Article type
Abstract
Background
Child labor: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) generated evidence-informed, innovative solutions by children to avoid hazardous, exploitative labor in Bangladesh and Nepal. The collection of life stories, stories of children's days, stories of commercial and residential neighborhoods, and ethnographic studies of workplaces helped to build a rich picture of the systems dynamics that compel children into work and keep them there.
Amplifying voice
Children's stories on alcohol abuse, family violence, child marriage, abuse, and access to education were brought to global life in 2024 through an immersive, visual, multilingual (English, Bangla, and Nepali) platform "Hard Labour: A collection of stories about working children in Kathmandu and Dhaka" (www.hardlabour.info; Figure 1). The platform was designed, developed, tested, and launched with inputs from multiple stakeholders, including the children and business owners in Kathmandu and Dhaka, facilitators, documenters, researchers, illustrators, website developers, communications experts, and writers in Nepal, Bangladesh, and the UK. Challenges included ensuring anonymity of the children and businesses in the illustrations and pictures, without compromising voice and situational exposure (Figure 2).
Learnings
Including different actor perspectives on a website meant we were able to build a more complete picture. With the website designed so people can easily move from one story to another and filter by issues like "long work days" and "sexual abuse," it is harder for a single child's story to be dismissed as an outlier—underpinning an individual child's experience with a robustness that only comes from situating one experience in the context of many. Reach and impact of the platform are still elusive given its recent launch. However, early indicators suggest that it has gained traction with initial reflections such as, “The kids and business owners live such hard lives and they have been so generous and brave sharing the detail of how things are for them. These designs honour that.”
Conclusion
Innovative and participatory forms of evidence translation and communication to key stakeholders can be critical to facilitating meaningful policy influence, labor reforms, and child-protective laws. We encourage researchers and communities alike to use such platforms to give voice to the voiceless.
Child labor: Action-Research-Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) generated evidence-informed, innovative solutions by children to avoid hazardous, exploitative labor in Bangladesh and Nepal. The collection of life stories, stories of children's days, stories of commercial and residential neighborhoods, and ethnographic studies of workplaces helped to build a rich picture of the systems dynamics that compel children into work and keep them there.
Amplifying voice
Children's stories on alcohol abuse, family violence, child marriage, abuse, and access to education were brought to global life in 2024 through an immersive, visual, multilingual (English, Bangla, and Nepali) platform "Hard Labour: A collection of stories about working children in Kathmandu and Dhaka" (www.hardlabour.info; Figure 1). The platform was designed, developed, tested, and launched with inputs from multiple stakeholders, including the children and business owners in Kathmandu and Dhaka, facilitators, documenters, researchers, illustrators, website developers, communications experts, and writers in Nepal, Bangladesh, and the UK. Challenges included ensuring anonymity of the children and businesses in the illustrations and pictures, without compromising voice and situational exposure (Figure 2).
Learnings
Including different actor perspectives on a website meant we were able to build a more complete picture. With the website designed so people can easily move from one story to another and filter by issues like "long work days" and "sexual abuse," it is harder for a single child's story to be dismissed as an outlier—underpinning an individual child's experience with a robustness that only comes from situating one experience in the context of many. Reach and impact of the platform are still elusive given its recent launch. However, early indicators suggest that it has gained traction with initial reflections such as, “The kids and business owners live such hard lives and they have been so generous and brave sharing the detail of how things are for them. These designs honour that.”
Conclusion
Innovative and participatory forms of evidence translation and communication to key stakeholders can be critical to facilitating meaningful policy influence, labor reforms, and child-protective laws. We encourage researchers and communities alike to use such platforms to give voice to the voiceless.