Slide 1 Exploring children’s understandings of well- being cross-culturally: towards more inclusive child well-being indicators Rose September, Child & Youth Research and Training Centre, University of Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa Toby Fattore, New South Wales Commission for Children and Young People, Sydney, Australia Jan Mason, University of Western Sydney, Australia Elizabeth Watson, University of Western Sydney, Australia

Slide 2 Collaboration on development of child indicators Cape Town, South Africa Funded by: National Development Agency UNICEF New South Wales, Australia Funded by: NSW Commission for Children and Young People and University of Western Sydney

Slide 3 Features of Collaboration Timing –Research commenced independently 2002 –Collaboration around findings commenced 2006 Basis –similar epistemology, values –valuing of children as knowledge authorities - participatory –two very different social contexts

Slide 4 Contributions from comparison To individual research –scrutinizing meanings sharpened analysis To cross cultural context –informs debate on use of common measures –informs on researching childhood across cultures

Slide 5 Identified 3 common layers of engagement research methods and processes findings of research translation of research findings into indicators

Slide 6 Methodology Cape TownNew South Wales Epistemological position Children as co-producers of knowledge Philosophical basisExplicit rights perspective Children’s rights contested Children (0-14) as % population. Approx 39%Approx 20% Research strategyWorkshops on rights based framework Open-ended beginning Qualitative research methods focus groupsindividual interviews, focus groups, activities

Slide 7 Cape TownNew South Wales ThemesIndependently identified CategoriesThemes grouped into categories based on existing indictor themes Analysis grounded in data, iterative process

Slide 8 Collaborative process Meta-analysis of findings ‘bird’s eye view’ across 2 sets of data Focus on 4 themes from meta-analysis Safety Material or basic needs Having voices heard - experiencing agency Social responsibility

Slide 9 Safety Cape TownNew South Wales Referred to asSafety and protection Safety and feeling secure Important to well-being Parents as protectors, community infrastructure Context of threats attacks within home families and strangers externalities to home - strangers, traffic, global

Slide 10 Material or basic needs Cape TownNew South Wales Relation to well- being Fundamental, and for others Basics - food, shelter Threat to survivalEmotional significance Influence on futures Basic to education, jobs and quality of life

Slide 11 Having voices heard – experiencing agency Cape TownNew South Wales CentralRespect by adults Formal decision making Emphasis on contributing to local and provincial decision making

Slide 12 Theme 4 – Social responsibility Cape TownNew South Wales Well-being defined not just as of the individual Actors with responsibilities for others Expectations of broader community

Slide 13 The contexts of well-being Emotional relationships Power dynamics Interdependence reciprocity mutual respect unique individual and collective of others

Slide 14 Significance of cross-cultural meta-analysis Thematic similarities important for policy development within and cross-nationally Differences question both inter-country and intra-country application of indictors Differences may be across cultures, geographical location, abilities and genders

Slide 15 The challenges in developing indicators for policy 1.Development of key domains - least contentious 2.Development of markers/indicators that can take into account both commonalities and differences across populations – more contentious and difficult 3.Move from static to dynamic benchmarks 4.May need core indicators and contextual indicators 5.Need ways of involving children in all stages

Slide 16 Conclusions Comparative participatory research can –sharpen understanding of children’s well-being across contexts –cause us to interrogate individual country analysis –enable recognition of contextual, subjective and non-material dimensions of lives