Mission and objectivesUNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight drives change for children and young people by generating evidence, collecting data, featuring the voices of children and offering foresight on frontier issues and emerging practices. Our work aims to inform policy and advocacy that will eventually help UNICEF and the global community protect the lives and rights of children, young people and families.
ContextThis assignment supports a critical UNICEF research project examining measurable benefits when adolescents participate meaningfully in policy development and implementation. While the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child enshrines children's participation rights, skeptics question young people's capacity to influence policy effectively. Current evidence focuses primarily on individual benefits to youth participants, leaving a significant gap regarding impacts on governance processes and policy outcomes. This research aims to strengthen UNICEF's programming and advocacy efforts by documenting concrete examples of how adolescent participation leads to better policy outcomes and institutional effectiveness. The findings will directly inform UNICEF's global strategy for adolescent civic engagement and provide evidence-based responses to critics questioning the value of youth participation in governance. Your research contribution will help build the foundational evidence base needed to complete the research project, supporting advocacy efforts for meaningful youth inclusion in decision-making processes worldwide.
Task DescriptionTasks include: - Conducting systematic literature searches across multiple academic databases (JSTOR, PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, etc) using predetermined keywords related to adolescent, child or youth participation in governance, policy-making, and civic engagement. - Reviewing 15-20 abstracts daily to identify relevant studies meeting inclusion criteria. - Entering qualifying citations into our shared Zotero library with standardized tagging for regional focus, methodology, and impact type. - Weekly virtual check-ins (1 hour) with the research lead via Teams to track progress and refine search strategies. - Maintain a shared Google spreadsheet documenting search terms, databases used, and results - Screen identified literature for potential case studies across eight global regions, flagging examples where children or youth input led to documented policy changes or improved service delivery.
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