Child and youth research as an area of preoccupation in CODESRIA programming first began in earnest in October 1995 when a planning workshop was hosted by the Council in Dakar in collaboration with Childwatch International (CWI). Although more than half of the population of most, if not all African countries fall within the category of “children” as defined in the International Convention on the Rights of the Child (ICRC) which uses 18 years and below as its point of departure, social science research on childhoods in Africa remained generally weak and fragmented. Redressing this lacuna is the aim of this programme. Children and youth are also key actors in the conflicts, peace and democratisation processes, and well as in development processes in Africa.  

National Working Groups (NWG) on Issues Related to Children and Youth

Four NWGs, from four different countries were established in 2006 with the sole purpose of carrying out basic research on different issues of concern on children and the youth. The four countries covered were Kenya, Zimbabwe, Benin and Tanzania (Zanzibar). The NWGs formd in these countries are the following: 

• Agriculture et vie des enfants : Impact de l’adoption d’équipements agricoles améliorés sur la scolarisation et le bien-être des enfants en République du Bénin (Afrique de l’Ouest)
• Sexual And Reproductive Health And Rights Of Adolescents With Disabilities In Kenya:-An Analysis Of Policy, Programmes And Needs
• Impact of Tourism on Youth and Children in Zanzibar
• To Liberate or to Afflict: The Rise, Development and Impact of Mudzimu   Unoyera Sect of Guruve, Zimbabwe.

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Multinational Working Group on Youth and Identity. This MWG was launched in 2006.

Commissioned Studies

2001: Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Senegambia Region; A Project in collaboration with UNICEF

2005: Study on « Synthèse critique d’études, d’évaluation et de documents afférents au Mouvement des Jeunes Travailleurs, MAEJT » (In collaboration with MAEJT, Plan WARO and Enda-Tiers Monde)

Conferences and Workshops

2002: Workshop on Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Senegambia Region

2004: Lusaka: Symposium on child research in Southern Africa

2005:   Meeting to celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the African Charter on the Rights and  Welfare of the Child, Global Conference on Childhoods, Oslo (in collaboration with CWI)

2006: Conference on Youth and the Global South (in collaboration with ASC) 

In addition to activities directly sponsored by the Council, part of the CODESRIA strategy for strengthening child and youth research in Africa involves the development of collaborative initiatives with institutions such as CWI based in Oslo, the New York-based Social Science Research Council (SSRC), and the African Studies Centre in Leiden, The Netherlands. Through these partnerships, the Council also carried out several high profile research activities. These include a session dedicated to the celebration of the 15^th Anniversary of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child hosted during the Global Childhoods conference held in Oslo in 2005, an international conference on Youth and the Global South: Religion, Politics and the Making of Youth in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, co-organised with the African Studies Centre (ASC, Leiden), and an international conference on new directions for child research in Africa, co-organised with CWI. The last two events were both held in Dakar, in October and November 2006 respectively. One of the outcomes of these initiatives is the creation of an African Network on Child Research.