Children as Beneficiaries and Participants in Development Programs: A Case Study in Burma (Myanmar) Karl Goodwin-Doming Faculty of Arts Department of Social Inquiry & Community Studies Victoria University Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2007 Abstract This study seeks to understand the dynamics and processes of community development programs for children in Burma (Myanmar). It examines the ethical dimensions of children's participation, critiques the extent of participation of young people in community development activity, explores the barriers and avenues for increased participation and presents recommendations based on lived experience which can be used to formulate policies that will enable/encourage greater participation. The development industry reaches to almost all areas of the globe and is not confined by national boundaries, ethnicity, age, gender or other social stratification. One of the most topical issues in contemporary development regards the rights of the child. It is an area of increasing interest to United Nations agencies and to human rights groups such as Amnesty International and the International Labour Organisation. In addition, a number of international programs have been created to focus upon improving the global situation of children, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and Mandela and Machel's "Global Movement for Children." Such interest in the situation of children, however, rarely includes discussion of the ethical issues involved in the construction of children as appropriate subjects of development. Even rarer is examination or discussion of the culturally and historically contingent nature of assumptions about children and childhood that are built into many programs that focus upon children. The implications of applying programs and techniques that incorporate "Western" or Children as Beneficiaries and Participants in Development Programs: A Case Study in Burma (Myanmar) "generic" understandings of children and childhood upon children from non- Western nations should be part of such discussions. Development programs increasingly employ national workers, not only as stakeholders and participants, but also as initiators of programs and as directors of resource allocation. However, with this growing trend of the participation of 'beneficiaries' of development programs in identifying needs and planning and implementing solutions, the voices of children have, until recently, been quiet. Your children are not your children. They are the Sons and daughters of life's longing for itself. Kahlil Gibran Children as Beneficiaries and Participants in Development Programs: A Case Study in Burma (Myanmar) Page ii Table of Contents Abstract i Table of Contents iii List of Figures vii List of Tables viii Acknowledgements ix Acronyms x Doctor of Philosophy Declaration xi Preface 1 Introduction 7 Focus of the Study 7 Children's participation - a complex issue 8 Methodology 12 Ethics 23 Overview of thesis structure 24 Locating Participation 30 Introduction 30 Locating participation within the community development discourse 33 Locating participation within the child rights discourse 48 A historical progression towards children's right to participate 48 Key dilemmas with participation in the child rights discourse 52 Models of child participation 60 Participation and power 65 Locating participation within the sociology of childhood discourse 68 Constructions of Childhood 68 The 'sociology of childhood' 72 Conclusion 83 What are child participation 'projects'? 84 Overall conclusions 98 Children in Burma: Social, Political and Economic Context 103 Children as Beneficiaries and Participants in Development Programs: A Case Study in Burma (Myanmar) Page iii Introduction 103 The dominance ofthe state 105 Responding to fear 114 The impact of the Burmese state on children 120 Conclusions 141 Childhood and Childhood Experiences in Burma: Narrative, Socio- Economic and Political Perspectives 144 Introduction 144 The narrative realm of Burmese childhood 148 Buddhism 149 Stages of Life 167 Cultural concepts 178 The narrative realm - conclusion 182 The socio-political realm: maintaining the collective illusion 184 The media-we have no child soldiers! 186 Educational 'excellence' 192 Economic mismanagement 199 The socio-political realm - conclusions 209 The personal realm 211 Taking responsibility 211 Contributing 215 Decision-making 220 The personal realm - conclusions 224 Overall conclusions 226 Organisational Approaches to Participation 234 Introduction 234 World Vision Myanmar - working with children on the street 236 Background to the World Vision partnership 236 World Vision Myanmar 238 Street Children: who are they, why study them? 241 Street children in Myanmar 245 Taking to the streets 247 Life away from home 252 Children as Beneficiaries and Participants in Development Programs: A Case Study in Burma (Myanmar) Page iv Genealogy of change from Welfare to Participation 265 Sustainable change? 274 The Child Focussed Network (CFN) 283 Phaung Daw Oo Monastic Education School 295 Implications and discussion 301 Time and praxis 302 Leadership 303 Organisational structures 307 Organisational history and values 309 Good development practice and principles 310 Social capital 312 Conclusion 314 Participation: A New Framework for Analysis 316 Introduction 316 A new framework for understanding child participation 319 Basic principles of the framework 320 Types of participation 322 Realms of influence 324 New Horizons for Participation 329 Implications for theoretical frameworks 329 Implications for international and local child-focussed organisations in Burma.. 334 Principles of engagement 340 Areas for further research and exploration 344 Conclusion 347 Epilogue 349 Appendices 354 Appendix 1 -Cited Articles in Sections from Human Rights Treaties 355 A. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 355 B. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 356 C. The Convention ofthe Rights ofthe Child 357 Appendix 2 - The 12 Objectives of the State 359 Appendix 3 - Myanmar Child Law 360 Children as Beneficiaries and Participants in Development Programs: A Case Study in Burma (Myanmar) Page v Appendix 4- Question Guide Example from World Vision Myanmar Street Children Participatory Evaluations 382 REFERENCES 383 Children as Beneficiaries and Participants in Development Programs: A Case Study in Burma (Myanmar) Page vi List of Figures === Figure 1 Arnstein's ladder of participation 39 Figure 2 Roger Hart's Ladder of Young People's Participation 61 Figure 3 Shier's Pathways to Participation Model 63 Figure 4 Abrioux's spherical model of participation 65 Figure 5 Quality of Life Framework by Thomas and Hocking 82 Figure 6 Structure of Children's Clubs in Nepal 90 Figure 7 The 3 National Causes of the Union of Myanmar 107 Figure 8 Survey data on birth registration from the Department of Health Planning 112 Figure 9 Novice Life Lines 156 Figure 10 A day in the life of Phaung Daw Oo Yangon Novices 158 Figure 11 Activities of Teenage Children in Hlaingtharyar 206 Figure 12 Examples of Child's Working Day 208 Figure 13 Tin Ma Myint's story of her trip from Mandalay to Rangoon 214 Figure 14 Activities in the LPK Centre 264 Figure 15 Questions addressed by World Vision Myanmar street children's participatory evaluation process 271 Figure 16 Participants at the first meeting of the Child Focused Network 284 Figure 17 Suggested structure ofthe CFN according to project design 289 Figure 18 Structure of Phaung DawOo 298 Figure 19 World Vision Myanmar Organisational Structure 307 Figure 20 A multi-dimensional framework for children's participation 319 Figure 21 Participation Framework showing some examples 328 Children as Beneficiaries and Participants in Development Programs: A Case Study in Burma (Myanmar) Page vii List of Tables Table 1 - Summary of data collection processes 22 Table 2 - Barbara Franklin's model of participation 62 Table 3 - Local NGOs in Yangon and their area of focus (International Non- Government Organisations Working in Myanmar, 2004) 117 Table 4 - Claimed Annual GDP Growth Rates 1994-2004 200 Table 5 - World Vision Myanmar Household Data of Ward 12 Hlaingtharyar Township 202 Table 6 - Common Forms of Employment and Daily Income, Ward 12 Hlaingtharyar (extracted from World Vision Myanmar Project Records) 203 Table 7 - Estimation of School Attendance in Hlaingtharyar Ward 12 203 Table 8 - Type of work conducted by street children residents of the World Vision Myanmar LPK centre 1999..... 254 Table 9 - Typology of Street Children used by World Vision Myanmar 262 Table 10 - Types of participation according to a sample of staff at the LPK drop-in- centre 282 Table 11 - Identification of children's needs by adult and child participants of the CFN 285 Children as Beneficiaries and Participants in Development Programs: A Case Study in Burma (Myanmar) Page viii Acknowledgements = — I would like to thank a number of people for their assistance in the preparation of this thesis. Firstly, my gratitude to my supervisor, Associate Professor Michael Hamel-Green and to my co-supervisor Heather Wallace for their guidance and encouragement and for the many hours they spent poring over drafts, particularly in the final few months when things seemed to be the most stressful. Also my thanks to Monique Skidmore and Jane Perry who have provided invaluable assistance in commenting on drafts. The data in this thesis reflects the lived experience of many