Increasing children's participation in African transport planning: reflections on methodological issues in a child-centred research project. - GOV.UK

This paper examines the potential for applying child-centred research methodologies which involve children doing their own research (with adult facilitators) within a transport and mobility

context in West Africa. Relatively little attention has been paid to the transport needs of the poor and powerless within African transport policy and planning: the specifics of children and

young people's transport and mobility needs are essentially unknown and unconsidered. Using evidence from a small pilot study in Ghana, we reflect on both the opportunities and the

challenges of work in this field. Although the paper is focused on the specific issues raised by child-centred research, it raises broader questions regarding the potential for research

partnerships with vulnerable groups and, more specifically, the challenges of developing more collaborative research processes within transport studies, where technical priorities still

regularly triumph over social concerns.

Porter, G.; Abane, A. Increasing children’s participation in African transport planning: reflections on methodological issues in a child-centred research project. Children’s Geographies

(2008) 6 (2) 151-167. [DOI: 10.1080/14733280801963086]