Resources

This guidebook is part of a research toolkit produced by the International Save the Children Alliance to support the UN Study on Violence against Children (the other part is called So you want to consult with children? A toolkit of good practice). It gives guidance on ways to encourage meaningful and ethical participation by children in research related to violence against children. It promotes research that sees children as active agents in their own lives, not passive victims or research subjects. Specifically, it presents techniques and pointers for the involvement of children in secondary and primary research, including experiences of children participation in research from case studies in Malawi, Vietnam, Yemen, U.K., Tanzania, Bangladesh, Brazil and Canada. General tips for the incorporation of children in research include e.g. considering the risks and costs to children of their participation and acting in their best interests; building in benefits for children who choose to become involved in research; thinking through how to recruit children; exploring with children what are appropriate roles for adults and children in the work; sharing goals and expectations with each other so that everyone can understand the needs, interests and pressures of each member of the team; drawing up ground rules to set the stage for your work together; recognising that children may not want to be involved in all steps of secondary research; practicing talking about the research without using any jargon or academic language; considering whether children should be paid or given another type of incentive to participate; accommodating children of varying ages, skills and abilities; and creating ongoing opportunities for sharing views and experiences about how the process is working.

This paper gives account of a do-it-yourself citizensÆ jury (DIY CJ) where a group of researchers and a ôjuryö picked at random from the local population of Blackburn and Darwen, Lancashire, undertook a series of deliberative workshops during April and May 2004. The subject of this DIY CJ was the role of the police and drink and drug use among young people, a topic which was chosen by the jury itself at the first of these workshops. Having heard a wide range of perspectives from a diverse set of ôwitnessesö the jury sought to recommend a number of solutions to the problems highlighted during the process. Among their specific recommendations, the jury called for: changing social services rules for drug users; the introduction of a tougher enforcement regime for drugs and alcohol regulations; more community policing; new local education authority-driven alcohol and drugs education programmes. The authors reflect on issues of cultural integration and ethnicity and suggest that the re-building of democratic engagement in Northern England, as in many other parts of the UK, will be greatly enhanced by an increase of face-to-face meetings such as those that form the essence of a grassroots citizensÆ jury. They point out that in areas targeted either by race hate groups or religious fundamentalists there is an urgent need for sensitively planned initiatives that move beyond condemnation of the divisive ideologies of such extremists; and that policy-makers should take practical steps to develop innovative new mechanisms of accountability.