Drawing up a participatory youth situation analysis in Kenya (PLA 64)

The 2007 election violence in Kenya was a classic example of how young people have been caught up in destructive behaviour. This articles describes how TAMASHA (Taasisi ya Maendeleo Shirikishi Arusha, the Institute of Participatory Development Arusha) facilitated a series of workshops that enabled young people to develop a highly participatory rights based youth situation analysis. The workshops helped young people to break out of the negative and superficial stereotypes imposed on them. Using a variety of participatory tools, the young people documented youth issues from different provinces and prioritised key issues to be taken forward to a national workshop. The national youth situation analysis was successful and presented a strong and holistic document to the ministry of youth and sports. The report examined the underlying issues facing young people – and also showed how much young people can achieve when given the opportunity to do so.

Participatory Learning and Action (PLA, formerly PLA Notes) is the world's leading series on participatory approaches and methods. PLA publishes articles on participation aimed at practitioners, researchers, academics and activists. All articles are peer-reviewed by an international editorial board. See: www.planotes.org

Keywords: Children, youth, young people, child rights, participatory governance.