Initiating, Developing and Safeguarding Community-Based Youth Work
Focusing on the role of community-based youth work in the pursuit of social justice in underserved neighborhoods in the Netherlands.
By studying multiple successful bottom-up organizations that cater to the needs of young adults, this research aims to gain knowledge of the pedagogical relationships these youth workers establish, how they advocate the needs of involved young adults and how they navigate the sociopolitical context of their work.
Pedagogical Approaches for Social Justice
Earlier research has shown that community-based youth organizations around the world aim to pursue social justice. Although youth workers foster different ideas on what is needed to work toward social justice, their approaches share certain similarities: they cater to local needs, seek to affirm the identities of young adults from marginalized groups, provide young adults with critical knowledge on the systems of oppression they interact with and guide young adults in talent development.
Strategic Navigation and Safeguarding
In seeking social justice, youth organizations encounter resistance. They find themselves confronted with an institutional context that doesn’t change as fast as they demand, doesn’t facilitate their organization's needs or doesn't support their analysis of young adults needs. Simultaneously they establish collaborations with organizations sharing their vision and find partners within the institutional domain that celebrate and facilitate their work. This process thus demands strategic navigation of the sociopolitical domain of youth work in order to develop and safeguard the organization.
Ethnographic Approach with Participatory Elements
By studying two Dutch youth organizations that have established themselves in the Dutch social domain, using an ethnographic approach that combines participatory observations with interviews and focus groups, this research aims to zoom in on community-based youth work in the Dutch context. Although this is no participatory action research, we do invite involved participants to provide their insight on what knowledge will be valuable for practice and what approaches work in their organizations.