“Young people are often more provocative and can bring fresh new research methodologies or steer an unforeseen but highly informative avenue of a research project.” Rebecca Calder, Social Development Advisor, DFID Nepal

Involving young people in research can allow a greater depth of information to be gathered, and builds their skills. The Ministry of Youth and Sports, Save the Children, the Association of Youth Organisations Nepal (AYON) and Nepal Planning Commission carried out a situation analysis of young people by young people in the newly emerging post-conflict country. The case study was discussed and recorded by a Youth Guidance Project46 workshop. Young professionals can act as role models for other youth, and participants of the study aspire to be like the researchers.

Problems addressed

• How to conduct research in such a way that youth feel open to express their ideas and opinions.
• How to develop and support young people to fulfill professional roles in the organisation.

Objectives

• To gather information that reflects the situation on the ground.
• To recruit, train and support young people to be effective researchers.

Youth as partners

Six young people (20 to 29 years) trained to design and carry out research (consulted and informed).

Youth as beneficiaries

Five thousand young people participated as respondents, including youth from remote rural villages in Nepal. Ultimately, this report should benefit all young people in Nepal.

Process

• Calls for applications via ten partners and youth networks;
• Competitive selection, requirement of previous field experience of working with young people. Gender balance was also considered, as well as ensuring there was representation of the different caste and ethnic groups;
• Group discussion involving 15 candidates, enabling young people to demonstrate their skills through a series of tasks including design of research methodology;
• Technical/pastoral support from representatives of the partners, an independent research consultant and two academic advisors;
• Young researchers broke down areas of inquiry and developed guidelines for focus group discussions, key-informant interviews, questionnaires and dialogue workshops;
• Tools were piloted and reviewed;
• Young people carried out research and compiled brief district reports;
• The report was finalised by the research consultant.

Results

• An effective way to bring youth participation into professional roles in the organisation;
• Young people were able to establish strong bonds with local NGOs;
• Beneficiaries were able to express themselves more openly to their peers and to a gender-balanced team.

“The young researchers are more flexible, more inquisitive and full of zeal hence they are easy to work with.” Robin Sitaula, executive director, Samriddhi Foundation/ research consultant, Status of Youth in Nepal

Lessons learned

• Adults may hesitate to recognise young people as researchers; young people should be supplied with a detailed letter of introduction, outlining contacts and the training they have received.
• Positions should be advertised by means appropriate to young people (including several modes of media);
• In addition to technical skills, training for young professionals should include checking and discussing expectations and commitment. This should include talking about personal conduct in the field;
• Particular costs to consider: team building prior to deployment.

Potential challenges

• Post-conflict settings carry risks that should be understood and managed by all parties.
• To manage the mobility of young people (e.g., the possibility they may enrol in education) the time frame of the research should be kept short, or contributions should be clearly mapped out and discussed from the start.
• Young people may have expectations to work full time with the organisation after project or intervention completion. Staff should be open about whether this is possible from the beginning.

For further information contact:

Save the Children Alliance Nepal, http://www.savethechildren.net

• 46. Sharing and Learning Network (SLN)