Page - (000311) - in Evaluating Climate Change Action for Sustainable Development

16.4.1 StepA:FocusGroupDiscussionswithChildren andYouth Participatory FGDswere the core of themethod applied to evaluate, test assump- tions, andhear theperspectives fromchildrenandyouthabout their experiencesof the CC-CBA project. The focus groups were designed for small groups of 8–12 children, but in practice larger groupswhoattendedweremanagedflexiblywith a similar process. The team conducting the focus group discussions comprised a facilitator, doc- umenter and a few observers, all from the project or research team. The children werefamiliarwith thefacilitators,whowerespecificallyselectedasmembersof the implementation teamwho hadworked closely with the children through various activities. Although familiarity between evaluators and participants is sometimes thought to adversely affect the “impartiality” of the process,30 in this situation encouraging participation and ensuring childrenwere comfortablewith the adults present was considered paramount to inclusive participation, consistent with the rights-basedapproach to theproject, andparticularly important given the sensitive and potentially troubling issues discussed related to the lived experiences of children through typhoons, landslides, floods and other climate change impacts. “Bias” resultingfromthefamiliaritywaseffectivelymanagedthroughcarefulFGD design and implementation.31 The facilitatorswerewell placed toencouragechildren toparticipate.However, some childrenwere at times hesitant to speak, at least initially, when there were several adults present as observers in the background (including one to three not fromthePhilippines).Overrepeatedvisits throughout theresearchprocesschildren becamefamiliarandcomfortablewith theManila-andAustralia-basedmembersof the team – by the end of the project activities, familiar enough to notice and ask about wherewewerewhen some or a few of uswere not present. In other cases someyounger childrenwere reluctant to offer views if thegroupsweredominated by older children, although overall working with teachers beforehand generally ensuredchildrenwithin agroupwere fairly consistent in age.SeparateFGDswere conducted with out of school youth groups. However, there were challenges in organising to hear fromchildrenwith disabilities and fromethnicminorities. Adultsfromthecommunity–parents, teachers,andlocalgovernmentmembers– weregenerallynotpresent at the focusgroupswithchildren, aswesought toavoid power imbalances thatwould discourage children fromsharing their perspectives. However, in some focus groups, local government or some teachers attended, discretely in the background. In these cases, teammembers familiar with these adults (who were also project participants), gauged that they would not inhibit 30House,ER. 2005. “DeliberativeDemocraticEvaluation.” inSageEncyclopediaofEvaluaiton. 31Chong, Joanne, Anna Gero and Pia Treichel. 2015. “What Indicates Improved Reslience to ClimateChange?ALearning andEvaluativeProcessDeveloped fromaChild-Centred,Commu- nity-BasedProject in thePhilippines.”NewDirections forEvaluation. 16 EvaluatingClimateChangeAdaptation inPractice:AChild-Centred. . . 299