Adolescent Engagement
Nothing about us without us! Adolescent participation in research
Using participatory methods, the Teen Advisory Groups (TAG) research project of the Accelerate Hub is co-developing research priorities and methods that are responsive to adolescent development-related needs and interests. TAG work is guided by principles of meaningful inclusion of adolescents at all stages of the research cycle.
The TAG research team has engaged with adolescents in multiple African countries, including Kenya, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and Uganda. Each group have been composed of a diverse range of young people, including young parents, adolescents living with (or closely affected by) HIV, young adolescents, and adolescents living in resource-constrained communities.
Acknowledging that adolescents are experts in their own lives and contexts, the focus of TAG has been to learn about the issues that are important to adolescents, to understand how they want to participate in research, and to provide opportunities through which adolescents meaningfully engage in research initiatives.
Access TAG resources here.
Key Highlights
As a point of departure, we acknowledge that adolescents are experts in their own lives and contexts. We engage deeply with TAGs in different contexts in order to learn about the issues that are important to them and to understand how they want to participate in our research. We are committed to developing novel methods through which we can meaningfully involve adolescents in different parts of the research cycle. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, the TAG research team has been developing and testing methods for remote social media-based engagement with adolescents in South Africa and collecting data.
Featured Content
Watch the video below summarising our work with TAG South Africa and TAG Kenya.
