Participatory Research and Social Action with Adolescents Concerning Transnational Families
Participatory Research and Social Action with Adolescents Concerning Transnational Families

Summary/Abstract: Social community action initiatives for adolescents and children can promote civic involvement, self-efficacy, and positive youth development. Children who are disempowered by their age and dependence on adults may use social activism projects to improve or ameliorate social and community concerns (Torres-Harding et al. 2018; Willson et al. 2007) and contribute to the well-being and resilience of themselves and their peers. The current article focuses on presenting the outcomes of the YouCreate participatory action research model from the Republic of Moldova, carried out by Terre des Homme Moldova and delivered as part of the CASTLE project, as a promising method of involving young people in adolescent-led projects aimed at social change. At the centre of this programme is an empowerment intervention that provides adolescents from transnational families with opportunities for civic engagement with other young people in issues of common concern in their schools and communities to improve the quality of life of children and young people whose parents are working abroad. Young people developed and implemented five community interventions in five different localities in the Republic of Moldova. The programmes were developed drawing on the results of participatory research based on interviews and focus groups with transnational family members (parents who had left for work or stayed at home, children, and left-behind caregivers) and on assessments made by adolescents at the community level. Our results show that teenage participants most appreciated the improvement in the quality of peer-to-peer relationships and child-adult relationships in the community, increased awareness to the needs of children in transnational families, and the empowering effect on their active involvement in managing challenges in the community.

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