Being, becoming and relationship: conceptual challenges of a child rights approach in development

This paper considers the distinctiveness of children as development subjects and the challenges this poses to default development 'target group' approaches. It focuses on two key issues: the embeddedness of children within key relationships, and the transformative nature of age-based difference. Rather than viewing adults and children as two fixed categories, it argues that multiple relations amongst and between adults and children comprise aspects of both mutual interest and contradiction, and are always implicated in power. Offering practical tools as well as conceptual discussion to explore these, overall it advocates a person-centred, rather than category-centred, approach to both analysis and practice. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.