Youth Participation in a Digital World: Designing and Implementing Spaces, Programs, and Methodologies

Abstract

This spotlight seeks to share Youth and Media’s initial insights around ways different stakeholders — such as international organizations, companies, researchers, and educators — can build participation models (e.g., spaces, programs, and methodologies) that enable meaningful youth (ages 12-18) engagement in our digital world. The paper, inspired by results from a 2020 global online youth consultation and informed by different implementation pilots, highlights four specific models of youth participation: youth labs, learning and co-design spaces, youth boards, and participatory research. The spotlight describes, for each model, the overall goal, what adult and youth participation might look like, potential challenges and barriers within and across models, possible first steps in designing such models, and existing examples of these forms of engagement.