Youth Voice & Participatory Arts in Global Development: Book Launch ONLINE

Join The May Group and members of Changing the Story's Youth Research Board as we celebrate the launch of Youth Voice and Participatory Arts in Global Development .

The book looks at how arts-based methods can promote youth voice and engagement in global development, and builds on the findings of the GCRF project, 'Changing the Story'. The work of Changing the Story's Youth Research Board is central to Youth Voice and Participatory Arts in Global Development and we are delighted to have members of the youth research board joining the book launch to respond to its key findings, arguments, and debates.

*This listing is for online attendance at the event. If you would prefer to join us in-person at University of Leeds, please book here*

Youth Voice and Participatory Arts in Global Development argues that engaging young people’s diverse voices, ideas and knowledges in matters that affect them is vital in enabling young people to become – and be recognised as – active citizens, developing more inclusive societies and ensuring that development programmes remain accountable to the young people they aim to benefit. We draw on youth-led participatory research projects from across Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, which used a range of art forms and engagement mechanisms, including participatory filmmaking, street art and the intersection of formal and non-formal education. Through this process, we develop the conceptualisation of transrational voice for epistemic justice and demonstrate the unique role that arts-based methods play in enabling this broad conceptualisation of voice that accounts for the multiple dimensions of young people's knowledges and experiences.

This book will be of interest to researchers within international development, arts and youth studies, as well as to development practitioners, and anyone interested in promoting epistemic justice with and for young people. This book is open access and can be read here.

About The May Group

The May Group consists of:

Alyson Brody is an established gender and social inclusion researcher and consultant, with a background in social anthropology. She is the Former Head of BRIDGE, a gender and development research and policy programme at the Institute of Development Studies.

Paul Cooke is Centenary Professor of World Cinemas, University of Leeds, UK. The films he has produced have been shown at over 100 film festivals and have won over 50 awards.

Lou Harvey is Associate Professor in Education at University of Leeds, UK. Their research has focused on various educational settings, including higher education, informal arts-based education, adult migrant language education and social circus.

Katie Hodgkinson is a Lecturer in Education in Global Development at the University of Leeds, UK. Her research primarily examines youth engagement in formal and non-formal education for social justice and peacebuilding in conflict-affected contexts.

Faith Mkwananzi is a research fellow at the Centre for Development Support at the University of the Free State, South Africa. Her work is interdisciplinary and located at the intersection of (higher) education and global development.

Inés Soria-Donlan is Research Manager: Creativity, Partnerships & Impact at the Horizons Institute, an interdisciplinary research incubator to address complex challenges. She has worked with participatory arts approaches across the cultural and research sectors since 2013.

About the CTS Youth Research Board

The CTS Youth Research Board was a group of eleven young researchers from Colombia, Venezuela, Rwanda, South Africa, Kosovo, Nepal and India, all of whom had participated in at least one of CTS' funded projects. The role of the research board during the project was to evaluate the overall Changing the Story project and to identify what they saw as the key issues emerging from the projects. The research board used their research findings to develop a campaign around the change they want to see in their own contexts. The Youth Research Board continue to engage and collaborate together and with members of the CTS team as and when opportunities arise.

We are delighted to be joined at this event by the following YRB members:

Antonia Bello Vélez (Venezuela)

Eric Ngabonziza (Rwanda)

Jesús Antonio Campos Pérez (Venezuela)

Leonard Nyiringabo(Rwanda)

Taahirah Hoosain (South Africa)

Trina Hoti (Kosovo)

Samjhana Balami (Nepal)

Find out more about Changing the Story and visit our online archive.