Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH, United Kingdom.
BRAC International, Heritage Drive, Nsambya, Kampala, Uganda.
Child Abuse Negl. 2021 Jul;117:105086. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105086. Epub 2021 May 6.
The concept of child 'agency' has become increasingly important for international child-centric organizations, non-government organizations (NGOs) and United Nations (UN) agencies, particularly those responding to the issue of child marriage. Interventions to prevent child marriage often include awareness-raising activities focused on sharing information with children on the dangers of child marriage. Such interventions are often based on, and perpetuate, a belief that increased knowledge can lead to an increase in girls' agency. In this framing, agency is presumed to result in a 'good' decision and is positioned as a natural consequence of increased knowledge. This agency is said to enable girls to resist marriages forced upon them by their parents.
This discussion paper aims to interrogate dominant conceptualizations of child agency through an exploration of child agency narratives on child marriage.
This discussion paper is based on critical analysis of existing academic and grey (NGO and UN) literature that explores children's agency in the context of child marriage prevention.
This discussion paper suggests that academics, NGOs and UN actors use varied definitions to describe agency. While academic analysis shows that children's agency might be contested, contradictory and fraught, NGO and UN agencies tend to narrowly frame agency.
We suggest that adopting a broader definition of children's agency in research and implementation enables a more nuanced, complex understanding of the drivers of child marriage and the interventions required to address this practice.
儿童“能动性”的概念对于以儿童为中心的国际组织、非政府组织（NGO）和联合国（UN）机构来说变得越来越重要，尤其是在处理童婚问题方面。预防童婚的干预措施通常包括提高认识活动，重点是向儿童传达童婚的危险信息。此类干预措施通常基于并延续这样一种信念，即增加知识可以提高女孩的能动性。在这种框架下，能动性被认为会导致“好”的决策，并被视为知识增加的自然结果。这种能动性使女孩能够抵制父母强加给她们的婚姻。
本文旨在通过探讨童婚预防背景下儿童能动性的叙事，对儿童能动性的主流概念进行质疑。
本文基于对现有学术和灰色（非政府组织和联合国）文献的批判性分析，这些文献探讨了儿童在童婚预防背景下的能动性。
本文表明，学者、非政府组织和联合国行为体使用不同的定义来描述能动性。虽然学术分析表明，儿童的能动性可能存在争议、矛盾和困难，但非政府组织和联合国机构往往狭隘地定义能动性。
我们建议，在研究和实施中采用更广泛的儿童能动性定义，可以更细致、更复杂地理解童婚的驱动因素以及解决这一做法所需的干预措施。
