Beyond Tokenism: Participatory Evaluation Processes and Meaningful Youth Involvement in Decision-Making

Nadim Kara
Natural Resources Canada

Citation: Kara, Nadim (2007). "Beyond Tokenism: Participatory Evaluation Processes and Meaningful Youth Involvement in Decision-Making." Children, Youth and Environments 17 (2): 563-580. Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/

Read this Article (PDF) | Comment on this Article

Abstract

Support for youth involvement in decision-making has grown as calls for participatory democracy have emerged from a number of social actors.  Youth are now more involved—but are they involved meaningfully?  This paper, based on the author’s 15 years of experience, proposes the use of participatory evaluation processes as one way to address this question.  It suggests that implementing such processes is an effective way to support youth and adult practitioners’ critical reflection on what “meaningful” or “effective” youth involvement in decision-making means, and what it looks like.  This article will explore these issues using the example of a sample evaluation process focused on youth councils used in a municipal government setting.

Keywords: youth participation, tokenism, participatory evaluation, community development, municipal government, youth council, youth decision-making