Youth-led communication for social change: empowerment, citizen media, and cultures of governance in Northern Ghana

Unlocking the Challenging Pathways of Youth Participation in Ghana’s Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency

“…Taken together, as Gyampo (2015) bemoans, while there were a sizable number of youths as members of parliaments represented in national decision making at Ghana's fifth parliament, they scarcely articulate their views to promote accountable and responsible government in that regime. This observation aptly resonates in Grauenkaer & Tufte (2018) seminal study that, even though in most of the Africa countries, many youths have the opportunity to represent their constituents in national policymaking processes, their level of influence is very unreliable because they are more responsive to their interests and the interest of wealthier individuals who supported them to secure the position than to average citizens (Gyampo & Obeng-Odoom, 2013). Also, issues concerning youths are deliberated and executed by policymakers who do not have sufficient and technical knowledge of youth activities.…”

Communicating for social change: A model of communicative power

“…A central gap is that those who believe participation leads to empowerment and social change lack sufficient theory or evidence to back this claim – at least in the eyes of funders. Waisbord (2015: 155) describes ‘the links between participation and aid effectiveness’ as one of the main challenges facing CSC, pleading with scholars ‘to engage in the debate and produce persuasive arguments about how and why participation matters.’ Servaes (2016) found in his analysis of CSC work that 75 percent of it referenced no underlying theory at all.…”

“…Some articles went further, describing how participation led to concrete political gains for marginalized groups. Grauenkaer and Tufte (2018), for example, conducted a survey which showed that a project training young Ghanaian journalists 'increased their participation in public debate and community decision-making'describing one particular case where this led to additional public funding for residents living with disabilities. In Baú's (2018: 41) study on a participatory theater project to promote reconciliation between Kenyan tribal groups, she reports findings from in-depth interviews that 'confidence' was increased and that the performances led to dialogue and improved relations among several previously conflicting groups.…”

“…It is similar to Jacobson's (2003) explanation of communicative action, which posits that a key piece of participatory CSC work is ensuring marginalized groups' needs are understood by others; communicative power is about the mechanisms and platforms available to groups to communicate those needs. Grauenkaer and Tufte (2018) (from an article in the sample), define communicative capacity as access to media platforms; communicative power acknowledges that interpersonal communication is important as well and may serve as a precursor to mass-mediated communication. Tacchi (2009: 2) defines 'voice poverty' as 'the inability of people to influence the decisions that affect their lives'; communicative power is the gain frame of this.…”

Hey, Hey, Hey—Listen to What I Gotta Say: Songs Elevate Youth Voice in Alberta Wildfire Disaster Recovery

“…Despite feeling distant from policymakers, research shows that the idea of influencing power is important to youth-especially on decisions that directly affect them and their families (Grauenkaer & Tufte, 2018;Haynes & Tanner, 2015;Plush 2009). Illustratively in a video interview about her song, Hannah explains the challenges she and other youth find in being listened to and having equal representation in decisions in her community:…”