Impact case study database

Our key impacts are in wellbeing, understanding, learning, participation and social welfare, by enabling young people in two countries to challenge and change harmful practices embedded in social norms.

Our research showed that teenagers find it difficult to share authentic views with peers; “You don’t understand what you’re feeling, can’t speak properly for fear that you might be judged” (Source 1). Our impacts grew from understanding that we needed to address barriers in effective communication with and between teenagers who can feel alienated at this particular life-stage. We achieved this by developing our model of critical dialogue which a headteacher described as: “a really great tool for youngsters to help each other navigate adolescence…a jewel in the crown. One of the best projects I’ve been involved in in my educational career” (Source 1).

The four stages of our model are peer led and enable:

1. social norms to be disrupted so young people can develop a critical perspective on their ability to communicate openly and on cultural practices they previously viewed as normal (impacting understanding).

2. the creation of safe / brave spaces for them to share stories around lived experiences and authentic opinions, without fear of judgement (impacting participation).

3. the interrogation of ’scientific’ knowledge selected from ‘expert witnesses’ (impacting learning and participation).

4. praxis to be achieved through collective decision-making on how to bring about changes necessary for social impact (impacting wellbeing and social welfare).

(Sources 1 and 3).

With a grant from the Robertson Trust we worked with 200 young facilitators in Scotland who ran critical dialogue groups for over 3,000 school pupils between 2013–2016. These focussed on alleviating the pressure on teenagers to drink excessively for social approval. Leading dialogue groups led the facilitators to develop strong self-regulation over alcohol consumption, ability to manage risk and to act with integrity: “I do drink but I am a lot more careful now…I don’t feel like I have to drink to impress anyone anymore” (Source 1). For hundreds of their peers, the impact of participating in just two group discussions, was clear in terms of learning: 76% rated this intervention as the most useful source of information about alcohol and 56% participants learned how to deal with alcohol (Source 1). From January 2017, we transferred the model to Malawi, working with 14 young care home residents who have run critical dialogue groups with 100 pupils from 6 visiting high schools (5 Scottish, 1 Malawian). More were booked but cancelled due to Covid-19. Here, our STEKAskills model of Critical Dialogue for Youth Solidarity addressed an embedded culture of donor dependency reinforced by a development narrative that disempowers local populations and reinforces limiting views in Scottish youth. This work was facilitated by a Scottish Government International Development grant, and the Government recommends the approach it in its report to schools (Source 10).

In Scotland teenagers learned how to communicate confidently and make informed choices about drinking. They also understood problematic behaviour and sought social welfare, as testified by this social worker: “The norm is that young people don’t want to talk about [alcohol abuse]. They close down. It was striking: her approach was so different. She knew exactly what she was talking about and was really making choices” (Source 1).

In Malawi, those taking part in the dialogue groups were both Malawian and Scottish teenagers. Both sides testified that because they were given the freedom to have profound conversations with one another, they newly understood complex issues such as power and equality, donor dependency and agency: “It really was life changing. It opened my eyes to different points of view.”. They learned how to be resilient by overcoming the inability to express their challenges and developed confidence in speaking about serious issues” “we shared ideas without being shy.”

“The strength and courage they [young Malawians] showed was inspiring… we can learn a lot from them and help spread awareness to fight inequality” (Source 3).

Participating in dialogue with people who aren’t like them also contributes to their social welfare. As two other Scots teenage participants attested: “It was massive. Our normal environment doesn’t encourage honest conversations without judgement. I’m an introvert and the Dialogues helped me to speak out.”; “It is going to affect my behaviour in the future because I have started depending on myself” (Source 3).

In both locations, teenagers were able to exercise greater control over their own development, and to hold decision-makers to account: A QMU based charity, STEKAskills, developed as a result of the Malawian dialogue work. Whereas Global North pupils used to visit Malawi as voluntourists, making donations and doing work which Malawians could be paid to do, the young Malawians at STEKA now charge these pupils a fee to take part in their Youth Solidarity Dialogue Groups. The earned income pays the young facilitators and funds the development of a vocational skills centre. In the Dialogues they learn from one another, developing praxis relating to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Godknows Maseko (children’s rights campaigner and founder of STEKA) describes the impact in Malawi as “Very good: most of the girls feel that, no matter what they say, they can never be heard. [Now], they can plan, they can advocate, they can apply pressure on decision-makers. They know they can earn money and contribute to a sustainable Malawian future, to look after themselves while conveying a useful message to other people” (Source 3). Sarah Niven, teacher, says: “the dialogue experience made a big contribution towards their transition into adulthood – which can be a very isolated and painful process for teenagers... When they returned to Scotland, I feel that they were able to talk more to other pupils they wouldn’t normally talk to because they were part of a different social demographic (our school is very diverse). So, sitting in those groups helped them understand what being a global citizen means – that we shouldn’t isolate someone just because they don’t have the same trainers as us and if we could open up a dialogue with everyone the world would be a better place…The experience completely transformed my views about how trips should be organised and communicated” (Source 3).

Where communication among teenagers about complex issues like alcohol abuse and donor dependency used to be individualistic and defensive, our model shows that critical dialogue encourages new, community-focused communication strategies. The increased mutual understanding, augmented learning and participatory communication, has improved social welfare among resilient young people. The freedom to communicate more authentically has lent these youngsters a sustainable and humanised agency that enables their development into a community of empowered global citizens. We will continue to organise them. In times like the present, when a global pandemic reveals the vulnerability and resilience of local communities, this dialogic model can enhance global emancipation of global teenagers at a stage of transition. As one of our young participants says: “I think that many more pupils should get the opportunity because it really was life changing” (Source 3).