From Participation to Empowerment: Critical Reflections on a Participatory Action Research Project with Street Children in Turkey

This 26-page paper, published in a special issue of Children, Youth and Environments titled "Pushing the Boundaries: Critical International Perspectives on Child and Youth Participation" (click here to access the full issue), explores the communication strategies underpinning a 3-year participatory action research (PAR) project conducted with children living and working on the streets of 6 Turkish metropolitan cities. This project was motivated by the conviction that "if public space is to remain one of the foundational elements of a democratic society, it must be planned and researched using an inclusive approach". Yet, according to the authors, children - especially street children - are often not included in the research, planning, and/or management of public space.

The authors first examine how the dominant policy fails to acknowledge street children as actors in public space, drawing on examples from the Turkish context. In light of this context, they review empowering methodologies that have been developed for working with street children - methodologies that are based on the belief that street children are "active agents in the construction of the social reality of public space in cities and have the right to use the built environment for their survival and development." Among the thinkers referenced here is Paulo Freire, whose approach "is based on dialogue, praxis and experience - the key elements of any participatory action research process for empowering street children."

In order to illustrate this methodology and how it facilitates meaningful participation by street children, the authors detail a project launched in 1998 by the State Institute of Statistics of Turkey (SIS) and the Institute of Social Services and Child Welfare (ISSCW). In brief, as part of this effort to reveal what life is really about on the street for children and foster their abilities to take control of their lives, the initative involved practitioners engaging with children through a process of understanding their life stories and their present conditions, and formulating action plans to ameliorate their current state.

For example, in the first phase of the project, the children engaged in participatory activities (with the guidance of social workers) that involved using art and other creative processes to convey their living and working conditions on the street, such as:

• creating maps and/or graphics - e.g., of their experiences on the street, of migration within the country, and of their support network,
• enacting dramas, which they performed for the public, to present their relationships with other children, social workers, policemen, shopkeepers, and local municipal inspectors on the street
• taking pictures, preparing posters, writing newspaper articles, and interviewing peers to reveal their self-perception in the media and to indicate how they would like to be known by the general public
• participating in the activities offered by a mobile bus that functioned as an educational and health centre.
• engaging in in-depth discussions about their life stories, and collectively discussing what they meant by the way they drew, played, photographed, etc.

The authors go on to evaluate the effectiveness of the PAR methodology in the context of this particular project, noting that the street children developed 3 key ways to become more empowered with respect to public space: they took active roles in challenging negative attitudes towards them and their use of public space for survival and work; they were provided with mobile physical and psychological consultation and medical aid at places within convenient reach in order to increase their resilience; and they became aware of the importance of play and education for their development. In short, the PAR "enabled street children to learn more about themselves, to formulate actions to improve their situation, and to gain self-confidence through carrying out these actions." The authors emphasise that the use of artistic media was a key strategy in encouraging them to talk about their lives more openly.

Despite the project's shortcomings (difficulties and limitations are outlined here), the authors conclude that PAR is a valuable methodology in working with street children in Turkey and empowering them as actors in response to their situation. For instance, the authors stress, conventional research might not have been able to respond to many questions about the emergence of the street children phenomenon and the problems children encounter on the streets - let alone to provide these children with the skills and confidence to take action to address these problems. But, even beyond that fact, "the project suggests that the planning of public space can benefit substantially from the active participation of street children..."