for children in care approaching capabilities. approaching capabilities the basic idea of the...

for Children in Care

Approaching Capabilities

Approaching capabilities

The basic idea of the project

With their programs and services organisations like SOS-Kinderdorf are working to enable people to live a life they have reason to choose and value.

That is why they have to know how such a life looks like. Only on the basis of this knowledge it is possible to assess and optimize child, youth, and family related services.

But how is it possible to measure the quality of life of children, youths, and families in an adequate way?

We believe that the so-called “Capabilities Approach” (CA) provides a promising framework to address this question.


Project structure

SOS Children’s Village Nicaragua

Steering Committee

International Research Center – IFZ Salzburg

SOS Children’s Village Germany

SOS-Kinderdorf International (KDI)

Bernhard Babic (KDI)Gunter Graf

(IFZ)Oscar Germes Castro (KDI)

University of Innsbruck

University of Salzburg

SOS Children’s Village Namibia

Ext. Partner(s) Namibia

Ext. Partner(s) Nicaragua

Steering group

Field work (including national consulting groups)


About the project partners

SOS-Kinderdorf International is an international non-governmental social development organisation that has been active in the field of children's rights and committed to children's needs and concerns since 1949.

In 132 countries and territories it runs 473 children’s villages and over 1.000 youth facilities with a focus on children without parental care and children of families in difficult circumstances.

Furthermore, with its own research projects SOS-Kinderdorf International has repeatedly given important stimuli to the further development of child and youth welfare on national and international levels.


About the project partners

The International Research Center Salzburg (IFZ) is an Institute of Advanced Studies in Social Ethics dedicated to scholarship and research in the area of social challenges.

The Center is linked with the University of Salzburg as well as with King's College London and is based on a Scholar in Residence and a Fellowship Programme.

The interdisciplinary and cutting edge research at the Center is focused on resilience and capabilities, on poverty alleviation and solidarity, on decent work and questions of work ethos.


The Capabilities Approach

The capabilities approach for assessing the quality of life was developed by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen on the basis of the field of development economy.

It emerged as the most influential alternative to standard economic frameworks for thinking about poverty, inequality and human development.

It has also influenced the UN Human Development Index and was incorporated in many international official reports and surveys.


The Capabilities Approach

The core characteristic of the capabilities approach is its focus on what people are effectively able to do and to be; that is, on their capabilities.

This contrasts with philosophical approaches that concentrate on people’s happiness or desire-fulfilment, or on income, expenditures, or consumption.

Therefore Sen argues that our evaluations and policies should focus on people's capabilities, on the quality of their life, and on removing obstacles in their lives so that they have more freedom to live the kind of life that, upon reflection, they have reason to value.


Concrete plan

The initial question is: Is the capability approach suitable for describing processes for the support of children and youths and to rate them in a second step?

We want to illustrate systematically the importance of the capabilities approach for the work with children – and thus indirectly for the life of the children themselves.

Through this international study in Namibia and Nicaragua (in autumn 2009), it will be possible to study two different working contexts and the respective local applicability of the capabilities approach.


Concrete plan

It is a priority to involve children and young people from different SOS programmes and from the community (if possible from partner organisations).

Families of origin, co-workers of SOS, partner organisations (including schools within the community) will also be involved to achieve a a multiple-perspective approach.


Concrete plan

The interviewees will be asked for:

The life they would like to lead (incl. Values).

How they assess their chances to realize their plans (incl. Resilience factors).

What kind of support they already get and what kind of support they need (additionally) to achieve their goals (incl. Resilience factors).


Concrete plan – Target groups in Nicaragua

Target group SOS NGOChildren & young people (without parental care, in risk of losing it, former SOS) 50 50Families (of origin, SOS Mothers & Aunts) 14 14Co-workers of SOS and volunteers (+ family strengthening programmes) 14 14Teachers 4 4Co-workers of health centres 0 4

Total 82 86


Concrete plan - Goals

To learn which capabilities are valuable for the interviewees and how well the support they receive by SOS-Kinderdorf and others meets their needs in this context.

The results could also enable the organisation and its partners to create processes and tools to assess their work and optimise the development of their programmes.


Methodology

Due to the aim of the project, qualitative investigations will play a crucial role in the field study.

Especially towards children/youths we intend to employ the method of “Storytelling” to get to the relevant data.

It ensures a strong level of participation by the interviewees, since they play an active role in providing information, interviewing other partners and finally revising the collected data for verification.


Methodology – Research question

In the case of children and young adults this could be the following one: “What kind of life would you like to lead later on?”

In the case of adults (SOS-parents, co-workers, etc.) the question has to refer to the life of children.

Children will be asked to draw, and afterwards describe the stories; young people to narrate or write the stories; adults will be asked to write the stories (with the exception of families of origin – narration)


Methodology – Storytelling workshop

Step 1: The storytellers interview themselves

Step 2 : Notes are take from each other’s data (Story)

Step 3: Information is validated if true, or edited (if false)

A B

A Data/Story of B B Data/Story of A

A Data/Story of A B Data/Story of B


Methodology

Analysis: Text analysis using Anselm Strauss’ grounded theory for the identification of themes and clustering

It is planned to extend the method of „Storytelling“ with a partly standardized, open-ended interview.

This will help us interpret the respective stories according to the intentions of the narrator.

Socio-economic data will also be collected as part of the research.


Thank you!

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