This child-led research initiative was conducted under the umbrella of World Vision’s DEAR project (Development Education and Awareness Raising) and the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. The authors worked together to raise children’s voices to the highest levels possible in order to have an impact on decisions and processes that affect them, especially the work around the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda. These child researchers were invited to choose one of the issues covered by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Each country team discussed these issues, and they decided to explore SDG 16.2, the goal that focuses on the issue of ‘abuse, exploitation, trafficking, and all forms of violence against and torture of children’. The authors used a methodology that was developed to make research projects easy for children and young people.
The aim of these child-led research projects was to understand children and young people’s perceptions about violence against children as described within the SDG (16.2) that seeks to end violence towards children. The child researchers wanted to understand how violence is happening in their schools and communities and its effects on children’s lives.
