Children’s agency and the capability approach: A conceptual framework

Development Studies series In this chapter, the three authors present a general framework for understanding children’s well-being based on the Capability Approach. Some of the main issues concerning children are raised, and a guide to interpreting the chapters of the book is provided. The aim of this chapter is to consider how the capability approach can fruitfully be used as a theoretical foundation for understanding children as subjects and agents of human development. This means considering children not simply as the recipients of positive freedoms, but as active social actors and agents within their communities with their own priorities, strategies, aspirations and potentials. In order to capture the development of children’s capabilities, the concept of agency is examined and the concept evolving capabilities is introduced.