Therefore, DataCenter designed workshops and accompanying curricula first and foremost to build the capacity of youth to conduct their own research projects. The first workshop demystified research, explained how to use research strategically and broke down the research steps, methodologies, and resources needed. It was followed by a day long training that included research project planning, learning the basics of analyzing focus group transcripts and creating a survey. The trainings were then converted into a curriculum that KGA staff used to facilitate a series of workshops this past summer. The workshops culminated into a youth designed survey through thoughtful discussions about what questions and topics to cover that will powerfully illuminate the realities of Khmer youth in the community. Youth members will conduct the survey this winter with 300 Khmer youth.

Program Coordinator Joy Yanga felt sufficiently equipped and ready to facilitate the research project as a result of working with DataCenter. “[DataCenter] helped simplify and translate what the process could look like to our youth leaders … One of the most useful things they’ve moved us through is a working timeline and breakdown of tasks for our project, otherwise it would have been really hard to get through it because it’s our organization’s first time going though this kind of research and survey process. They are great listeners and have a fun way of presenting and facilitating.”

In January 2010, DataCenter will conduct the next workshop, which will include analyzing the survey results, selecting the top key findings they wish to share with the world, then packaging it to disseminate them most effectively. Program coordinator Ashley Uyeda concluded about the collaboration: “DataCenter has been extremely helpful in supporting us and our capacity to take on our own Community-Based Research … All the information, training, and materials they’ve shared have really helped me as staff better understand research and how we can do it from the grassroots level…they were very flexible to our organization’s needs and worked with us to create relevant training materials we could use in working with our young women to develop their own research project.”

On March 7th, 2009, youth organizers from a variety of organizations in the East Bay and San Francisco united at the Madison Park Apartments Community Room in Oakland with the desire to learn more about the range of methods that can be used to document the realities lived by people in their day to day life in order to produce data that will actually reflect the truth as they know it. The main objective of the day was to instill a heightened sense of familiarity and confidence in these impassioned organizers in order for them to approach research as a strategic tool used to empower their voices and bring real change to their communities.

Educating organizers about Participatory Action Research (PAR) was the primary goal of the day. PAR is a method by which researchers and the community in which they are studying work together to identify the best way to go about a problem and make sure that the results of the research make a difference. As a way to learn about the different methods used in participatory action research, Youth in Focus arranged a series of interactive games. In an activity titled, “Round Robin,” participants were divided into small groups and led to different stations, each a different method of collecting data. It’s important to come face to face with each technique, sorting through the pros and cons, in order to build ones knowledge of how the research method actually works. The Data Center presented the group with a “research planning scenario” activity that allowed participants to think about strategic approaches to issues in their community. This exercise gave youth participants the opportunity to talk out the ways in which to go about designing uses of information depending on various factors such as one’s constituency, ally base, media coverage, and specified target.

The activities of the day were received very well but what I was most excited about was seeing such young and inspiring faces at this event. I was even more thrilled when I overheard youth organizers telling others about their organization, the type of campaigns they have been working on, and how research could strengthen their action. The exchange of admiration as well as advice between the participants was the most rewarding thing to observe. When you connect with other organizers at events such as this and truly communicate a message that equips them with the concrete tools and motivation necessary for change, confidence and inspiration in the movement flourishes.

At the end of the day, participants were glad to meet new inspiring faces and learn the stepping-stones to research. They commented that this research camp is a crucial resource needed to expose youth organizers to the different strategic techniques used for social change. However, exposure to these techniques is just the first step. Youth also expressed their interest in a more technical follow up training in order to master these research strategies and make a real impact on their organization as well as their community.

By: Sylvia Aguiñaga, Data Center Intern

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