Opening minds, opening up opportunities. Children’s participation in action for working children

This report was written to capture Save the Children’s experience with working children, and draw from it principles of good practice. Projects for working children have been in the front line of Save the Children initiatives to help children fulfil their right to participation. To capture this experience, the International Save the Children Alliance commissioned a case study research in Brazil, Guatemala and Honduras, and India and Senegal. This report presents the findings from that research. The study concludes that the working children themselves will bring new perspectives to bear on their many situations. This has already occurred where child workers have been given the chance to capture attention for their points of view. But the voices of those in hidden occupations, deprived of any opportunity for self-expression and treated as silent captives without anything to say, have in the vast majority of cases yet to be heard. When this situation is rectified, their voices and actions may shed new light on areas of debate that remain unresolved among policy-makers today.