2026/01/02 by Shona Macleod · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Children's Rights and Participation #Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare #Religion, Society, and Development
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/02255189.2026.2619099
openalex publication_date 2026/01/02 · openalex created_date 2026/02/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15
In Senegal, many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have attempted to promote the rights of talibés – young boys studying in traditional residential Qur’anic schools, who are often required to beg – through workshops with their Qur’anic teachers. The NGOs employ specialists to relate child rights ideas to religious beliefs, a process akin to vernacularisation. Based on qualitative interview data collected in Senegal in 2017–2018, this article considers the limitations of this approach, demonstrating that, although Qur’anic teachers may remain unconvinced of messages around child begging, dismissing those unconvinced as illegitimate impostors allows NGOs to explain failures without changing their own worldview.