"Inequalities in news use and political participation exist among young people from (dis-)advantaged backgrounds which challenge the idea of informed citizens that can participate in democratic processes. Relating to self-actualizing (AC) and dutiful (DC) citizen identity paradigms and performative
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citizenship, this study investigates information and engagement practices of low-educated young people. The results from ten focus groups N = 46 with young Germans (14- to 22-year-olds) conducted in 2023 show four analytical networks that are mostly related to AC qualities. Contact and potential engagement with political information result from incidental news exposure on social media platforms. Participants’engagement practices are characterized by exchange on political topics in interpersonal contexts as well as little participation experience and limited self-efficacy. Participants’ critical perception of media coverage comprises a limited representation of relevant topics and perspectives as well as a discouraging presentation of news. Group differences and explanations for participants’ limited engagement are analyzed." (Abstract)
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"This study presents “platform-dependent creative labor” as a typology for exploring youth empowerment through the performance of creative labor on Bilibili, the most prevalent Chinese digital entertainment platform among young people. It employs digital ethnography and semistructured interviews
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to investigate the research question: How does the performance of creative labor on Bilibili affect youth empowerment in China? Findings show that youth empowerment is dynamically achieved through the performance of creative labor on Bilibili in economic, cultural, and sociopolitical terms. However, youth empowerment through platform-dependent creative labor is still faced with multifaceted challenges stemming from capitalist exploitation, stratification barriers, and nation-state censorship in China against the background of marketization, digitalization, and globalization. Overall, I argue that social media can be an empowering tool for the youth as content generators; however, it should be used more cautiously and skillfully." (Abstract)
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"This article analyses the role that Reality TV can play in the lives of young participants, when a programme is designed as a strategic intervention to achieve change. With roots in Communication for Development notions, this study brings together different theoretical fields to illustrate how medi
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a can be created with the intent of enhancing young people’s awareness of the important role they can play in society through targeted activities that occur during media production. The experience of the young contestants from The President TV show, broadcast in the Palestinian Territories in 2013 and 2015, is examined. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with some of the finalists of the show; information gathered has been analysed in the light of a framework that brings together media participation and civic engagement. Findings show how the format and structure of the programme has enhanced participants’ understanding of the social, political and economic spheres of a conflict-affected reality, contributing to their engagement with peace-oriented civic practices long after the end of the show." (Abstract)
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"Thanks to an inclusive and context-sensitive selection process of youth journalists and relevant and participatory capacity-building sessions, the project successfully empowered hard to reach youth by providing them with a range of transferable skills that they have been able to use both within and
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beyond the project. The young journalists were able to produce quality radio programming which was very positively received by the communities, as 90 percent of surveyed community members found that the radio programs produced by the young journalists as part of the project bring an added value on critical social and political issues. This is a significant improvement from the baseline (35,7 percent in South Sudan, 16,7 percent in CAR and 76,2 percent in Mali), thus indicating the program’s success in changing perceptions regarding the value of youth’s perspectives. Nonetheless, both the audience and project staff identified avenues for improving the reach of the radio programs, including exploring other media, and increasing communication around the program and broadcast times. Beyond enabling youth journalists to produce high-quality radio programs, the project also benefits them by fostering motivation, entrepreneurialism, agency and success as the evaluation found evidence of youth journalists creating their own initiatives, and acting as mediators in conflicts between friends or in their family. In addition, amongst youth from the community who participated in project activities, the project led to increased awareness of their role and capacities as change agents." (Key findings, page 6)
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"UNESCO strived to improve access to information for Yemeni youth through building capacities of young Yemeni journalists to produce content that ensures balanced coverage of the peacebuilding process. The produced content necessitated the development of an information platform to disseminate messag
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es to the youth. In addition, the intervention supported youth-led peacebuilding initiatives through the “My Solution” activity, further promoting content creation for the youth and by the youth. In order for the Yemeni Youth to be able to express themselves freely and in a secure and welcoming environment, UNESCO and its partners worked around different platforms, either physical or online, to provide them with safe places to exchange. Whether through online surveys (Yemeni Youth Barometer), debates, community radio programmes, or through their participation in international platforms, Yemeni youth were given the opportunity to share among themselves but also with decision-makers their views and opinions." (Page 7)
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"This is a ‘cookbook’ full of ingredients to design and implement youth-led accountability initiatives. The content is based on research, evidence and learning documented on a programme called the Development Alternative, a consortium of youth and international development organisations that cam
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e together to strengthen young people’s voice and agency in development. We have tried to boil down what we have learnt about the key ingredients for youth-led accountability - youth leadership, transparency and access to information, community awareness and engagement, mechanisms to gather and listen to feedback, trust and collaboration with development actors, and supporting development partners to respond to feedback - and how these ingredients can be combined into a programme. We also reflect on ‘the model for change’, our own model for youth-led accountability implemented as part of the Development Alternative." (Back cover)
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"In response to this broader global context, the GAGE Jordan team developed a set of qualitative research tools to explore the experiences of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic with regard to digital inclusion, with a focus on young people affected by forced displacement. These tools aim to ex
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plore how young people spend their days, how this has changed since the pandemic, and subsequently after improved access to devices (e.g. for beneficiaries of free tablets as has been the case for approximately 20,000 refugee children and adolescents in Jordan under an EU-funded UNICEF Jordan programme launched in 2021), and in particular what role digital technology plays in their lives. These tools are aimed broadly at understanding how adolescents are connecting with people, information and services, and how this has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. They are also aimed more specifically at understanding how adolescents are accessing information, education and learning – and interacting with NGO programming – and how this has changed since the pandemic (and after the tablet distribution). While the tools were developed with a specific context in mind, we believe they can be easily adapted to other contexts in order to explore the extent to which young people’s right to digital inclusion is being realised, and to support evidence-informed programming and policy improvements over time." (Introduction)
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"In 2019, the Fund partnered with Purposeful, a feminist movement-building hub for adolescent girls, to pilot a participatory grant-making initiative in Sierra Leone aimed at promoting youth leadership and amplifying the voices of young people. As our first foray into realizing the potential of part
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icipatory grant-making, this experience taught us many valuable lessons about how to foster genuine participation of children and young people.
A targeted and intentional approach to reach a diverse group of children and youth is essential. This helps prevent a participatory process that only benefits young people in urban areas and those from higher socio-economic backgrounds.
We also learned that true participation requires letting go of power while ensuring that young people have what they need to make meaningful and informed decisions. Support to child and youth-led groups should go beyond grant money to include a comprehensive package of grantee-led learning and accompaniment.
The biggest lesson is about the need to be open and flexible throughout the process. Being willing to adapt as we went along allowed us to respond and make changes (almost) in real time. It also allowed us to learn from the young people about what it means to use your voice and make yourself heard in ways far beyond what we could have anticipated." (Executive summary)
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"Based on this research, it was found that media and communication interventions could seek to leverage young Ethiopians’ optimism and enthusiasm, providing informative and inspiring content to fuel their ideas. This insight informed the creation of a social and behaviour change (SBCC) strategy to
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engage young people in the workforce, developed in partnership with the Ethiopia Jobs Creation Commission (JCC). The strategy identifies two key priority segments that need significant support - the ‘progressive but held back’ and the ‘unengaged and unambitious.’ Priority audiences across these two segments are younger 15- 18 year olds, men and women who are less educated more likely to marry before the age of 21. Creating an enabling environment to help these groups, while keeping in mind the needs of the others, is central to this strategy. Pilot media content will now be produced to support JCC as they deliver the overall communication strategy. This content will address the needs of priority groups by giving information about job opportunities, using role models and real life stories to inspire and address traditional gender norms." (Page 3)
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"Das vorliegende Workshopkonzept wurde im Netzwerk Verstärker - aktivierende Bildungsarbeit entwickelt und im Rahmen der "Aktionsformate" des Netzwerks erprobt. Die Konzepte wurden auf Basis von wissenschaftlichen Studien und von Praxiserfahrungen zahlreicher Pädagog*innen, politischer Bildner*inn
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en und Sozialarbeiter*innen für die politische Bildungsarbeit mit sogenannten bildungsbenachteiligten Jugendlichen entwickelt. Jugendlichen soll hierbei die Möglichkeit zur Reflexion der eigenen Rolle innerhalb der Gesellschaft eröffnet werden - ohne sie dabei zu stigmatisieren. Unter Berücksichtigung der eigenen Betroffenheit sollen Multiperspektivität gefördert und die Jugendlichen zur Wahrnehmung ihrer Rechte und Pflichten als Bürger*innen der Gesellschaft, zur eigenen Meinungsbildung über politisch-gesellschaftliche Sachverhalte und Vertretung ihrer Positionen und Interessen befähigt werden." (https://www.bpb.de)
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"The aim of this paper is to analyse participatory video as a participatory action research method through the lenses of the capability approach. In order to do this, we used a participatory video experience that took place in the municipality of Quart de Poblet (Valencia, Spain) from February to Ma
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rch 2014. The participants were 11 young people between 16 and 24 years of age, severely affected by the economic crisis that has hit Spain in recent years. To develop our analysis, we introduced the participatory video as a technique and a process within the participatory action research methods. Then, we analysed the participatory process to verify the extent to which it had contributed to expanding the capabilities and agency of the participants. The evidence revealed a significant expansion of the awareness capability and, in some cases, of the capability for voice. In contrast, the capability to aspire and the agency of the participants were not expanded, due to contextual factors and the limitations of the process itself." (Abstract)
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"As a young Fulbright scholar in Bogotá, determined to democratize the photographic gaze and bring new visions and voices to public debate about Colombia's armed conflict, Alexander L. Fattal founded Disparando Cámaras para la Paz (Shooting Cameras for Peace). The project taught photography to you
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ng people in El Progreso, a neighborhood in the city's outskirts that was home to families displaced by violence in the countryside. It offered the youth of that troubled region a chance to record and reimagine their daily lives. Shooting Cameras for Peace is an in-depth look into one of Latin America's most dynamic participatory media projects. The haunting and exuberant photographs testify to the young people's will to play, to dream, and to survive, bearing witness to the resilience and creativity of lives marked by a war that refuses to die. With text in English and Spanish, Shooting Cameras for Peace / Disparando Cámaras para la Paz makes vital contributions to studies of collaborative media, photographic activism, and peace and conflict studies in Colombia. Fattal's insightful text is both a celebration of the program he initiated and a critical reflection on the genre of participatory photography and the structural challenges faced by similar media projects." (Publisher description)
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"The Youth Advocacy Guide has been developed by people of varying ages, with different lived experiences, and a passion for change. It was created through an extensive consultative process, which brought together the voices of young people from various parts of Africa. This guide will take you throu
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gh the processes of fact-finding, planning, engaging with policy, building momentum, and making individual lifestyle choices." (www.voicesofyouth.org)
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"Can the stories people tell influence the way they see the world? This book seeks to address that question through a study of the viability of movie making as a critical pedagogy activity. Positioned at the intersection of education and communication for social change, it explores the relationship
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between the generation of subjective knowledge through storytelling and analysis, and systemic change. Central to the book is a case study from Nepal. By using video as the action element and analytical material of coursework, youth participants generated a new critical awareness, engendered by themes arising from group discussion. Through the analysis of these themes participants initiated an emergence known as conscientization. Led by two critical educators, participants used the production, screening, and analysis of their own movies to propel the course, or praxis, forward. This book seeks to inform the practice of critical pedagogy both practically and theoretically, and also offers a contribution to the fields of participatory action-research and communication for social change." (Publisher description)
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"Over the past decade there has been a growing interest in participatory video, but accounts have often been celebratory and uncritical. At the same time there has been an ever-increasing multiplicity of interpretations, thus making participatory video seem ‘nebulous’ and ‘perplexing’. This
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special section seeks to develop some of the critiques developed over the past five years, by bringing together a series of provocative thought pieces. Through this special section we seek to continue to develop a critique of participatory video as both a methodology and method." (Page 401)
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