| |
Project
3b(2):
Autonomous Child Migration in
Ghana
This study explored the decision-making
processes and aspirations involved in children’s migration
from a sending village in the Upper East Region of Ghana, where
long-term ethnographic research had previously been carried out
on children’s work and education. The earlier research found
that, contrary to the manner in which children’s migration
frequently is presented in the policy literature, the return child
migrants interviewed were, for the most part, positive about their
experiences of migration. The aim of the study was to build on what
was found then by broadening the scope of children considered to
include children who were at the time living as migrants, and to
explore the nature of the processes involved in migration.
Key Research Questions
 |
Why do children migrate, what negotiations
are involved in the decision to migrate? |
|
What is the extent of children’s agency
in the migration process? |
|
What social networks, if any, are utilised
in children’s movement? |
|
What impact does children’s access
to schooling, or the lack thereof, have on their decision to
migrate (and vice versa)? |
|
What are the experiences and coping strategies
of children who migrate, and what explanations are there for
variations in children’s experiences? |
|
How much do children earn, and how much
control do they have over this income? |
|
What is the impact of a child’s gender
on the above? |
|
|
| |
Key Theme(s)
Gender and Generations
Rural Poverty and Livelihoods
Type(s) of Migration
Child
Migration
Region
Ghana / Africa
|
| |
Convenor
Ann
Whitehead
Investigators
Iman
Hashim, (Sussex),
Key Activities
| |
Following a workshop in March 2004,
which set down the broad parameters for the research,
fieldwork was undertaken and a total of seventy current
(60) and return (10) child migrants were interviewed,
along with twenty of the parents of child migrants.
|
Outputs
|
Findings from the study,
along with the findings of other DRC studies on child
migrants, was presented at a DRC-organised panel on children
who choose to migrate at the Oslo Childhoods 2005 conference |
|
A detailed report of
the study has been submitted (Children's Independent Migration
from Northeastern to Central Ghana, http://www.migrationdrc.org/
publications/research_ reports.html) |
|
In addition, Iman has
produced two working papers on the migration of children
entitled ‘Exploring the Linkages between Children’s
Independent Migration and Education: Evidence from Ghana’
(WP-T12, available at http://www.migrationdrc.org/
publications/working_papers.html) and ‘The Positives
and Negatives of Children’s Migration: An Assessment
of the Evidence From Ghana and the Debates’ (under
review). |
|
Iman also was a contributing
author on an overview paper on the DRC’s research
on migration of children, which is shortly due to be published
as a working paper (‘Child Migration, Child Agency
and Intergenerational Relations in Africa and South Asia’
by Ann Whitehead, Iman M Hashim and Vegard Iversen) |
|
Follow-up work from
the project, in the next phase, includes a research
workshop, a policy workshop and a write-shop towards
bringing out an edited volume on autonomous child migration |
|
|
Site
design: Meta
Design Work Ltd.