Child well-being is one of the most important topics of public debate in recent times, and the abuse of children's rights has moved up the social policy agenda. Public education campaigns have been promoted to combat violence against children, alongside programmes and institutions responsible for protecting children's rights. However, many children do not have access to information about child protection programmes. And data about the victims of child abuse or the factors that hinder or facilitate their access to the services that could support them are even more scarce.

Even though it is widely recognised that children are the age group most affected by poverty, children's own experiences of living in social and economic hardship are still not well incorporated into most poverty reduction strategies and programmes. The purpose of this study is to find out how children and families in three rural communities in the southern Peruvian Andes experience well-being and poverty, in order to understand what may help them to lead the kinds of lives they value instead of following others' pre-established ideas of what is best for them.