approach and the importance of working with a non‐governmental organisation (NGO) partner that provides ongoing support in the study communities. The research design was led by external agents in order to cross‐compare findings across locations and countries. However, we argue that by engaging children in a process of knowledge generation and analysis, the research broke down some of the assumed hierarchies between researcher and researched common to orthodox approaches.
format Journal Article
author Tanner, Thomas
author_facet Tanner, Thomas
Seballos, Fran
authorStr Tanner, Thomas
author_letter Tanner, Thomas
author2 Seballos, Fran
author2Str Seballos, Fran
title Action Research with Children: Lessons from Tackling Disasters and Climate Change
publisher Wiley
publishDate 2012
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/31350/