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Research & Policy Inputs

TakingITGlobal has worked with various United Nations and multi-lateral agencies to undertake youth-focused research or develop youth-friendly policies. Contributions have included a 2-month e-consultation on public policy for the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and a survey of online civic engagement tools for youth for the MacArthur Foundation's Series on Digital Media and Learning.

 

Community Connectors Report
August 1, 2009
This is the report for TakingITGlobal's pilot Community Connector Internship Program. The internship position was available for a period of six months, starting in mid-August 2008 and ending in mid- February 2009, for a weekly rate of 5-8 working hours. After a rigorous selection process, 10 promising young leaders were selected to join our pilot program and this report details their experience.



CLC West Africa Final Report
December 22, 2008
Between 2006 and 2008, TakingITGlobal ran a local engagement program in 5 West African countries - Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone. The intent was to encourage young West Africans to address a variety of issues through Information and Communications Technologies.

This report was submitted to the Open Society Institute for West Africa (OSIWA), the major funder for the project


Youth Media Exchange Final Project Report
December 19, 2008
Youth Media Exchange (ymex.org) is a social network that enables youth to exchange and discuss digital media on global issues that they create, or that exists elsewhere on the web. The ymex.org web site was created by TakingITGlobal and Global Kids, in
collaboration with Asia Society, to educate and empower young people around the world to become creative producers and critical consumers of digital media about global issues through a social networking environment that provides directed learning activities.

The project aims were based on five research questions:
1. How are young people currently using and thinking about social networking and digital media?

2. How can social networks be designed for learning across social and cultural boundaries?

3. How do young people develop media literacy in the process of learning?

4. How can youth-produced media best educate and engage a broad audience of global citizens?

5. How can partner organizations develop best practices for social networks?

Over the course of this project, these research questions have evolved based on what we have learned. This final report will focus on the adapted research questions and is designed to share our findings and unique contribution to the field of digital media and learning. It is imperative to keep in mind this report is written from the perspectives of practitioners, not academics, and is not intended for publication or considered an academic exercise, but rather an insight into our learning process.


Understanding the Issues: An Online Global Education Resource
August 1, 2008
The ‘ Understanding the Issues’ section of TakingITGlobal officially re-launched in 2007 as a more interactive resource for youth seeking to learn about global issues, in both formal and informal educational settings.

As the primary funder of this project, the Longview Foundation was presented with this final report detailing the implementation taken by TakingITGlobal.


E-Consultation on Citizen Centred Policies & Services/Climate Change!
June 20, 2008
In 2008, TakingITGlobal conducted 2 e-consultations for the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD). Over 350 TIG members answered a series of thematic questions on public policy and climate change. This document is the report that was presented at the OECD International Workshop that was held in Ljubljana, Slovenia in late June 2008.


Youth for Change Project Report
April 2, 2008
Inspiring, Informing and Involving Arab youth as Agents of Change

TakingITGlobal, in partnership with Bibliotheca Alexandrina launched the “Youth for Change”
project in March 2008 to engage youth in cross-cultural dialogue as well as support youth-led development through local projects in 10 Arabic countries: Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, UAE, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine.

The Youth for Change project utilized online and offline tools and spaces in order to support cross cultural dialogue between Arab youth on the local, regional and international levels.

On another level, the project also provided mini-grants and online training to support 15 projects in the different priority countries, that focused on crucial issues facing young people in the Arab World such as employment, education, environment, HIV/AIDS, health, culture & identity, cross cultural dialogue and human rights & democracy.

The project also offered scholarships to 2 mini-grant winners from
Egypt and Bahrain to attend the World Youth Congress 2008 in Quebec City, in order to receive additional support, training and access to international networks focused on supporting youth-led development.


TakingITGlobal Impact Research 2008
April 1, 2008
This report outlines the findings from the TakingITGlobal (TIG) impact research, which ran from January to April 2008. Since the TakingITGlobal online community (www.takingitglobal.org) launched in 2000 with the goal of inspiring and informing youth to become more engaged and involved in their communities, there have been few concerted efforts to assess the impact of TakingITGlobal. Thus, the purpose of this research initiative was three-fold: first, to evaluate if, how, and how much TakingITGlobal was having an impact on its key stakeholders; second, to generate benchmark data and results with which to compare future impact research to trace the evolution of TIG’s impact; and third, to identify the strengths and weaknesses of TakingITGlobal and its programs.


Our Space: Online Civic Engagement Tools for Youth
December 16, 2007
Through a close examination of TakingITGlobal, combined with a landscape survey of sites with a mandate to civically engage youth, we present some initial findings on how youth are civically engaged and what it is they are actually doing on these sites. (Published in Civic Life Online, as part of the MacArthur Foundation's Series on Digital Media and Learning)


Will you listen? Young voices from conflict zones
October 1, 2007
This report, a companion to the Machel Study 10-Year Strategic Review, compiles the views and recommendations of some 1,700 children and young people in 92 countries, including many who have experienced conflict. Their thoughts and ideas were collected as a key contribution to the Strategic Review through a series of focus group discussions and an online questionnaire. “Will you listen?” presents a wide range of voices and concerns documented from these discussions.


Youth Media DNA: Decoding youth as news & information consumers
June 25, 2007
In early 2006, The World Association of Newspapers enlisted D-CODE –
a strategic research consultancy focused on youth, young independents, and young families – to outline the key issues facing youth newspaper readership.
TakingITGlobal assisted by recruiting the Country Leaders and facilitated the study.


Making the Connection: Best Practices in Global Education & Collaborative Technology
June 25, 2007
Educators looking for new ways to incorporate technology into their classrooms need look no further than this dynamic collection of case studies that highlight some of the best practices and lessons learned for teachers, schools, districts and other organizations attempting to create new projects at the intersection of global education and educational technology, through TIGed, one of the world's premier set of tools and resources designed to facilitate the introduction of global education to the local classroom.


It's time to listen to us!
March 9, 2007
Working document - Youth response to the Report of the Expert Group Meeting

"Every girl should get an education.” This was the key recommendation identified by 1,318 children and young people, from 59 countries and eight regions, who responded to a questionnaire, either through a focus group or an individual survey, on what can be done to eliminate discrimination and violence against the girl child. The questionnaire asked respondents to evaluate the findings in The Report of the Expert Group Meeting, the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination and Violence Against the Girl Child, and to offer their opinions on how to protect girls from violence and discrimination. This report, prepared as an appeal to the Members of the 51st Commission on the Status of Women, summarizes the ideas, concerns and recommendations of these children and young people.


telecentre.org Final Report
October 1, 2006
In November 2005, TakingITGlobal received a grant from International Development Research Council (IDRC) to manage all aspects of the telecentre.org community website and online infrastructure.

This report was submitted to IDRC upon completion of the telecentre.org project


Report on Global Indigenous Youth
August 1, 2006
An analysis of 500+ responses from the Survey on Global Indigenous Youth conducted by TakingITGlobal in 2004, with a focus on media representation of Indigenous peoples and the major obstacles they face.


Cross-Canada Mapping of Youth-led and/or Highly Youth-engaged Initiatives
July 10, 2006
The Cross-Canada Mapping of Youth-led Initiatives was a 6 month dual capacity building and research project conducted by TakingITGlobal.

Funding of this project was provided by the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation as part of the Foundation’s Community Renewal through Engaging Youth strategy.

The goal of the project is to assess the needs and to build capacity of youth-led groups across Canada by introducing them to the web-based tools and collaborative technologies provided by the TakingITGlobal Canadian portal. The capacity-building workshops related to the project will increase the ability of youth-led initiatives and organizations in Canada to maximize the potential of technology to support their work. The research project component will seek to comprehensively identify the projects and needs of youth-led organizations, both from a technology stand-point and more generally to identify trends among these groups.


National Youth Council Report
June 27, 2006
National Youth Councils have emerged in many parts of the world. For youth organizations they play an important facilitative role in the coordination of youth work, while for governments they serve as a go-to point for expertise on youth issues and concerns.


Raising their Voices
June 1, 2006
A global compilation of reports from youth campaigning for the Millennium Development Goals.



Youth-Led Action in an International Context
March 31, 2006
This major project research report, focused on Youth-Led Action in an International Context, has combined outcomes from an online survey, online consultation, and individual in-depth interviews with young people who have taken action to address challenges facing their communities in countries around the world. It responds to core questions in my Plan of Study that look at issues of concern to youth in a cross-cultural context and youth-led initiatives as a strategy for meaningful youth engagement.


Local Voices, Global Visions 2
November 1, 2005
Inspiring stories from youth mobilization around the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society.



Student Voices Project Report
July 1, 2005
TakingITGlobal partnered with the International Society for Technology in Education over March and April, 2005, to consult with youth from around the world on their experiences with education and develop a set of recommendations that we could communicate to teachers. The consultation lasted five weeks, each with a different focus. Topics ranged from the role of technology in the lives of today’s youth, to the difference between learning and education, to the look and feel of an ideal classroom, to the impact of globalization.

Over 275 students from every region of the world applied to be a part of our process. Over 150 of these applicants were chosen, representing a balance of region and gender. Of this group, 87 participated on a regular basis in one of two ways: guided discussions and photoblogs. Four of the most active and diverse students were then chosen to help us develop and present this report.


Youth and the Millennium Development Goals
April 1, 2005
Young people ages 15 to 24 make up 1.2 billion of the world's human capital. Around the world, many of them are already making contributions to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and their work should be further acknowledged and strengthened. Increasingly, youth are recognized as key participants in decision-making and development, as reflected in the growing presence of non-governmental youth organizations and the upsurge of youth advisory boards and committees to international institutions and programs. Yet building the capacity of and creating sustained partnerships with young people are crucial strategies to achieveing the MDGs that have not been fully realized by the international community.

This paper aims to provide an overbiew of youth participation as it currently exists, to outline the ways in which youth are directly affected by each Goal, to demonstrate how young people are contributing to the MDGs, and to provide 'Options for Action' that governments, the United Nations system, donors and other actors can harness, support, and scale-up in order to support young people in making significant contributions to achieving the MDGs.


Role of Youth Survey
January 15, 2004
This report is the outcome of a larger process, building on months of reading and research of secondary materials, years of personal experiences meeting with and understanding the issues and perspectives of young people around the world.

This research seeks to demonstrate that globally, young people today have more
power and potential to create change than any previous generation of youth. It seeks to discover the ways in which young people define themselves, how they are perceived by society, how they are best engaged in decision-making, and the role of technology in facilitating the shifting role of youth.


Local Voices, Global Visions
January 8, 2004
A compilation of results from the 2003 WSIS National Information Society Youth Campaigns



Highly affected, rarely considered - Access to Technology
January 1, 2003
The first step in the Campaign was the Youth Commission into Globalisation - an inquiry into the impacts of globalisation on young people. The Commission unearthed a number of emerging issues, concerns and policy priorities of youth in the face of globalisation.

The Youth Commission findings are now available in the report "Highly Affected, Rarely Considered" which outlines the way globisation affects young people and their communities. Written by young people from all around the world, the report offers recommendations for action in order to maximise positive opportunities and minimise and negative impacts of globalisation.


Engaging Rural Youth
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This report presents the result of TakingITGlobal’s recent Rural Youth Opinions survey of members from rural Ontario. The survey consisted of thirteen
questions regarding youths’ views on the status of their rural communities and
what can be done to strengthen them. Rural youth opinions on the subject
differed from those few non-rural respondents, reflecting the difference
between perceptions of rural life and the actual status of rural Ontario. Even
within the rural responses, those who identified themselves as rural youths
expressed somewhat different (and often more positive) views about rural life than those who had lived in a rural community for some time but had not selfidentified.

The second portion of the report presents the conclusions and
recommendations delivered by Jennifer Corriero in her presentation at The
Ontario Rural Council’s annual conference on 18 October 2004. This section outlines ten different ways to engage youth in rural communities, from
recognizing youth as stakeholders, valuable sources of input and action, and role models, to connecting with national programs and celebrating diversity.

The appendices present the compiled survey data and a brief overview
of how youth see themselves influencing the future, taking from
TakingITGlobal’s Role of Youth research.