Partnering with program participants and alumni in international scholarship program research and evaluation: A review of literature and key synergies

• In Event: Engaging Youth and Program Participants as Partners in Evaluation Research: Approaches and Insights from two International Scholarship Programs

Proposal

This first paper in the panel will review the literature related to youth participatory action research (YPAR), youth and community members as researchers, and participants as research partners in research and evaluation. In the literature review, we will highlight research which focuses on international teams, cross-cultural partnerships, and youth- or community-led projects focusing on education initiatives, in an effort to frame the two cases presented on the panel and to bring forward a focused discussion with the audience.

This literature has a long-standing tradition of including marginalized groups and youth actors in identifying, taking ownership for, and solving local problems. For example, in South Africa, a community led research project that included disenfranchised urban farmers found that the community members learned a great deal as part of the research team, including to challenge their own understandings of the problem and to develop agency to drive change (Paganini & Stöber, 2021). In Guatemala, Voces y Manos (n.d.) has been successful in local sustainable development and youth engagement projects, but youth leaders wished to have a larger impact on education policy making, especially in sexual and reproductive health and in mental health services, and in transparency and accountability in schools. By using a YPAR approach, they were able to build a coalition and share youth survey results with elected officials.

Moreover, youth- and community-led research can have profound results, including setting up systems and processes to allow youth and community member input for addressing additional issues and making a long-standing impact. Examples include setting up advocacy boards for policy action (Paganini & Stöber, 2021), youth advisory councils to local government (Voces y Manos, n.d.), and developing networks for future research and collaboration, as the case studies in this panel illuminate. These impacts extend many of the traditional forms of evaluation, which are often limited by short time horizons, few funds to implement changes, or change of government administrations, program staff, and or youth and community partners who have other priorities (Bamberger, Rugh, & Mabry, 2012; Cousins & Whitmore, 1998).

However, participatory action research also faces several challenges, such as power dynamics between adults and youth (Cahill, 2007) and limited resources and support to carry out quality research (Cammarota & Fine, 2008). One additional challenge is that much of the research in this area is based in the United States. For example, the Youth Participatory Research Hub is located at the University of California-Berkeley and has focused on local or national issues, such as California farm workers’ rights, access to college for low-income and undocumented students, and gender bias in schools and dress code policy (YPAR Hub, n.d.). These and other challenges are addressed through models in which engaging international scholarship alumni as leaders of research, or collaborators in the research project, has the potential to build on existing relationships and trust, as well as long-term support for multi-country, multi-year evaluation.

Authors

• Aryn R Baxter, Colorado State University

• Anne C Campbell, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey - Monterey, CA