Child participation in evaluating social protection projects: Do global development actors walk the talk?

This article examines whether major international development organizations actually involve children in evaluating social protection programmes across Africa, as required by children's rights conventions. The research finds that children are largely excluded from these evaluation processes because they were not included in programme design and planning from the start. The study argues that meaningful child participation in monitoring and evaluation is only possible when children are involved throughout all stages of programme development.

Key points

• International development actors are not complying with Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child regarding child participation in social protection evaluation
• Children's exclusion from design and planning phases limits their ability to participate meaningfully in monitoring and evaluation
• Children in sub-Saharan Africa represent an increasingly large share of global poverty, making their voice in these programmes critical
• Legal requirements exist for implementing child participation rights, but practical implementation gaps are substantial
• Child participation in M&E can only be marginal when it is not built into earlier programme phases

Limitations

The document does not provide specific data on the number of programmes evaluated, the scale of non-compliance across different organizations, or evidence of children's actual preferences for participation formats. It does not present evidence on whether child participation, when it occurs, actually improves programme outcomes.