Meaningful engagement and insight of adolescents and young people.
Background
Teen Advisory Groups (TAGs)
“The Teen Advisory Group (TAG) started in the Western Cape province of South Africa in 2008 with the aim to engage with adolescents as co-creators of social science research, and to develop adolescent and youth-informed policy and programming recommendations.”
In 2018, The Accelerating Achievement for Africa’s Adolescents Hub (“Accelerate Hub”) established TAG groups in Kenema, Sierra Leone and Entebbe, Uganda. In 2019, these expanded to the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, and in 2020 to Kisumu, Kenya. Each of these TAGs aimed to:
- Co-generate empirical data;
- Build methodological ‘co-laboratories’ where participatory and arts-based methods are developed and tested in partnership with adolescents and young people (AYP); and most importantly,
- Shift power during the research process.
TAG engages with qualitative, arts-based and participatory methods to gather context-specific information and to explore the subjective experiences and stories of participants. This approach was premised on the belief that when young people are meaningfully engaged in research, the research and resulting policy and programming is more responsive to their priorities and needs.
The first TAG weekend in 2008 gained adolescent input into the Young Carers Study (2009-2012, n=8,500). The group was a mix of prior research participants, adolescents at schools and those recruited through word of mouth. It provided two important foundations for the work of TAG:
- Adolescents stressed the importance of meeting with other adolescents with similar highly stigmatized life experiences, away from their homes.
- They also requested follow-up meetings each year.
Since then, TAGs of 15–25 adolescents have aimed to meet annually in weekend, activity-based workshops. The groups have become multi-generational due to older adolescents having children, with many of the initial participants taking on leadership roles as camp leaders. Due to COVID-19 these meetings were not possible – we therefore started remote engagement in 2020. Reflections, resources and empirical findings on AYP experiences and perspectives from this recent pandemic period are highlighted throughout this page.
Peer Reviewed Publications
Papers
Now my life is stuck Experiences of adolescents & young people during COVID 19
View Paper Resourcing Resilience Social Protection for HIV
View Paper HIV & SRH Healthcare delivery experiences of South African healthcare workers & Adolescents & Young people during COVID 19
View Paper Even if I’m well informed, I will never get it
View Paper Art-based reflections from 12 years of adolescent health and development-related research in South Africa
View Paper Peer Reviewed Publications
Papers
Now my life is stuck Experiences of adolescents & young people during COVID 19
View Paper Resourcing Resilience Social Protection for HIV
View Paper HIV & SRH Healthcare delivery experiences of South African healthcare workers & Adolescents & Young people during COVID 19
View Paper Even if I’m well informed, I will never get it
View Paper Art-based reflections from 12 years of adolescent health and development-related research in South Africa
View Paper Reports
Mind Matters - Lessons from past crises for child and adolescent mental health during covid-19
View Report Beyond masks- societal impacts of covid-19 and accelerated solutions for children and adolescents
View Report Remote methods for engaging adolescents and young people in research
View Report Conference Posters
Teen Advisory Groups (TAGs)
The Accelerate Hub values the need for accessible research data. A variety of posters and illustrations were developed in collaborative effort between the Accelerate Hub and local illustrators to translate and represent findings across the various research branches, including TAG
'FINDING’ YOUNG VOICES
Health service experiences of SA healthworkers and adolescents
‘NOW MY LIFE IS STUCK!’
Conference
Videos
Playlist
The TAGAZINE is a visualised snapshot of the TAG members’ experiences during the height of COVID-19 and South Africa’s lockdown.
It is the result of everyone’s collective efforts and engagements over the last two years between the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. Despite being unable to be together in person, our virtual gatherings helped us stay together in heart and spirit.
The TAGAZINE represents the variety of activities that TAG members engaged with remotely over Facebook. It includes their insights, discussions and questions. It is also an interactive zine where the reader can engage with check-in activities and main activities that probe about experiences during the pandemic and how it has impacted our daily lives.
Feel free to engage with these activities yourself!
TAG BACKGROUND
“The Teen Advisory Group (TAG) started in the Western Cape province of South Africa in 2008 with the aim to engage with adolescents as co-creators of social science research, and to develop adolescent and youth-informed policy and programming recommendations. In 2018, The Accelerating Achievement for Africa’s Adolescents Hub (“Accelerate Hub”) established TAG groups in Kenema, Sierra Leone and Entebbe, Uganda. In 2019, these expanded to the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, and in 2020 to Kisumu, Kenya. Each of these TAGs aimed to:
(1) Co-generate empirical data;
(2) Build methodological ‘co-laboratories’ where participatory and arts-based methods are developed and tested in partnership with adolescents and young people (AYP); and most importantly,
(3) Shift power during the research process.
TAG engages with qualitative, arts-based and participatory methods to gather context-specific information and to explore the subjective experiences and stories of participants. This approach was premised on the belief that when young people are meaningfully engaged in research, the research and resulting policy and programming is more responsive to their priorities and needs. The first TAG weekend in 2008 gained adolescent input into the Young Carers Study (2009-2012, n=8,500).
The group was a mix of prior research participants, adolescents at schools and those recruited through word of mouth.
It provided two important foundations for the work of TAG:
- Adolescents stressed the importance of meeting with other adolescents with similar highly stigmatized life experiences, away from their homes.
- They also requested follow-up meetings each year.
Since then, TAGs of 15–25 adolescents have aimed to meet annually in weekend, activity-based workshops. The groups have become multi-generational due to older adolescents having children, with many of the initial participants taking on leadership roles as camp leaders. Due to COVID-19 these meetings were not possible - we therefore started remote engagement in 2020. Reflections, resources and empirical findings on AYP experiences and perspectives from this recent pandemic period are highlighted throughout this page.
MURAL STORY PART 1
The mural was co-developed with adolescents, researchers and a team of visual artists who acted as observers over the weekend to visually represent their reflections on the research encounter. The artists developed an initial concept based on their observations, which they shared with the group during two rounds of discussion and feedback.
This mural contains three overarching themes: empowerment through overcoming individual and group challenges; ‘unity’ in group research, demonstrated through the image of participants jointly working together and collectively reaping the benefits of their work; and, knowledge creation for social change.
MURAL STORY PART 2
This water is a metaphor, born from a group experience of a water outage during a weekend camp. We conserved the little water we had, sharing it using a jug. The jug of water represents how the group has worked together to overcome challenges.
TAG DURING COVID-19
COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge. Young people living in contexts of poverty and precarity may be additionally vulnerable. They may also be resilient and well- equipped to generate creative inputs, ideas and solutions based on their expertise in their own lives and contexts. Many young people’s contexts and needs will have changed as a result of COVID-19. There is little evidence about what young people’s needs and challenges are in different African contexts due to this pandemic. “
Amidst strict COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, TAG undertook activities to build relationships and conduct participatory research with adolescents and young people across three TAG geographies:
(1) the Western Cape Province of South Africa,
(2) the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and
(3) Kisumu Kenya.
These groups included young people from a variety of age, socio-economic and geographic (urban/rural) contexts. Each group has participated in a minimum of one weekend-long session, where relationships have been forged and where they have engaged with concepts of research, power and participation
FACEBOOK DATA COLLECTION
In January 2020, the Alien time capsule was launched on Facebook to continue research with young advisors from Western Cape and Eastern Cape. Since the effects of COVID-19 were felt globally, the voices of young people were needed even more than usual. The aim of creating the Facebook space was to continue research together remotely and, in that forum, create a time capsule capturing this unique and challenging time in our collective lives, stay connected, record experiences, and care for and share with each other. The time capsule became an invaluable part of the TAG Facebook journey.
Over a period of 30 weeks in 2020-2021, weekly interactive activities were posted for participants. Activities asked them about COVID-19, including how they defined the virus, the impact it had on their lives and the lives of those around them, and ideas they had to help resolve the challenges presented by COVID-19. The engagement on the Facebook groups was informative and provided insight into the lives of young people.
MURAL STORY PART 3
The ‘fruits’ are the benefits of their collective engagement in the research process. These include direct personal benefits such as social support, friendship, and skills to navigate adverse circumstances, as well as changes to policy and programming brought about by the research products.
Participants and researchers pick and share the fruits that the tree has borne, symbolising how they created these benefits together and shared them so all group members benefitted.
MURAL STORY PART 4
The background represents a merging of landscapes. The cityscape represents Cape Town urban where participants live. The country landscape symbolises the places outside of the city where TAG weekend camps have taken place; this landscape is known for their fruit farms.
TAG ARTS-BASED OUTPUTS
A critical part of the Accelerate Hub’s goal is to listen to and value the input of young research advisors on how they would like to participate in research and co-produce outputs from their experiences. The use of arts-based methods and activities became an integral part of TAG engagement. Arts-based methods emphasise accessibility and make the insights from young advisors accessible to a wider and younger audience.
ACCELERATE HUB POSTERS
The Accelerate Hub values the need for accessible research data. A variety of posters and illustrations were developed in a collaborative effort between the Accelerate Hub and local illustrators to translate and represent findings across the various research branches, including TAG. Click on the link to view the posters and illustrations to gain insight into the experiences of young advisors.
TAGAZINE
The TAGAZINE is a visualised snapshot of the TAGmembers’ experiences during the height of COVID-19 and South Africa's lockdown. It is the result of everyone’s collective efforts and engagements 2020 and 2021 between the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. Despite being unable to be together in person, our virtual gatherings helped us stay together in heart and spirit.
The TAGAZINE represents the variety of activities that TAG members engaged with remotely over Facebook. It includes our insights, discussions and questions. It is also an interactive zine where the reader can engage with check-in activities and main activities that probe about experiences during the pandemic and how it has impacted our daily lives.
Feel free to engage with these activities yourself!
CONFERENCE LIBRARY POSTERS, ORAL PRESENTATIONS AND VIDEOS
The TAG Accelerate Hub and colleagues from CSSR have presented at conferences such as the International AIDS Conference (2020 and 2022), NVivo 2020, International Conference on HIV Science (2021), Thinking Qualitatively (2021), and the International Workshop on HIV and Adolescence (2022).
Click on this link to access video recordings of presentations.
REMOTE METHODS TOOLKIT
The remote research done though Facebook, telephone calls and other methods inspired the Remote methods toolkit for engaging adolescents and young people (AYP) during COVID-19.
This is an open-source resource that researchers who are interested in arts-based and remote methods can gain insight and inspiration from.
The aim: Highlight practical "tips and tricks" that The Accelerate Hub's Teen Advisory Groups (TAG) have generated over the last 18 months while engaging through remote research methods.
For who? Research projects, teams and organisations currently undertaking or interested in undertaking remote research with young people.
Topics:
-Asking questions to keep adolescents engaged
-Creating a safe space in contexts of constraint and uncertainty
-Using participatory and arts-based methods
-Navigating ethics and safeguarding participants
-Managing referrals
-Considering and responding to lack of access to technology
-Researcher self-care
Annexes:
-Examples of remote prompts and TAG responses
-How-to guide on ideal facilitator profile for remote participatory methods
MURAL STORY PART 5
The water is passed from one person to another (including participants and researchers) a show of teamwork. It is used to water a Baobab tree; these trees are well known for notorious for growing strong and flourishing in difficult conditions. The difficult conditions that this tree grows in represent both the individual and collective struggles of people. The tree symbolises their group, and what this group has co-created (grown) together.
MURAL STORY PART 6
Boabab fruit is being placed for transport to other parts of Africa. In addition to sharing the benefits of their involvement in research with their immediate group, the ‘fruits’ - benefits of engagement - are being shared for the benefit of other AYP on the continent. When asked by a researcher if the ‘research truck’ felt extractive, a participant replied ‘it isn’t taking something away because it is already within us’. (Female, Age 19)
TAG BACKGROUND
“The Teen Advisory Group (TAG) started in the Western Cape province of South Africa in 2008 with the aim to engage with adolescents as co-creators of social science research, and to develop adolescent and youth-informed policy and programming recommendations. In 2018, The Accelerating Achievement for Africa’s Adolescents Hub (“Accelerate Hub”) established TAG groups in Kenema, Sierra Leone and Entebbe, Uganda. In 2019, these expanded to the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, and in 2020 to Kisumu, Kenya. Each of these TAGs aimed to:
(1) Co-generate empirical data;
(2) Build methodological ‘co-laboratories’ where participatory and arts-based methods are developed and tested in partnership with adolescents and young people (AYP); and most importantly,
(3) Shift power during the research process.
TAG engages with qualitative, arts-based and participatory methods to gather context-specific information and to explore the subjective experiences and stories of participants. This approach was premised on the belief that when young people are meaningfully engaged in research, the research and resulting policy and programming is more responsive to their priorities and needs. The first TAG weekend in 2008 gained adolescent input into the Young Carers Study (2009-2012, n=8,500).
The group was a mix of prior research participants, adolescents at schools and those recruited through word of mouth.
It provided two important foundations for the work of TAG:
- Adolescents stressed the importance of meeting with other adolescents with similar highly stigmatized life experiences, away from their homes.
- They also requested follow-up meetings each year.
Since then, TAGs of 15–25 adolescents have aimed to meet annually in weekend, activity-based workshops. The groups have become multi-generational due to older adolescents having children, with many of the initial participants taking on leadership roles as camp leaders. Due to COVID-19 these meetings were not possible - we therefore started remote engagement in 2020. Reflections, resources and empirical findings on AYP experiences and perspectives from this recent pandemic period are highlighted throughout this page.
MURAL STORY PART 1
The mural was co-developed with adolescents, researchers and a team of visual artists who acted as observers over the weekend to visually represent their reflections on the research encounter. The artists developed an initial concept based on their observations, which they shared with the group during two rounds of discussion and feedback.
This mural contains three overarching themes: empowerment through overcoming individual and group challenges; ‘unity’ in group research, demonstrated through the image of participants jointly working together and collectively reaping the benefits of their work; and, knowledge creation for social change.
MURAL STORY PART 2
This water is a metaphor, born from a group experience of a water outage during a weekend camp. We conserved the little water we had, sharing it using a jug. The jug of water represents how the group has worked together to overcome challenges.
TAG DURING COVID-19
COVID-19 represents an unprecedented challenge. Young people living in contexts of poverty and precarity may be additionally vulnerable. They may also be resilient and well- equipped to generate creative inputs, ideas and solutions based on their expertise in their own lives and contexts. Many young people’s contexts and needs will have changed as a result of COVID-19. There is little evidence about what young people’s needs and challenges are in different African contexts due to this pandemic. “
Amidst strict COVID-19 lockdowns in 2020, TAG undertook activities to build relationships and conduct participatory research with adolescents and young people across three TAG geographies:
(1) the Western Cape Province of South Africa,
(2) the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and
(3) Kisumu Kenya.
These groups included young people from a variety of age, socio-economic and geographic (urban/rural) contexts. Each group has participated in a minimum of one weekend-long session, where relationships have been forged and where they have engaged with concepts of research, power and participation
FACEBOOK DATA COLLECTION
In January 2020, the Alien time capsule was launched on Facebook to continue research with young advisors from Western Cape and Eastern Cape. Since the effects of COVID-19 were felt globally, the voices of young people were needed even more than usual. The aim of creating the Facebook space was to continue research together remotely and, in that forum, create a time capsule capturing this unique and challenging time in our collective lives, stay connected, record experiences, and care for and share with each other. The time capsule became an invaluable part of the TAG Facebook journey.
Over a period of 30 weeks in 2020-2021, weekly interactive activities were posted for participants. Activities asked them about COVID-19, including how they defined the virus, the impact it had on their lives and the lives of those around them, and ideas they had to help resolve the challenges presented by COVID-19. The engagement on the Facebook groups was informative and provided insight into the lives of young people.
MURAL STORY PART 3
The ‘fruits’ are the benefits of their collective engagement in the research process. These include direct personal benefits such as social support, friendship, and skills to navigate adverse circumstances, as well as changes to policy and programming brought about by the research products.
Participants and researchers pick and share the fruits that the tree has borne, symbolising how they created these benefits together and shared them so all group members benefitted.
MURAL STORY PART 4
The background represents a merging of landscapes. The cityscape represents Cape Town urban where participants live. The country landscape symbolises the places outside of the city where TAG weekend camps have taken place; this landscape is known for their fruit farms.
TAG ARTS-BASED OUTPUTS
A critical part of the Accelerate Hub’s goal is to listen to and value the input of young research advisors on how they would like to participate in research and co-produce outputs from their experiences. The use of arts-based methods and activities became an integral part of TAG engagement. Arts-based methods emphasise accessibility and make the insights from young advisors accessible to a wider and younger audience.
ACCELERATE HUB POSTERS
The Accelerate Hub values the need for accessible research data. A variety of posters and illustrations were developed in a collaborative effort between the Accelerate Hub and local illustrators to translate and represent findings across the various research branches, including TAG. Click on the link to view the posters and illustrations to gain insight into the experiences of young advisors.
TAGAZINE
The TAGAZINE is a visualised snapshot of the TAGmembers’ experiences during the height of COVID-19 and South Africa's lockdown. It is the result of everyone’s collective efforts and engagements 2020 and 2021 between the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. Despite being unable to be together in person, our virtual gatherings helped us stay together in heart and spirit.
The TAGAZINE represents the variety of activities that TAG members engaged with remotely over Facebook. It includes our insights, discussions and questions. It is also an interactive zine where the reader can engage with check-in activities and main activities that probe about experiences during the pandemic and how it has impacted our daily lives.
Feel free to engage with these activities yourself!
CONFERENCE LIBRARY POSTERS, ORAL PRESENTATIONS AND VIDEOS
The TAG Accelerate Hub and colleagues from CSSR have presented at conferences such as the International AIDS Conference (2020 and 2022), NVivo 2020, International Conference on HIV Science (2021), Thinking Qualitatively (2021), and the International Workshop on HIV and Adolescence (2022).
Click on this link to access video recordings of presentations.
REMOTE METHODS TOOLKIT
The remote research done though Facebook, telephone calls and other methods inspired the Remote methods toolkit for engaging adolescents and young people (AYP) during COVID-19.
This is an open-source resource that researchers who are interested in arts-based and remote methods can gain insight and inspiration from.
The aim: Highlight practical "tips and tricks" that The Accelerate Hub's Teen Advisory Groups (TAG) have generated over the last 18 months while engaging through remote research methods.
For who? Research projects, teams and organisations currently undertaking or interested in undertaking remote research with young people.
Topics:
-Asking questions to keep adolescents engaged
-Creating a safe space in contexts of constraint and uncertainty
-Using participatory and arts-based methods
-Navigating ethics and safeguarding participants
-Managing referrals
-Considering and responding to lack of access to technology
-Researcher self-care
Annexes:
-Examples of remote prompts and TAG responses
-How-to guide on ideal facilitator profile for remote participatory methods
MURAL STORY PART 5
The water is passed from one person to another (including participants and researchers) a show of teamwork. It is used to water a Baobab tree; these trees are well known for notorious for growing strong and flourishing in difficult conditions. The difficult conditions that this tree grows in represent both the individual and collective struggles of people. The tree symbolises their group, and what this group has co-created (grown) together.
MURAL STORY PART 6
Boabab fruit is being placed for transport to other parts of Africa. In addition to sharing the benefits of their involvement in research with their immediate group, the ‘fruits’ - benefits of engagement - are being shared for the benefit of other AYP on the continent. When asked by a researcher if the ‘research truck’ felt extractive, a participant replied ‘it isn’t taking something away because it is already within us’. (Female, Age 19)
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