The politics of child participation in international development: the dilemma of agency

This paper explores the politics of agency expressed through child participation in international development. Empirically it focuses on Bangladesh, highlighting in particular the experience of one children's organisation. It asks how dynamics have changed over time, and what participation has meant for the children and their families. It raises three major challenges for the current practice of child participation: the need to re-emphasise the priority of survival rights; the danger of 'projectisation', and the need to pay critical attention to the resources through which children's agency is built, and the very different models of development they reflect.