This article explores contrasting social constructions of the ‘value of children’ in a rural village in Northern Sierra Leone. It investigates how the meanings of childhood, its temporal extension and children’s (present and future) roles are differently interpreted in the context of humanitarian intervention. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and participatory research with children, it explores how child work and education are conceptualised by a range of different actors (local authorities, families and international NGOs). The analysis sheds light on the tensions which arise between children’s ‘present usefulness’ to family livelihoods through their work at home and their potential future utility through their ‘work’ at school. Taking two case study exemplars, it shows how international NGOs’ humanitarian constructions of African children as innocent victims, ‘emotionally priceless’ and rights bearing can be locally reconfigured and appropriated for economic gain. The article demonstrates marginalised children’s active role in blurring boundaries between emotional, monetary, global and local valuations of what children ‘should’ do and be. It also highlights how the ‘humanitarian value’ of childhood constitutes the bedrock upon which Sierra Leone’s alternative futures are being actively imagined and contested along ‘North–South’ transactions.

本文探讨了塞拉利昂北部一个乡村中“儿童价值”的对比社会建构。它研究了在人道主义干预的背景下如何不同地解释童年的含义，其时间延伸和儿童（现在和将来）的含义。它利用人种学的实地考察和对儿童的参与性研究，探索了一系列不同行为者（地方当局，家庭和国际非政府组织）如何对童工和教育进行概念化。分析揭示了儿童在家中工作对家庭生计的“当前有用性”与在学校中“工作”对儿童未来的潜在效用之间的紧张关系。以两个案例研究样本为例，它显示了国际非政府组织如何将非洲儿童作为无辜受害者，“情感上无价”和有权利的人道主义建设在当地进行重新配置，并从中获取经济利益。这篇文章证明了边缘化的儿童在模糊儿童在“应该”做和应该做的事情的情感，金钱，全球和本地评估之间的界限方面的积极作用。它还强调了童年的“人道主义价值”是如何构成基石的，基石是塞拉利昂的另类期货在“南北”交易中得到积极想象和竞争的基础。对儿童“应该”做和将来做的全球和本地评估。它还强调了童年的“人道主义价值”是如何构成基石的，基石是塞拉利昂的另类期货在“南北”交易中得到积极想象和竞争的基础。对儿童“应该”做和将来做的全球和本地评估。它还强调了童年的“人道主义价值”是如何构成基石的，基石是塞拉利昂的另类期货在“南北”交易中得到积极想象和竞争的基础。