Children's Voice in Development Policy

This book concerns the opportunities and challenges involved in mainstreaming knowledge generated by and about children into international development policy and practice. It focuses on the ideas, networks and institutions that shape the development of evidence about child poverty and wellbeing, and the use of such evidence in development policy debates. It also pays particular attention to the importance of power relations in influencing the extent to which children's voices are heard and acted upon by international development actors. The book weaves together theory, mixed methods approaches and case studies spanning a number of policy sectors and diverse developing country contexts in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It therefore provides a useful introduction for students and development professionals who are new to debates on children, knowledge and development, while at the same time offering scholars in the field new methodological and empirical insights.

Nicola Jones is a Research Fellow in the Social Development Programme at the Overseas Development Institute where she works on issues related to knowledge and power in the social policy sector, with a particular focus on gender and childhood.
Andy Sumner is a Fellow of the Vulnerability and Poverty Research team at the Institute of Development Studies. He is a cross-disciplinary economist. His primary foci of interest are: child poverty; the MDGs, and the politics of policy processes.