Elevating Youth Voice for Sustainability: Lessons from The Baobab Social Learning Platform Research Strategy

• In Event: Illuminating the power of networks and participatory evaluation approaches: The Baobab social learning platform, youth participatory approach, and preliminary findings

Proposal

The Baobab Platform is a social learning space which provides young Africans a digital support network and continued learning resources to strengthen their scholarship experiences and maintain connections after they become alumni. Guided by Mastercard Foundation's commitment to “advance education and financial inclusion to catalyze prosperity in developing countries” (Mastercard Foundation, 2021), the Baobab platform serves African youth to support Mastercard Foundation’s overall goals. Specifically, the Baobab platform brings together like-minded people and catalyzes a network of networks of African youth committed to the development of the African continent. Additionally, Baobab members have access to mentors, short courses and opportunities aimed at supporting their transitions from school to the world of work and beyond, as they become the transformative leaders of the world. The emphasis on transitions is important for a continent with the largest youth population with almost 60% of Africa’s population under the age of 25, and where access to programs that prepare them for school to work transitions are limited (Mo Ibrahim Foundation, 2019). We argue that to solve this and other similar problems impacting young people, elevation of youth voices is imperative.

While adult-led initiatives have moved the needle to some degree in addressing challenges faced by the youth today, the problems persist. To solve existing and emerging social issues, future solutions will need to involve youth more deliberately, leveraging “young people’s knowledge, skills, and abilities to be experts on issues of importance to them, and catalyze systemic change in collaboration with their peers and supportive adults” (Powers & Allaman, 2012, abstract). In order to address youth-related issues, it is imperative that youth voices are included in the decision-making. However, “youth are rarely invited to established decision-making structures or trained to participate in them” (Hubbard, 2015, p. 32). Shamrova and Cummings (2017) state that, “having a long-term perspective in mind, it is naive to expect children to acclimate to responsible citizenship and good decision-making skills if adults do not provide them with opportunities to develop participatory skills in early years” (p. 401). The evolution of the Baobab platform’s research strategy towards a youth-led evaluation process provides one example of how organizations can begin this process of cultivating and leveraging youth as experts whose involvement can not only inform the building of social learning platforms, but also contribute to addressing social challenges impacting youth.


Although the research and evaluation process on the Baobab platform has always focused on elevating youth voices; in most of the research activities, youth were often primarily research subjects, with adults leading engagements. In thinking about the long-term sustainability of the platform, the research agenda evolved to one that emphasizes training and supporting young people to take ownership of the research process. This presentation will provide the background and contextual overview of the Baobab Platform, and outline the objectives of the Baobab Platform. The presentation will also share previous research processes and learnings, and will provide the background for the pivot to the current research and evaluation agenda focused on elevating youth voices.

Authors

• Yeukai Angela Mlambo, Arizona State University

• Hero-Godsway Zilevu, Arizona State University