‘No, living well does not mean being rich’: Diverse understandings of well-being among 11–13-year-old children in three Ethiopian communities

Abstract

Participatory research into how people living in material poverty define and experience well-being and ill-being is increasingly common in developed and developing countries. Such research highlights the importance of experiential aspects, such as being respected and able to preserve one's dignity, and having meaningful choices. Nevertheless, these findings rarely cover children's experiences and are often not contextualized or triangulated with other data. The paper will extend this exploration using data from qualitative research with a sub-sample of children aged 11Á13 in three urban and rural communities, drawn from Young Lives, a long-term international research project investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in four countries, including Ethiopia. Firstly, it addresses how understandings of a good life and what is needed to achieve one varies between communities and amongst children of different backgrounds living in those communities; for example, boys and girls and children from richer or poorer households. Secondly, the study examines how one's place in social relationships also contributes to how children perceive and understand what a good life is. The paper confirms the importance of allowing children to take at least a 'partial role' in measuring and monitoring their well-being (Ben-Arieh 2005, 575) and provides examples of how this might be done.

‘See First, Think Later, Then Test’: How Children's Perspectives Can Improve Economic Research

“…This agrees with other qualitative research in Ethiopia (Abebe, 2007;Poluha, 2007;Camfield and Tafere, 2009). Most of the children interviewed whose families owned land helped their families to farm.…”

“…I interviewed children aged 12-13. In Leki and other similar Ethiopian communities, parents clearly see children this age as able to take responsibility in some spheres: boys plough fields on their own, and girls do most chores (Abebe, 2007;Camfield and Tafere, 2009). However, they are still seen as children: they are not old enough to start relationships with people of the opposite gender or live by themselves.…”

What Inequality means for Children

“…For example, research in Ethiopia invited 12 year olds to draw pictures of children having a 'good' or a 'bad life', and used these as a starting point for exploring their understanding of well-being. Children often prioritised family and school, over good food, shelter and material security as essential to well-being (Camfield and Tafere, 2009).…”

Children's Well-being in Developing Countries: A Conceptual and Methodological Review

“…'Subjective' measures are by implication seen as difficult to capture, unreliable and open to external influence (for example, Bertrand and Mullainathan, 2001), which downplays the potential contribution of systematic participatory and interpretive approaches . For example, material resources can acquire symbolic and emotional power as when children attach great importance to items of clothing such as branded trainers in the United Kingdom (Ridge, 2002) or hair decorations in Ethiopia that signify Timket (a National holiday to celebrate Epiphany) (Camfield and Tafere, 2009). Finally, the objective-subjective binary can serve as a barrier to integrating different approaches to studying well-being.…”