Supporting children in their working lives: obstacles and opportunities within the international policy environment

In this paper, the international policy environment surrounding child work is reviewed, in order to locate the emerging opportunities and persistent obstacles faced by development practitioners who consider working children as active agents, rather than subjects, of development, and aim to support the economic livelihoods of this population. Shifts in the child work-child labour debate are examined in light of the ways in which 'childhood' and 'work' have been constructed, and in the context of current understandings of the causes and consequences of child work. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.