Together with Terre des Hommes NL, we currently conduct one of the biggest studies of Terre des Hommes NL in 2025: a Global Research Study on Child Exploitation (GRACE) conducted in 14 countries across Africa, Asia, and Europe, among children aged 13 to 17.
The aim is to understand the experiences of exploitation by means of a survey. The survey is focused on three key areas that align with the programmatic and advocacy work of Terre des Hommes NL:
- sexual exploitation of children (SEC, offline and online);
- child labor (CL);
- child early and forced marriage (CEFM).
The GRACE study is an important contribution to understanding the dynamics and determinants of child exploitation in a multi-country, comparative setting. As Terre des Hommes NL recognizes that the nature of child exploitation is ethically complex, there is at most poor conceptual clarity, and incomparable prevalence estimates across countries and regions, all contributing to a scattered understanding of the harm that children across the globe experience daily. The limited understanding and knowledge around child exploitation imply that it does not sit high on global agendas, even in child rights’ spaces. As a direct consequence, child exploitation does not attract enough funding for organizations to generate evidence that can catalyze systemic change. With Terre des Hommes NL, we set out to create a baseline for their work in the 2023-2030 strategic period. We aim to identify hot spots, determinants, and impacts of child exploitation.
Thus, we employed a determinant-based approach and developed a survey for children and adolescents (aged 13-17) to understand more about their experiences of exploitation. The conceptualization and design of this survey were a collective, consultative effort between Terre des Hommes NL, the Thailand-based NGO Evident (https://itsevident.org/), and Radboud University to ensure a robust methodology that applies to practice and programming. Along with data about negative exploitation experiences during childhood, we also collect information about structural factors, socio-economic and cultural characteristics, and childhood memories. We will use these factors to address differences and similarities in the experiences of exploitation across countries. Next, we collect information about satisfaction with life, belonging, future orientation, and other positive childhood experiences, such as the experience of a safe home and the perception of having a voice. This set of variables allows us to address exploitation-specific gradients with respect to well-being.
We also included vignette cases, which are essentially short, uniform stories, to address the perceived severity of situations of exploitation and the social norms surrounding them. Since these vignette cases are identical across individuals, they allow us to identify differences in perceptions of the severity of exploitation across countries and individuals.
Ethical approval was obtained from Radboud University.
The customized survey is undertaken in 14 countries across Asia, East Africa, and Europe. The countries particularly include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Madagascar, Nepal, Nigeria, Tanzania, Thailand, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Uganda, and Ukraine. The study targets approximately 200 children (aged 13–17) per selected country.
The goal is to repeat the survey toward the end of the TdH’s current strategic period as a method to track progress in the field of combating child exploitation to address the contribution of Terre des Hommes NL in being a catalyst for systemic change. We expect to contribute to the identification of systematic barriers that currently prevent us from ending child exploitation.
