Afua's ESRC-funded PhD research study focused on eliciting the perspectives of local communities on children's rights, the construction of childhood and the socialization of children and exploring the implications for the implementation of the United Nations 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in two inner city communities in Accra, the capital of Ghana. The premise of the thesis was that there is a need to move beyond the universality vs. cultural relativity dichotomy and, instead, identify a middle ground between community perspectives and dominant children’s rights discourses. The research approach was interdisciplinary and drew heavily on the fields of human rights law, anthropology social policy and sociology and further highlighted the need for more synergy between these disciplines on issues of children’s rights.

Following on from her PhD, her research continues to draw on a range of different disciplines, namely anthropology, history, human geography, sociology and social policy.

Her current research interests include: children’s rights and their implications for social norms and values; parent-child relations and the implications for children’s welfare and rights; the impact of social change on children’s roles within families and on child rearing practices; the role of social change and historical transformations on shaping contemporary childhoods in the South; and the impact of local and global structures, forces and dynamics on children’s lived realities. Much of this research has concentrated on Ghana and Nigeria in particular, and, over the years, has received external funding from a number of sources.