There have been increasing references to participatory work with conflict-affected children, but existing efforts to assess and respond to youth reintegration challenges remain largely extractive. Young people’s experiences and needs are often interpreted by adult researchers and practitioners. Engagement is often still largely tokenistic.
Recognizing the pressing need to shift the paradigm of how the international community supports conflict-affected young people, MEAC actively works with child protection practitioners and researchers to design and pilot a range of participatory research methods in its case study contexts.
The project sees this work as an iterative learning process, with a focus on safe and ethical research practices. Our ongoing goal is to amplify the voices of youth through co-generated action research to inform programmatic interventions meant to address the unique reintegration needs and aspirations of young people.
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