Youth Agency, Inclusion & Development

The UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre has a particular focus on research, evaluation and programme development activities that concern young people. Our research and policy concern is how youth can be supported to exercise greater agency within their lives, how a stronger sense of inclusion can be fostered by those with influence and how meaningful developmental outcomes can be actively promoted.  Our work in this area reflects the UNESCO Centre’s core principles of social support, resilience and children’s rights, while also embracing concepts such as participation, civic engagement and leadership.

Our youth research to date has focused on the following:

• Evidence surrounding effective ‘approaches’ that policy makers and practitioners take and can adopt in working with youth.
• The nature of spaces and settings that shape young people’s experiences and offer meaningful engagement, from the formally arranged to their informal, everyday environments.
• Youth voice, advocacy and activism, including promoting meaningful participation of young people in the research process.
• Exploratory research in specific community contexts both within and outside of Ireland is a special aspect to our research.

Foróige and the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, University of Galway were joined by Minister Mary Butler for the launch of new research titled 'Youth mentoring as a supportive resource for young people in CAMHS: An exploratory study', November 2022.

A full list of our research outputs is available on our publications page.