Agency, Voice & Human Development
Work on this theme concentrates on investigating and supporting the capacity of individuals and groups to shape life experiences and outcomes for themselves and for others. In doing so, ILAS moves to unpack the role of social, economic, legal and place-based structures in the acquisition and execution of power and rights. This is both with respect to decision-making, and the expression and recognition of voice. Connected to fundamental notions of self-direction and identity, this theme deals with key research questions and policy issues around how individuals and groups deal with significant life-events, and adverse social and economic conditions, to maximise the potential for inclusion.
Important work streams in the theme of agency, voice and human development includes:
- Individual and Collective Agency: Exploring factors that shape the ability to exercise choice, and ways to foster agency through applied programmes. Examples of work on this theme include: the CFRC randomised control trial on community based youth mentoring, the CDLP VOICES project, focused on people with disabilities who have been denied legal capacity; CKI ALIVE volunteering programme for civic engagement, ICAN programmes to improve employment outcomes for individuals with autism and intellectual disability.
- Resilience as an individual and Community Resource: Work that looks at harnessing experiences, resources and existing skills to build resilience, for recovery and development, amongst 8 individuals and communities of people. Examples of work on this theme include: a CORA collaborative project on promoting resilience in relation to youth sexual health; research by Speech and Language Therapy on resilience in children with communicative disorders
- Self and Supported Advocacy: Programmes that considers how advocacy and voice can be strengthened in relation to key policy challenges that threaten the realisation of rights and choice. Examples of work on this theme include: evaluations of advocacy programmes for vulnerable groups, analyses and support of advocacy strategies in the disability sector led by CDLP.
- Adaptive Capacities and Capability Approaches: Work that investigates how conscious and sub-conscious strategies assist individuals to cope with and adjust to changing circumstances in their lives and their wider social, economic and cultural environment. Examples of work on this theme include: ICSG explorations of older adult narratives on adjusting to significant life events, such as bereavement and on-set of ill-health.
