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The practice of embedding youth within organizations to inform, design, and guide research, policy, and practice is growing across sectors. These Youth Participatory Projects (YPPs) are rooted in principles including: power-sharing and shared decision-making processes; acknowledgement of multiple and diverse ways of knowing; and a focus on collective efficacy, action, and larger structural transformations. However, research on YPPs demonstrates that these projects can in some cases reinforce or exacerbate existing power dynamics between organizations, adult facilitators, and youth participants. In turn, these power imbalances create barriers that prevent youth members’ meaningful participation and engagement.
In this study, we examine the planning and implementation processes of five Youth Participatory Projects across the child welfare, education, healthcare, and juvenile justice sectors. Our aims include 1) identifying the project-based and environment-based power dynamics that complicate youth participation in YPPs across multiple sectors, and 2) developing phase-based recommendations for addressing and contesting power imbalances for more accessible and equitable YPPs.
Methods
Our findings are based on qualitative analyses of documents collected through five distinct YPPs that we helped plan and facilitate across four sectors. These projects included a variety of youth engagement approaches including Youth Advisory Boards/Councils, Youth-led Coalitions, and Youth Participatory Action Research projects. Data sources include: planning and facilitation notes, project logic models, youth engagement surveys, and evaluation interviews and focus groups. We analyzed all data sources inductively, identifying internal or external power dynamics that were most salient during the course of the YPP. Findings were cross referenced with the YPP literature to develop phase-based recommendations for creating more accessible and equitable spaces for youth engagement.
Results
Our findings suggest that both internal and external power dynamics were present and negotiated across YPP contexts. While internal power dynamics were most salient at the beginning of a YPP formation, external power dynamics tended to become more apparent as youth negotiated the scope and timeline of possible change initiatives. Furthermore, power imbalances pertaining to racism, classism, or ableism are often as salient to youth members as adultism. We identify emergent best practices for reducing power dynamics and increasing YPP accessibility, including: examining adult and organizational readiness to cede power to youth members; creating spaces for regular reflection and confrontation of internal and external power dynamics; providing clear expectations for youth on the scope of their work and decision-making latitude; and prioritizing flexibility in scheduling and organizational expectations.
Conclusions and Implications
As YPPs gain popularity, it is crucial for organizations and their stakeholders to identify the ways in which power dynamics prohibit their full participation and stall collective action. Creating more accessible and equitable youth engagement spaces requires investing both the time and resources necessary to place youth at the center of all YPP processes. In addition, the findings from this study demonstrate that power dynamics manifest and evolve similarly across a number of sectors, demonstrating that the development of robust phase-based recommendations for reducing power differentials can have far-reaching impacts for youth engagement efforts.