Children’s agency in responding to shocks and adverse events in Ethiopia

<p>This paper focuses on children’s experiences of shocks and adverse events and their agency in dealing with the impacts of such events in Ethiopia, using survey and qualitative data collected from individuals and groups of children and young people. It draws on Young Lives data, including da...

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第一著者: Chuta, N
フォーマット: Working paper
言語:English
出版事項: Young Lives 2014
主題:
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author Chuta, N
author_facet Chuta, N
author_sort Chuta, N
collection OXFORD
description <p>This paper focuses on children’s experiences of shocks and adverse events and their agency in dealing with the impacts of such events in Ethiopia, using survey and qualitative data collected from individuals and groups of children and young people. It draws on Young Lives data, including data from two qualitative sub-studies carried out in 2009 and 2010. It finds out that children have their own experiences of shocks, different from the experiences of adults or of the household as a whole, and that some of the shocks have long-term consequences for children’s well-being. The paper also argues that during difficult circumstances or crises, children are active social agents. Their agency is primarily reflected in their decisions to take on paid work and subsidise their families’ incomes and their own basic needs during crises. However, it also spells out that some of their coping mechanisms are so informal and fragile that they are only applicable in specific situations and then do not necessarily bring about sustainable change. In some situations, children are seen resorting to unfavourable coping mechanisms which later give rise to other shocks with long-term developmental and health consequences for them. Finally, the paper suggests that agency of children can be described as constrained and ‘thin’, cautioning that it is necessary to consider contexts and to acknowledge children’s agency as active while at the same time offering protection, in case children’s decisions lead to other vulnerabilities in the future.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:ff5911b4-3562-45e6-898c-c6fb48dee65a2022-03-27T13:44:18ZChildren’s agency in responding to shocks and adverse events in EthiopiaWorking paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:ff5911b4-3562-45e6-898c-c6fb48dee65achild povertyEnglishOxford University Research Archive - ValetYoung Lives2014Chuta, N<p>This paper focuses on children’s experiences of shocks and adverse events and their agency in dealing with the impacts of such events in Ethiopia, using survey and qualitative data collected from individuals and groups of children and young people. It draws on Young Lives data, including data from two qualitative sub-studies carried out in 2009 and 2010. It finds out that children have their own experiences of shocks, different from the experiences of adults or of the household as a whole, and that some of the shocks have long-term consequences for children’s well-being. The paper also argues that during difficult circumstances or crises, children are active social agents. Their agency is primarily reflected in their decisions to take on paid work and subsidise their families’ incomes and their own basic needs during crises. However, it also spells out that some of their coping mechanisms are so informal and fragile that they are only applicable in specific situations and then do not necessarily bring about sustainable change. In some situations, children are seen resorting to unfavourable coping mechanisms which later give rise to other shocks with long-term developmental and health consequences for them. Finally, the paper suggests that agency of children can be described as constrained and ‘thin’, cautioning that it is necessary to consider contexts and to acknowledge children’s agency as active while at the same time offering protection, in case children’s decisions lead to other vulnerabilities in the future.</p>
spellingShingle child poverty
Chuta, N
Children’s agency in responding to shocks and adverse events in Ethiopia
title Children’s agency in responding to shocks and adverse events in Ethiopia
title_full Children’s agency in responding to shocks and adverse events in Ethiopia
title_fullStr Children’s agency in responding to shocks and adverse events in Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Children’s agency in responding to shocks and adverse events in Ethiopia
title_short Children’s agency in responding to shocks and adverse events in Ethiopia
title_sort children s agency in responding to shocks and adverse events in ethiopia
topic child poverty
work_keys_str_mv AT chutan childrensagencyinrespondingtoshocksandadverseeventsinethiopia