Closing Information Gaps in Kakuma Refugee Camp: A Youth Participatory Action Research Study

• Main Authors: Bellino, M.J (Author), the Kakuma Youth Research Group (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley Blackwell 2018
• Subjects: access to information; Access to Information; adolescent; Adolescent; adult; Adult; Aspiration; Community-Based Participatory Research; Displacement; education; Education; female; Female; human; Humans; interview; Interviews as Topic; Kenya; male; Male; observation; Observation; participatory research; qualitative research; Qualitative Research; refugee; Refugee; refugee camp; Refugee Camps; Refugees; social support; Social Support; young adult; Young Adult; Youth agency; Youth participatory action research
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 This study explores the role of academic and social support on young people's educational pursuits in Kenya's Kakuma Refugee Camp. Pairing ethnographic methods with youth participatory action research, we find that support often manifests as abstract, decontextualized encouragement with little grounding in the educational opportunity structure. We argue that this motivational discourse generates information gaps, fueling aspirations that neither prepare youth for understanding, nor navigating the constraints they will encounter. In response, we designed a social media platform orienting Kakuma youth to the opportunity structure, while encouraging them to set realistic goals and plan accordingly. Designing a resource by, for, and with Kakuma youth, we illustrate that refugees have the rights and means to access information on which their everyday well-being and futures depend. This study illustrates that critical understanding of local and global opportunities can empower, rather than demoralize, young people as they shape their futures in exile. © 2018 Society for Community Research and Action