In 2004, Children from 56 Panchayats of Kundapur Taluk prepared their own plans and integrated into the 10^th National Five-Year Plans. One of children’s priorities in their 5 year plan was the issue of inadequate transport facilities. The list included issues such as availability of roads, poor condition of roads, lack of appropriate footbridges and bridges, lack of streetlights and other problems related to transport to access various resources in their village. As these issues were discussed with children, they felt that in order to address some of their problems they had to have more information about the nature and extent of the problem as faced by children.

At the same time CWC had a request from the University of Durham, UK, to conduct a study on children’s mobility and access problems, supported by DFID, UK. This was proposed to be a three-country study in India, Ghana and South Africa. The outcome of the study would result influencing DFID’s policy and programmes in child mobility projects. When this idea was proposed to CWC, we insisted that such a study should be done by the affected children themselves and not by outside researchers. We had to do intense negotiation with all the partners in the project to make this agreeable to all. We argued that only children will be able to find out and tell us what really their transport and access problems are; if only they get to know their problems can they act on them to change their situations. Though initially there was a lot of reluctance and doubt on the part of the other partners of children’s ability to do such a complex study, CWC’s experience and illustrated examples of children doing their own research, helped the partners to agree on research by children. CWC was requested to design the research methodology and develop appropriate tools, which could be adapted in all the three countries.

Subsequently, CWC organised a training workshop in October, for all the adult partners from Ghana, South Africa and UK, with a group 29 school going and working children from three of the Panchayats in which CWC works. There were both boys and girls, all of them aged between 10 to 18 years. The main workshop focused on children acquiring research skills and in the process facilitating them to design a research methodology for the study on their transport and access problems as well as to develop tools to collect information. At the same time adults learnt how to facilitate such processes with children and got additional inputs on whole paradigm of children’s rights, their participation and protagonism; principles of children doing their own research and the ethics of adults facilitating research by children. As an outcome of the 5-day workshop, a pre-tested research methodology was developed and a set of tools was developed by child participants.

The returned home with the conviction and specific plan to pursue the study in their respective villages.

"Everyday I wait for morning here in Namma Bhoomi; everything goes according to time. I learnt to collect information and to interact with people. We will go back to our village and make sure that we collect more information and do something about our problems"

Bhavyashri from Ajri, one of the child participants at the workshop

The adult participants had discovered something absolutely new. They went back with a clear conviction and commitment to empower children, enabling them to collect, analyse and use information.

"I did not expect such a marvelous experience and it was totally different from what I thought before coming here. The kids sitting here have been marvelous. They have taught me things that I have never known before. I have been doing research in transport for the last 24 years and I have learned more in these 5 days than those 24 years, from you children. I have also realised that I had ignored a very significant group of people in all my research, that is children. I am carrying back to Ghana very memorable ideas. Something interesting is going on here that we have not seen before – "children planning their own life". I will leave a promise with you that I will do my best to uphold what you are doing here in Ghana. I wish you all the happiness."

Prof. Albert Abane, Head, Department of Geography, Tourism and Transport, University of Cape Coast, Ghana—A participant at the workshop

The participants at the inception workshop identified more children in their villages to conduct the study. They are using various methods such as observation mapping, participatory rapid appraisal (PRA), interview, observation mapping, flash card case profile activity, focus group discussion, etc. to collect information.  The field study is being done by children. Child researchers have completed their PRA in all the Panchayats. They are administering other tools of information collection.

Representative child researchers from India, South Africa and Ghana will meet in Ghana on the completion of their study to develop strategies and tools for advocacy and negotiation and to share their experiences among themselves. On completion of the study the child researchers would work towards addressing the issues they identified in various ways---advocate with the government at the local, taluk, district and state levels, mobilise children and their community to deal with some of the issues---ensure that they use the information collected to change their situation.