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Describes the emerging findings from the Effecitveness Initiaitve (EI), an open and flexible dialogue between ten international sites investigating good practices and lessons in early childhood development. Includes description of a variety of tools and strategies that have been used `for listening to different voices' and for finding out information about each of the projects. These include the `river analogy', used to construct a visual history of projects in Peru and Colombia; the farm land `machamba' analogy form Mozambique that helps people to analyse the evolution of community based early childhood development sites; seasonal calenders from the Philippines; meetings and debates from Portugal; different forms of open and unstructured interviews; personal diaries and `family books'; and the analysis of anecdotes and stories in almost all the teams. This issue looks at a range of the projects and a number of issues related to the EI enquiry, such as: looking at how `Atlas-ti' qualitative analysis software has been used to identify common elements of effective programming while retaining links with the original qualitative data - charting both 'thematic affinities' and diverse local expressions of what makes for effectiveness; and how data gathered by the projects is returned to all the people who provided it for challenge and modification in open meetings; also describes the way different kinds of information were collected, compared and `triangulated' to confirm findings. Key findings include: that `credibility', built on trust and respect of local priorities, is vital; also simply creating room for reflection and research by those involved in projects is an important component of making effective programmes; and conducting research in the local language helps to get at issues that are important for participants and staff

This edition of Early Childhood Matters provides arguments, examples of work at all levels, and analyses to contribute to the discussions needed to elevate the Convention on the Rights of the Child to its rightful place in early childhood programming as a key strategy in realising the aspirations of the Convention. Built on varied legal systems and cultural traditions, the Convention on the Rights of the Child is a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations. There is no dedicated section that addresses the rights of children from birth to eight specifically, but rather encompasses children up to the age of 18. This paper argues that the world's young children demand special attention to reflect their particular needs

Successful participatory activities rely on community interest and enthusiasm. The very involvement of participants is assumed to demonstrate their consent, and the number of activities or rates of attendance often serve as process indicators for monitoring a project. However, what if community members do not control their daily movements? This article examines the dilemmas faced by a community development project working with debt-bonded sex workers in Cambodia. It outlines the ethical concerns that the project team has faced so far, and described in detail what steps were taken to try to address the most important of these issues: that of consent