Article by Elena Murray, Moiz Shaikh and Stefaan G. Verhulst: “Young people seeking essential services — like mental health care, education, or public benefits — are often asked to share personal data in order to access the service, without having any say in how it is being collected, shared or used, or why. If young people distrust how their data is being used, they may avoid services or withhold important information, fearing misuse. This can unintentionally widen the very gaps these services aim to close.
To build trust, service providers and policymakers must involve young people in co-designing how their data is collected and used. Understanding their concerns, values, and expectations is key to developing data practices that reflect their needs. Empowering young people to develop the conditions for data re-use and design solutions to their concerns enables digital self determination.
The question is then: what does meaningful engagement actually look like — and how can we get it right?
To answer that question, we engaged four partners in four different countries and conducted:
- 1000 hours of youth participation, involving more than 70 young people.
- 12 youth engagement events.
- Six expert talks and mentorship sessions.
These activities were undertaken as part of the NextGenData project, a year-long global collaboration supported by the Botnar Foundation, that piloted a methodology for youth engagement on responsible data reuse in Moldova, Tanzania, India and Kyrgyzstan.
A key outcome of our work was a youth engagement methodology, which we recently launched. In the below, we reflect on what we learnt — and how we can apply these learnings to ensure that the future of data-driven services both serves the needs of, and is guided by, young people.
Lessons Learnt:…(More)”