BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//talks.cam.ac.uk//v3//EN BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:19700329T010000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:19701025T020000 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT CATEGORIES:CSC Lectures on Human Development SUMMARY:CHILD POVERTY AS CAPABILITY DEPRIVATION - Professo r Mario Biggeri\, University of Florence\, Italy DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20080424T140000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20080424T160000 UID:TALK11865AThttp://talks.cam.ac.uk URL:http://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/11865 DESCRIPTION:The Capability and Sustainability Centre (Von Huge l Institute) at St Edmund's College is organising two lectures given by Professor Mario Biggeri\, fr om the University of Florence\, on the topic of 'C hildren and\nCapabilities'. Professor Biggeri is a n international specialist in the field\, having p ublished many papers on children and human develop ment. He is Associate Professor in Development Eco nomics at the University of\nFlorence and also one of the coordinators of the thematic group of the Human Development Capability Association on "Child ren's capabilities".\n\n\n************************ **\nHUMAN DEVELOPMENT LECTURES\n****************** ********\n\nProfessor Mario Biggeri\, University o f Florence\n\nLECTURE 1 - CHILD POVERTY AS CAPABIL ITY DEPRIVATION\nThursday 24 April\, from 2pm to 4 pm\, Okinaga Room\, St Edmund's College\n\nLECTURE 2 - EDUCATION & DISABILITIES FROM A CAPABILITY PE RSPECTIVE\nFriday 25 April\, from 2pm to 4pm\, Gar den Room\, St Edmund's College\n\n\nFURTHER INFO \ nIn these lectures Professor Biggeri considers the capability approach (CA) as a normative framework for the analysis of children's well-being and for relevant issues concerning children such as child poverty and child labour. If we argue that these issues can be analysed through the CA\, then how t o choose dimensions for children's well-being beco mes a central issue. Indeed\, in our view the oper ationalisation of the CA\npasses through the ident ification of relevant dimensions/domains of childr en's well-being.\n\nAccording to this line of reas oning the objective of the first lecture is twofol d. First we present possible methods for choosing dimensions of children's well-being. Secondly\, we explore the implications of using the CA in terms of theoretical definitions and categories used fo r empirical research on child poverty and child la bour.\n\nThe first lecture explores two methods an d the main options used in the literature to choos e dimensions\, examining the strengths and limits of each option. The results are utilised to re-thi nk and improve the current\ndefinitions and catego ries used in theoretical and empirical research on child poverty and child labour. A full comparison of the overall results is beyond the scope of the lecture\, but they open new perspectives also for the CA theoretical framework giving relevance to the capabilities set of a social group\, exploring possible links between the CA and the human right s\napproach.\n\nTo illustrate some of the conceptu al issues raised at the beginning of these lecture s\, a case study of street children in Kampala (Ug anda) is explored. The methodological approach whi ch includes an ad hoc survey\ncarried out in Kampa la will be presented. The questionnaire of the sur vey was conceived to implement a bottom up process whereby the children were encouraged to conceptua lise and attribute value to their capabilities.\n\ nSome of the results are presented and we then ana lyse those of the ad hoc aspects of the survey\, s howing the different conceptualizations "capabilit ies" among street children\, ex-street children (" rehabilitated")\nliving in institutions and a cont rol group of children who had no "street experienc e". In particular we highlight the relationship be tween their own\n"achieved functionings" and their general perception of capabilities for children i n general as members of their social group. Specif ic sections are devoted to working activities and education and their impact on child functioning an d well-being. Children were also asked to express their opinion on the most important opportunities a child should have during his childhood and adole scence and about what the government and society s hould do to ameliorate children's life and in part icular the conditions of street children.\n\nFinal ly\, the last part of the lectures considers the p erceptions that children themselves hold regarding the relevance of education for their own well bei ng. The human development of children can be regar ded as 'an\nexpansion of capabilities' or of 'posi tive freedoms'. Capabilities\, choices and conditi ons during childhood and adolescence crucially aff ect children's position and capabilities as adults . Deficiencies in important capabilities during ch ildhood not only reduce the well-being of those su ffering from them\, but may have larger societal i mplications. Results from field studies carried ou t in Italy\, India and Uganda\, which located chil dren as the centre of a bottom up strategy for und erstanding the relevant dimensions of children's w ell-being\, are reported. In relation to democrati c dialogue about selecting capabilities\, it is ar gued that children are capable of understanding an d contributing thoughtful opinions. The overall co ncern is\nto demonstrate what children think they should be able to do and be\, i.e. their valued ca pabilities. It considers that an operationalizatio n of the capability approach has to deal with the issue of defining a list of relevant capabilities\ , although they don't need to have a universal cha racter. The issue of disabilities is explored as a n illustration of the general approach towards chi ldren capabilities developed during the lectures.\ n LOCATION:St Edmund's College\, Okinaga Room (Tower) CONTACT:Dr Flavio Comim END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR