Browsing by Author "Gentz, Shelene"

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    Children's world survey Khomas region - 2018
    (University of Namibia, 2018) Ruiz-Casares, Mónica; Gentz, Shelene
    This study is part of the third wave of the Children’s Worlds (CW) project (https://isciweb.org/). This project includes the International Survey of Children’s Well-Being (ISCWeB), a worldwide assessment of children’s subjective well-being. For some time now, statistical indicators are being used to monitor children’s well-being and to assess whether programs and policies are achieving their objectives at present and over time1 . A more recent addition of subjective indicators (e.g., children’s own accounts of their lives and conditions), responds to the need to better understand children’s individual experience of services2 . It also helps convey the value of children’s perspectives to influence decision-making, in line with the United Nation’s Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)3 , which Namibia adopted in 1990. The Children’s World project began in 2009 when a group of researchers, mainly from the International Society for Child Indicators (ISCI), held a meeting hosted by UNICEF to discuss the need for a survey about children, their experiences, perspectives, and subjective well-being. The group agreed that such a survey would uniquely contribute to understanding how children live across the world. Since 2010, the Children’s Worlds project has gathered information on children’s lives and their daily activities. Now in its third wave, the number of countries that have participated has grown from 14 to 40 countries including more than 126, 000 children. The project has extended to many regions with the goal of collecting representative information, whether from whole country surveys or from specific regions 4 . In this wave, 2016 and 2017 were dedicated to the preparation of the survey and establishment of a research strategy that optimized sufficient and diverse sampling. Across the participating countries, data were collected starting in the 2017 school year and from there, the results were consolidated and analyzed. The study taps into the psychosocial, cognitive and affective dimensions of childhood life and assesses children’s satisfaction with the different institutions and spaces that shape their lives. To illustrate children’s satisfaction and their aspirations, the survey included questions regarding their school, home, family, leisure time, friendships and geographical location. The survey also examined the children’s access to material goods, their health, use of time and perceptions of their own rights. As a result of the varied questions, the survey allowed children to evaluate their lives and provide insight of their perceived well-being in many different contexts. The process of asking these questions and the resulting answers help to create awareness among children, their parents, their communities, opinion leaders, decision makers, professionals and the general public. Through cultivating awareness, this study hopes to improve children’s well-being and to position children to attain their best potential